Starting off this week of rockets was a Long March 2D rocket with the Jilin-1 mission. Liftoff was on January 15, 2020 at 2:46 AM (UTC). On board were four passengers: a satellite destined for the Jilin-1 constellation, ÑuSats 7 and 8 from Satellogic, and Tianqi-5.
This launch had two mission patches! One patch is from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, while the other is from Satellogic, the commercial partner.
The CASC patch (on the left) features the Long March 2D rocket cutting diagonally across the patch as if it were going to fly out at the viewer with the Earth far below it. The number “45” is prominently featured. Above the rocket is an artist’s rendition of the largest payload, the Jilin-1 Wideband-01 satellite. Four stars dot the background — one for each satellite onboard. The circular patch has two borders. The inner border is half light blue and half red. The light blue portion representing Argentina reads ÑuSat7 and 8 in white text while the red portion representing China reads reads Jilin-1kf1 and TQ-4 in yellow text. (I’m not sure why the second Chinese payload is marked on the patch as “TQ-4” when it is “Tianqi-5.”) The outer border contains the rocket identifier, and the month and year of launch.
The Satellogic patch (on the right) features a total of 10 satellites orbiting the Earth reminiscent of the Rutherford atomic model, if you squint just right. Two of the satellites are a bit larger and colored in, while the remaining eight are stick figures. Centered on the patch is the text “Sophie and Marie, Per Aspera ad Astra.” The border contains ten stars, the satellite names, the constellation name, and the company name. I’m fairly certain that ten satellites and ten stars represent Satellogic’s flock. Sophie and Marie are the nicknames for the two newest satellites, named after Sophie Germain and Marie Curie. Out of the two, Marie Curie is better known so I’m just going to remind you all that she and her husband did some groundbreaking research on radioactivity. Sophie Germain is less well-known. Sophie lived from 1776 to 1831 — a time when women of higher classes were educated enough to read, write, and be articulate enough to socialize at parties and to attract a good husband, but never to the extent where it would be a way to make a living as a scholar. So, when she was cooped up in her home during the French Revolution, she taught herself philosophy, mathematics, and physics. She’s best known for her work on Fermat’s Last Theorem. I don’t have time to get into her entire life story, so I encourage you to look up Sophie Germain when you get a chance.
Lastly, “Per Aspera ad Astra” is Latin for “through hardships to the stars.”
- Per aspera ad astra (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_aspera_ad_astra
- Sophie Germain (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Germain
Some details on the satellites:
The Jilin-1 craft as well as ÑuSats 7 and 8 are all Earth-imaging satellites. Jilin is the largest of the three and was the primary payload. The ÑuSats are smaller and about 40kg each. The smallest satellite, Tianqi-5, is thought to be a six unit CubeSat weighing in at about 8kg. It also has a camera onboard but the primary mission is data collection and transmission.
More on the mission and the payloads:
- Jilin-1 (RocketLaunch Live) https://www.rocketlaunch.live/launch/jilin-1-
- ÑuSat (Gunter’s Space Page) https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nusat-1.htm
- Satellogic (Twitter) https://twitter.com/Satellogic/status/1206556951812943872
- Great Wall Signs New Contract with Satellogic (in Chinese, Aerospace Great Wall, WeChat) https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-A_3vcqsW76j8PQXPzOMfA
- Argentine smallsats hitch ride with Chinese payloads on Long March rocket (SpaceFlightNow) https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/01/15/argentine-satellites-hitch-ride-with-chinese-payloads-on-long-march-2d-rocket/
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