China launched an optical Earth observation satellite April 30, beginning a mission designed to provide detailed reconnaissance imagery to the Chinese military.
Three Chinese military satellites launched Saturday aboard a Long March 4C rocket, joining six others China has sent into orbit since the start of the year on ocean surveillance missions.
Weeks after the launch of an earlier trio of Chinese military satellites, another spacecraft triplet successfully took off Feb. 24 aboard a Long March 4C rocket on a clandestine mission that analysts believe may involve spying on foreign naval forces.
China launched three Yaogan military satellites Friday on a Long March 4C rocket, adding to a fleet of spacecraft independent analysts believe are designed to spy on naval forces.
A secret Chinese military payload, believed to be a surveillance satellite, successfully flew into space Sunday aboard a Long March 4C rocket on China’s 39th and final scheduled orbital launch attempt of the year.
Three mysterious payloads widely believed to be signals intelligence satellites for the Chinese military rocketed into orbit on top of a Long March 2C booster Monday from a launch base in southwestern China.
China launched a Long March 2C rocket Friday with three Yaogan 30 military satellites, and tested new grid fins on the Long March’s first stage to help guide the spent booster away from populated areas.
A Chinese Long March 4C rocket failed to place its top secret military payload into orbit Wednesday after a launch from the Taiyuan space base southwest of Beijing, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.