The two stage launcher lifted off at 12:01 pm local time from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and placed the AlSat 3A spacecraft into its planned orbit.

Project contractor China Great Wall Industry, the overseas trading arm of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, confirmed that the mission achieved all planned objectives.

AlSat 3A, built by the China Academy of Space Technology, is an optical remote sensing satellite designed to collect data and imagery to support land use planning, disaster prevention and mitigation tasks in Algeria.

The craft is the first of two optical remote sensing satellites to be supplied to Algeria under a contract signed in July 2023 between China Great Wall Industry and the Algerian Space Agency.

The agreement also covers delivery of associated ground systems, personnel training and other technical support services to help Algeria operate and exploit the new satellites.

The latest launch follows the successful delivery of the Alcomsat 1 communications satellite in December 2017 and marks what officials describe as a new milestone in bilateral space collaboration.

Long March 2C was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, another subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

The launcher is 43 meters long with a core diameter of 3.35 meters and a liftoff mass of around 242.5 metric tons, and is primarily used to place payloads into low Earth and sun synchronous orbits.

This mission was the 626th flight of the Long March rocket family and the third orbital launch conducted by China in 2026.

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