China Launches Satellite Effortlessly
“Using the Long March-2C carrier rocket, the satellite was launched… and it entered its designated orbit,” according to CCTV.
China’s satellite launch into space on Tuesday was successful, according to state media CCTV.
“On January 9, 2024, at 3:03 PM Beijing time (0703 GMT), China successfully launched the Einstein Probe satellite,” according to CCTV.
Authorities in Taiwan sent emergency phone alerts after the launch, cautioning the public to “please beware of your safety.” According to Taiwan’s foreign minister, there may have been “debris” involved in the alarm.
According to official media, the Einstein Probe launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwest Sichuan province, some 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) from Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.
“Using the Long March-2C carrier rocket… and the satellite entered its designated orbit,” according to CCTV, it was launched.
According to state-run news agency Xinhua on Tuesday, the satellite will “observe mysterious transient phenomena in the universe comparable to the flickering of fireworks.”
According to Xinhua, its goal is to reveal “the violent and little-known aspects of the cosmos.”
CCTV footage saw the white rocket taking off in a cloud of white smoke before splitting apart in orbit.
According to official media, project leader scientist Yuan Weimin called it the “most beautiful satellite I’ve ever seen.”
China’s “space dream” has accelerated under President Xi Jinping’s direction.
To catch up with the US and Russia, the second-biggest economy in the world has invested billions of dollars on its military-run space program.
The nation’s expanding space program aims to send humans to the Moon by 2030, and in October it dispatched a new crew to the Tiangong space station.
China launched 60 satellites into orbit successfully in 2022, according to an annual report submitted to Congress by the US Department of Defense last year. This is a five-fold increase over the five years previous.
According to that report, China’s number of operating satellites is second only to that of the United States.
