China Launches 41 Satellites on Single Rocket, Breaking its Own National Record

China broke its own national record for launching 41 satellites in a single rocket. The Long March 2D rocket lifted a batch of satellites into space from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on Thursday at 1:30 AM EDT.

Launching 41 Satellites through a Single Rocket

Forty-one satellites have been launched into orbit by China, joining the world's largest satellite constellation for high-resolution observations down here on Earth. According to a report from Interesting Engineering, the launch set a national record for the most satellites lifted through one rocket, bringing the number of Jilin-1 satellites operating in orbit to 108.

The latest batch of satellites joined the existing 72 Jilin-1 satellites, providing imaging for services from land resources surveys to smart city buildings and offering a spatial resolution better than 75cm or 30 inches.

This includes the Jilin-1 GF06A0 satellites 1-30, Jilin-1 PT02A01/02, Jilin-1GF03D 19-26, and HEGS-1. These were all developed by the commercial remote sensing satellite firm in China called Chang Guang Satellite, which is a spinoff institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences based in Jilin. CGST's goal is to put over 300 satellites in orbit by 2025.

CGST He Xiaojun stated, "By the end of this year, we expect to have 138 satellites in the constellation and provide a 10-minute global revisit time." He has been manufacturing and operating the satellites since 2015 and said that the company was pushing ahead with the construction of the Jilin 1 constellation.

The Long March 2D carrier rocket launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China within two minutes and reached an altitude of 500km or 310 miles. Many insulation tiles can be seen falling off the rocket during the launch as it makes its way into the sky. The rocket stands 135 feet tall or 41 meters and has the capacity to lift 2,866 pounds of payload.

Capturing with High Resolution

Most of the satellites launched on Thursday were Goafen 06A of the Jilin-1 family. This is the fourth generation Gaofen (Chinese abbreviation for high resolution) satellite that was only approved last year. He is also a Gaofen 06A Chief Designer and said that they only had less than a year to finish the research, development, delivery, and final launch.

The high-resolution images produced by the Jilin-1 were also used by the local governments extensively. South China Morning Post reported that it was recently used in October during the typhoon-induced flooding in Northern Thailand, affecting more than 40,000 homes and causing $100 million in agricultural losses.

Previous Records

The recent launch broke the previous record of China, launching 26 satellites in a single launch. Space reported that this was just days earlier by a Lijian 1 rocket developed by commercial company CAS Space.

Meanwhile, the global record for the highest number of satellites lifted by a single rocket was held by Space X, launching 143 satellites to orbit during a rideshare mission last January 2021 called Transport-1.