A Long March 2C rocket delivered three Yaogan-51 satellites to their intended orbit on November 5. The vehicle lifted off from China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 11:58 p.m. Beijing time, or 15:58 UTC. Xinhua published its launch report shortly after midnight local time on November 6.
The three spacecraft carry the designations Yaogan-51 07, 08, and 09. They traveled together on one launch. Xinhua identified scientific experiments and measurements of the electromagnetic environment as their principal applications.
The electromagnetic environment includes radio waves and other electromagnetic energy present at a location. Measuring it from orbit is a sensing task. The reported milestone for all three spacecraft was orbital insertion, the point at which the launch vehicle has delivered its payloads onto their intended paths around Earth.
Xinhua counted the mission as the 675th flight of China’s Long March rocket family. That count covers the family’s launch vehicles collectively. The Long March 2C was the specific rocket used for the three Yaogan-51 spacecraft.
