CASC - China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation logo.
Dec. 23, 2017
Long March 2D launches LKW-2
The Chinese have launched the Yaogan Weixing remote sensing satellite – also known as the Land Surveying Satellite -2 (LKW-2) – via a Long March-2D (Chang Zheng-2D) on Saturday. The launch – from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) – took place at 04:14 UTC from the 603 Launch Platform at the LC43 Launch Complex.
China Launches Land Exploration Satellite
As per usual for the Chinese media, this spacecraft is once again classed as a new remote sensing bird that will be used for scientific experiments, land survey, crop yield assessment, and disaster monitoring.
As was the case in previous launches of the Yaogan Weixing series, analysts believe this class of satellites is used for military purposes.
As was the case with the former Soviet Union (and in a smaller scale with Russia) with the ‘Cosmos’ designation, the ‘Yaogan’ designation is used to hide the true military nature of the vehicles orbited.
LKW-2 satellite
The satellite is probably an electro-optical observation satellite, with the previous launch gaining the public name Land Surveying Satellite -1 (LKW-1).
For more information: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC): http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html
Images, Video, Text, Credit: CASC/NASA Spaceflight.com/William Graham/CCTV+.
Greetings, Orbiter.ch
