China To Unveil Two Satellites For Pakistan In June
China To Unveil Two Satellites For Pakistan In June: In 2016, Pakistan and China had signed an agreement for the launch of a special remote sensing satellite this year to monitor the development of the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.
China is expected to launch a pair of Earth observation satellites for Pakistan in June, with the Long March 2C/SMA launch vehicle having recently passed factory inspections ahead of transport to the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre.
China will launch two remote sensing satellites for Pakistan, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT) shared.
It will be the first international commercial launch for a Long March-2C rocket after it carried Motorola’s Iridium satellites into orbit in 1999.
The rocket will also carry the China-France Oceanography Satellite into space in September this year; state-run Xinhua news agency reported quoting CALVT.
The satellite will monitor ocean wind and waves.
Long March-2C rockets are mainly used to send satellites into low Earth or Sun-synchronous orbits.
China had launched Pakistan’s communication Satellite PAKSAT-1R in 2011. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a major carrier rocket maker under the main space contractor CASC, announced earlier this week that the Long March 2C/SMA configured rocket with solid-motor upper stage had passed reviews.
The rocket will carry two satellites, the high-resolution electro-optical Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite-1 (PRSS-1), developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a spacecraft designer and manufacturer subordinate to CASC, and the smaller, experimental PakTES-1A, built by the Space and Upper Atmospheric Research Commission (SUPARCO) – Pakistan’s space agency – with assistance from the Space Advisory Company of South Africa.
The remote sensing satellite will have multiple benefits and practical applications, including agriculture, disaster management, urban planning, forestry, water management, weather forecast and other areas.
The Long March 2C will also loft the China-France Oceanography Satellite (CFOSAT) into space in September this year, according to CALT.
A new upper stage for the Long March 2C, the Yuanzheng-1B, is expected to debut in the near future.
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