LM-2D Achieves 50 Successes in a Row over the Past 30 Years

At 12:01 Beijing time on August 6,a LM-2D carrier rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center,launching the Gaofen 9-04 satellite and a Tsinghua science satellite into orbit with success.

The Gaofen 9-04 satellite is an optical remote sensing satellite,which was developed by the DFH Satellite Co.,Ltd.of CAST.The satellite will be used for land surveys,city planning,confirmation of land rights,road network design and crop yield estimation,disaster prevention and mitigation.

The Tsinghua science satellite was developed by Tsinghua University,and was designed to verify the theory and technology requirements for gravity satellite system design and orbital atmospheric density measurements based on dual frequency GPS.

A LM-2D carrier rocket is lifting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch CenterPhoto:XU Qiuchen

The LM-2D is a two-stage conventional liquid launch vehicle that is capable of launching a single and/or multiple satellites into different orbits on a single rocket.It has made a record of 50 launch successes in a row since its maiden flight,placing more than 100 satellites into space.

This was the 342nd flight mission of the Long March series launch vehicle.(LIU Yan/China Space News)