by Rui C. Barbosa
China launched a new group of triplet satellites for the Chuangxin-5 (CX-5) constellation on Monday. Launched under the name Yaogan Weixing-30 Group-7, the three satellites were orbited by a Chang Zheng-2C launch vehicle from the LC-3 Launch Complex of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, with launch taking place at 15:19 UTC.
Like the previous missions on the series, this mission is once again classed as involving new remote sensing birds that will be used to “conduct electromagnetic probes and other experiments.”
As was the case in previous launches of the Yaogan Weixing series, analysts believe this class of satellites is used for military purposes, in particular forming a high-revisit smallsat constellation for signal intelligence missions or imaging activities.
Working with the former Soviet Union (and on a smaller scale with Russia) ‘Cosmos’ designation, the ‘Yaogan’ name is used to hide the true military nature of the vehicles orbited.
The Chuangxin-5 satellites were developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Small Satellite Center. All the Yaogan Weixing-30 / Chuangxin-5 missions were launch by Long March-2C rockets from Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
The first three satellites were launch on September 29, 2017, followed by another three sats on November 24 the same year. This second group was orbited into an orbital plane 119° West of the first three satellites.
The Chang Zheng 2C from today’s mission launching from LC-3 at Xichang. (Credit: China News)
Launched into an orbital plane 120° east of the Group-1, the Yaogan Weixing-30 Group-3 was orbited on December 25, 2017, being followed by another trio on January 25, 2018. On July 26, 2019, the Yaogan Weixing-30 Group-5 was launched and the Group-6 on the series was launched on March 24, 2020.
The three new satellites will possibly occupy the sixth plane of the system, with the satellites spaced by 120° in their orbits.
Also on this flight was Tianqi-6, a low-orbit communication satellite operated by Guodian Gaoke for IoT communications, which is also carrying a camera for educational purposes.
The satellite is part of the “Apocalypse Constellation” that provides users with much-needed data collection and transmission services for terrestrial network coverage blind areas, which are widely used in marine, environmental protection, meteorological, forestry, geological, emergency, rescue and smart city industries to enhance China’s global data network coverage and application capabilities are of strategic importance.
Launch vehicle and launch center
The Chang Zheng 2C (Long March 2C) is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) launch vehicle derived from DF-5 ICBM and can be launched from the three older Chinese Satellite Launch Centers.
The launch vehicle has three configurations: the basic two-stage Chang Zheng-2C and the Chang Zheng-2C/SMA and the Chang Zheng-2C/SM, using upper stages.
The rocket is a two-stage hypergolic launch vehicle with a total length of 35.15 meters, a diameter of 3.35 meters, and a total mass of 192,000 kg. The first stage is equipped with four YF-20A engines. It has a length of 20.52 meters and a burn time of 122 seconds.
The second stage is equipped with one YF-22A engine and has a length of 7.50 meters with a burn time of 130 seconds.
The Xichang Satellite Launch Center is situated in the Sichuan Province, southwestern China and is the country’s launch site for geosynchronous orbital launches.
Equipped with two launch pads (LC-2 and LC-3), the center has a dedicated railway and highway leading directly to the launch site. The Command and Control Center is located 7 kilometers southwest of the launch pad, providing flight and safety control during launch rehearsal and launch.
Downrange tracking and control stations of the launch center are located in Xichang city and Yibin city of Sichuan Province, and Guiyang city of Guizhou Province. Each of them houses tracking and measurement equipment for the powered phase of a launch vehicle’s flight.
Other facilities on the Xichang Satellite Launch Center are the Launch Control Center, propellant fuelling systems, communications systems for launch command, telephone and data communications for users, and support equipment for meteorological monitoring and forecasting.
During 1993-1994 Xichang underwent extensive modernization and expansion, in part due to the requirements of the CZ-3 launcher family and in part to meet commercial customer needs.
The first launch from Xichang took place at 12:25 UTC on January 29, 1984, when the Chang Zheng (Y1) was launched the Shiyan Weixing (14670 1984-008A) communications satellite into orbit.
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