There were also two launches from China over the weekend. First, on October 7, a Long March 11 launched from a barge located in the Yellow Sea and sent two satellites into orbit, marking the fourth time a Long March 11 has launched from the ocean and the 22nd launch overall of a Long March 11. The satellites will augment navigation satellites in higher orbits. The two satellites will also test inter-satellite laser communications. 

The second Chinese launch took place the next day, October 8. A Long March 2D sent the Advanced Space-based Observatory-Solar into a sun-synchronous orbit from Jiuquan in the morning local time. This orbit keeps the spacecraft in view of the Sun almost continuously, except for short periods in May through August. 

ASO-S is China’s second dedicated solar observatory satellite. It has three payloads for its mission: a full disk magnetograph that measures the magnetic field of the Sun’s atmosphere, a Lyman-alpha solar telescope, and a solar Hard X-ray Imager. These instruments will be used to carry out its mission to observe solar flares and coronal mass ejections at the same time to understand how they are connected. They will also be used to map the magnetic field and different layers of the Sun’s atmosphere in X-ray and gamma-ray light to further examine this problem. The data gathered will be used to improve space weather forecasting, as solar flares and coronal mass ejections can have devastating consequences for human infrastructure. 

ASO-S’s mission will last at least four years.

More Information

China sends two satellites into space via offshore rocket launch (Xinhua)

China launches space-based observatory to unravel the Sun’s secrets (Xinhua)