Update: China launches new satellites

A Long March-2D carrier rocket, carrying a group of satellites, blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, Sept. 19, 2026. (Photo by Wang Yapeng/Xinhua)

TAIYUAN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- China launched a group of satellites on Saturday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province.

Launched at 6:50 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-2D carrier rocket, the satellite group, the PIESAT-2 13-16 satellites, entered the preset orbits successfully.

According to the launch center, the launch marks the 668th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.

The rocket is a two-stage liquid launch vehicle. Its carrying capacity reaches 1.3 tonnes in a 700-km sun-synchronous orbit.

Onboard are four Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites, developed by Beijing-based private satellite maker GalaxySpace.

Duan Xiao, chief designer of the SAR satellites, said the satellites are equipped with high-resolution and intelligent payloads that enable real-time processing of remote sensing data in orbit. Such a design will help power the development of smart space infrastructure in the future.