by Simon Mansfield
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Dec 05, 2024
China successfully launched a Kuaizhou 1A carrier rocket on Wednesday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, placing the Haishao 1, also known as Sea Sentinel 1, satellite into orbit.
The solid-propellant rocket lifted off at 12:46 pm, delivering the remote-sensing satellite to its designated trajectory, as confirmed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), the state-owned entity responsible for the rocket's development and manufacture.
According to CASIC, the Sea Sentinel 1 satellite was designed and built by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. It features synthetic aperture radar technology, enabling it to monitor the marine environment and track sea-based targets.
Remote sensing satellites like Sea Sentinel 1 play a critical role in observing and surveying terrestrial and aquatic environments, including weather monitoring and data collection for environmental analysis.
This mission marked the 28th deployment of the Kuaizhou 1A rocket and China's 61st space launch in 2024. The rocket, developed by China Space Sanjiang Group, a CASIC subsidiary based in Hubei province, is China's most widely used solid-propellant launch vehicle.
The Kuaizhou 1A launched on Wednesday was an upgraded model featuring a larger payload fairing, accommodating larger satellites. Designers noted that while the standard version can carry up to 300 kilograms into low-Earth orbit, the upgraded variant increases this capacity to 450 kilograms, reflecting significant advancements in its payload transport capabilities.
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