A Long March 2D/2 (CZ-2D/2) launch vehicle has successfully launched a military reconnaissance satellite into a near polar sun-synchronous low Earth orbit. The launch took place at the Jiuquan launch site in Inner Mongolia, China, at 0710 GMT on 17 March 2019. China never admits to any military use of its satellite and this launch was no exception. Officially the spacecraft is for science experiments, land survey, crop yield assessment and disaster monitoring but is really a military optical reconnaissance satellite even though it has the title Luda Kancha Weixing 4 (Land Survey Sat 4). The spacecraft is the fourth in the LKW series.
LKW-4 is launched into orbit. Courtesy: Xinhua
