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Satnews Daily
April 26th, 2018

China Launches Five in One ... Earth Observation Satellites for Agriculture, Land and Water and More 



April 26, 2018 reveals Long March-11 carrier rocket lifting off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province with five Zhuhai-1 remote sensing satellites into space on a single carrier rocket. (Xinhua/Wang Jiangbo)

China on Thursday sent a constellation of five Zhuhai-1 remote sensing satellites into space on a single Long March-11 carrier rocket. These Earth Observation satellites are the video component of the Chinese Orbita Earth observation system by Zhuhai Orbita Control Engineering Ltd. and will provide data services for areas including agriculture, land and water resources, environmental protection and transport.


Zhuhai-1 (OVS-1) [Zhuhai Orbita]

The Long March-11 carrier rocket launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 12:42 p.m. and was the 272nd flight mission for the Long March series of carrier rockets.

Two OVS-1 satellites are the prototype for the OVS-1 video component. When the constellation is complete the operational Orbita will consist of 10 video satellites (OVS-2), hyperspectral satellites (OHS-2) and small personal satellites (OPS-2). 

China launched two Zhuhai-1 video satellites on June 15, 2017 on a CZ-4B rocket. Both satellites feature a high-resolution video system capable of capturing 20 frames per second and reaching a 1.98-meter ground resolution. The satellites each carry a linear transponder payload for CAMSAT, which are called CAS 4A and CAS 4B respectively.