Nine launches occurred since our last show, and China is responsible for almost half of them. Within a week’s time, China launched four satellites — two with Earth observation missions, one allegedly for military communications, and one experimental satellite. As usual, Chinese official media did not release much information about the satellites or their missions.

We do know that one of the launches introduced a new method for handling high upper-level winds on the Long March 3B, which is necessary for launching from Xichang in the winter. This new method improves reliability and launch capability by allowing the rocket to launch in high wind shear.

So there you go, you know pretty much everything we know about these four launches.

More Information

China launches new satellite (Xinhua)

China launches new satellite for Earth observation (Xinhua)

China’s Kuaizhou-1A rocket launches new satellite (Xinhua)

CASC press release (Chinese)

FH 2 info page (Gunter’s Space Page)