At 1828 GMT, 8 May, a Chinese Long March 4B (CZ-4B) rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, Northern China, carrying the GAOFEN 5 remote-sensing satellite to a LEO sun-synchronous orbit. The GAOFEN series are part of a civilian, high-resolution, hyperspectral Earth Observation project initiated in China during 2010.
The Long March 4B rocket lifts off from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center carrying GAOFEN 5. Courtesy of Xinhua
The GAOFEN programme is planned to consist of 14 satellites. The GAOFEN 1-4 spacecraft have already been launched as part of the programme and GAOFEN 6 is planned to be launched during this year also.
