Today at 11:24 a.m. Beijing time (03:24 UTC), in its first of 2018, China launched two satellites using a Long March 2D, from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre.
The Long March 2D carried SuperView-1 03 & 04 (Gaojing 1-03 & 04), two earth observation satellites that will operate at an altitude of 530km. Both satellites, owned by Chinese satellite operator and data provider Beijing Space View Technology (Space View), will provide imagery with 0.5 m panchromatic resolution and 2 m multispectral resolution.
The two satellites launched today will add to the first two satellites in the SuperView-1 series, i.e., the SuperView-1 01 & 02 launched in January 2017. Together, the four satellites in orbit now complete Space View’s planned SuperView constellation with the satellites phased 90° from each other. Space View says it plans to add to the constellation in the coming years.
Besides SuperView-1, the company distributes data from the GF-1, GF-2, ZY-3, and HJ-1A&1B satellites, all of which are used for earth observation and imaging purposes. In 2017, Space View signed a number of international agreements, including with Malaysian company Digdat and Spanish company Deimos Imaging.
The launch today marks the first of three launches that China has planned for this week. On January 12, China is slated to launch two more of its Beidou navigation satellites, and on January 13, its LKW-3 (Land Survey No. 3) satellite.
