China has successfully launched the Gaofen 12-03 satellite, aboard a Long March-4C carrier rocket, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China.
The satellite will be mainly used in a variety of fields including land surveys, urban planning, rural land rights confirmation, road network design, crop yield estimation and disaster relief. This launch marks the 425th flight mission of the Long March series of carrier rockets.
The Long March-4C carrier rocket used on this mission is a normal temperature liquid three-stage carrier rocket with excellent performance and wide application. It has the ability to launch various types of satellites with different orbital requirements. It has a carrying capacity of 3 tons to typical sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 700 kilometers.
This is the first time that a Long March-4C model has applied fully autonomous alignment technology. Verified by measured data from multiple launch sites, the fully autonomous alignment relies on inertial unit measurement data to calculate azimuth in real time, and computer automatic binding reduces the risk of personnel transmission. It is also not affected by climate conditions such as blowing sand, strong wind and showers, thus improving the universality and adaptability of rockets compared with the traditional optical alignment technology that can transmit azimuth deviations.
This mission is the sixth of the Long March-4C model this year. The proportion of young people in this rocket model team is more than 70%, but most of them also have rich experience in testing and launching.
Source: https://pandaily.com/china-successfully-launches-gaofen-12-03-satellite/