LM-2D Successfully Launches 4 Satellites into Orbit on One Launch

At 10:53 Beijing time on January 15,a LM-2D launch vehicle lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center,successfully launching the Jilin-1 wide-swath 01 satellite (Jilin-1 KF 01) and 3 other small satellites into their preset orbits.

Besides the Jilin-1 KF 01 satellite,the 3 other small satellites piggybacked onboard the carrier rocket were the Tianqi 5 for Internet of Things developed by Shanghai ASES Spaceflight Technology Co.,Ltd,a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aerospace System Engineering Shanghai under the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology,plus the NewSat-7 and NewSat-8 low-Earth orbit remote sensing satellites,which were designed,manufactured and tested by Satellogic based in Argentina.

The Tianqi 5 satellite is a pioneer evolving from being an experimental satellite to a standard application satellite in the Tianqi Satellite Constellation program.In the future,a low-Earth orbit constellation for the Internet of Things consisting multiple low-Earth orbit satellites will achieve seamless global coverage,becoming an effective solution to solve the lack of coverage for ground Internet of Things in areas such as over oceans,on mountains and in deserts.

On April 26,2013,a LM-2D successfully launched the first cubesat of Satellogic for technology verification,starting a launch cooperation relationship.Since then,the LM-2D launched the New-Sat-4 and NewSat-5 into orbit on February 2,2018,laying a good foundation for following batch acquisition and piggyback service cooperation.

A LM-2D launch vehicle is lifting off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Cente,sending 4 satellites into orbitPhoto:WU Jiadong

LM-2D is ready for launchPhoto:WU Jiadong

The LM-2D is a two-stage liquid carrier rocket developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology with the capability to launch single and multiple satellites on one launch.This was the first time that LM-2D took off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center with a 3.8 m fairing.Since its first international commercial launch service conducted on September 29,2012,launching VRSS-1 into orbit,LM-2D has successfully launched 18 satellites for international users.

This was the 45th flight of the LM-2D launch vehicle,also the 325th launch of the LM series launch vehicle.(TANG Mingjun/China Space News)