The Gaofen-12 05 satellite was launched Wednesday morning aboard a Long March-4C rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gansu Province.
The evening before, China had launched 18 communication satellites for the Qianfan network into orbit using a Long March-6A rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi Province.
Both the Gaofen-12 05 satellite and the Long March-4C rocket were developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spacecraft Technology (SAST), a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the nation's main space contractor.
According to SAST, the Gaofen-12 05 satellite will be used in various fields such as land surveys, urban planning, road network design, crop yield estimation, and disaster relief.
The Qianfan network, previously known as the G60 network and often referred to as the "Chinese version of Starlink," aims to provide fast, secure, and reliable broadband internet services globally. The network is expected to consist of over 15,000 satellites in low Earth orbit by 2030.
The creation of the Qianfan constellation is likely to drive innovation in sectors like mobile technology, autonomous driving, disaster prevention, and the Internet of Things, presenting new opportunities in the satellite internet market, experts say.
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