Eric Roberts 
China expanded its Yunhai remote sensing satellite constellation with a successful launch from the Gobi Desert on a Long March 2D rocket. The launch took place on October 14 at 8:54 p.m. Eastern (0054 UTC, October 15). The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) quickly confirmed the launch’s success, also disclosing that the mission’s payload was the Yunhai-1 (04) satellite.
The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, a division of CASC, provided both the launch vehicle and developed the Yunhai-1 (04) satellite. According to Chinese state media, this satellite offers services related to atmospheric, marine, and space environment monitoring, disaster prevention and mitigation, and scientific experiments. This is a typical description for Yunhai spacecraft.
However, some Western analysts assess the Yunhai series as having potential military meteorological applications.
The Yunhai-1 series of satellites operate in sun-synchronous orbits (SSO) at an altitude of approximately 780 kilometers. The Long March 2D rocket, which uses hypergolic propellants, has a launch capacity of 1,300 kilograms to a 700-kilometer SSO. The Yunhai-2 series of satellites orbit at a similar altitude but with inclinations of 50 degrees.
Yunhai-1 (02), launched in 2019, experienced a suspected collision with a small debris fragment from a Russian satellite launch in March 2021. The U.S. Space Force cataloged a total of 37 fragments in orbit, with 23 having reentered the Earth’s atmosphere to date.
Yunhai-1 (04) marked China’s 47th orbital launch of 2023. Earlier in the year, CASC stated its intention to conduct over 60 launches in 2023 and has successfully completed 33 launches to date, with contributions from commercial firms.
China is currently preparing for the launch of the Shenzhou-17 crewed mission. This mission will carry a new three-person crew to the Tiangong space station later in the month. The Shenzhou-16 crew currently aboard the space station will hand over control to the Shenzhou-17 crew for the start of their six-month-long stay in orbit.
In addition to its space station missions, China is also making progress toward the launch of the Einstein Probe, a wide-field X-ray space observatory designed to detect flashes from cataclysmic cosmic events. The spacecraft successfully passed thermal vacuum and other tests in July and August, with a scheduled launch in December from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center using a Long March 2C rocket.
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