Picture this: at 3:48 a.m. on Tuesday, off the coast of Rizhao City in east Shandong Province, the Chinese mainland sent a Smart Dragon-3 rocket crashing into the dawn sky! 🚀 This four-stage solid-propellant carrier zapped 11 Geely-05 constellation satellites into preset orbits, marking its seventh flight mission with a bang.
These new space gems are part of GeeSpace's Geely constellation, which plans to swell to 72 satellites by 2025. Once up there, they'll create a global web of commercial satellite Internet of Things (IoT) communication services—imagine connecting gadgets from sandy beaches to mountain peaks without missing a beat. 📶🌐
Built by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the Smart Dragon-3 is tailor-made for sun-synchronous and low Earth orbits. It can haul up to 1.5 tonnes to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit—perfect for missions that need consistent daylight views of our planet.
The offshore launch was a showcase of precision, orchestrated by the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. By taking to the sea, engineers gained more flexibility in launch trajectories—a trend that space pros are definitely watching. 👀
With this mission, the race to connect every corner of the globe moves forward. Stay tuned, because soon your IoT devices might just chat through satellites sailing overhead! 🌟
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
