China is putting hardware into orbit this year; Thursday’s launch pushed the count to 62. A Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 5 p.m. Beijing time, carrying six satellites split across two designated groups.
These include three Yaogan-53 satellites and three Yaogan-56 satellites, developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, each weighing possibly below 700kg due to the payload capabilities of the Long March 4B rocket.
There has been no official comment on whether these six satellites will form one constellation or two separate constellations once deployed into low Earth orbit.
According to the official statement, these satellites will be used for the estimation of crop yields, survey of land and resources, disaster prevention plans, and other scientific purposes. This has been the official justification provided by China for all its Yaogan satellites.
Outside space trackers and Western analysts, however, have long treated the Yaogan series as serving a dual civilian-military role, with many assessed as reconnaissance satellites regardless of the official description, a gap between stated purpose and outside assessment that’s persisted across dozens of Yaogan launches.
You might miss it in the technical details, but this was the 666th launch of the Long March rocket family overall and the 58th specifically for the 4B variant.
It’s also the first six-satellite Yaogan deployment since a pair of launches from Xichang in late 2024, suggesting China is returning to bulk deployments after primarily sending up smaller Yaogan batches through most of this year.
Both the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology and the China Academy of Space Technology used their post-launch statements to stress adherence to quality standards, with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation confirming this month that it’s tightened quality control across its enterprises to address what it called a serious challenge.
