Beijing: A Smart Dragon-3 carrier rocket lifted off from the waters off east China’s Shandong Province on Wednesday, sending Oriental Smart Eye hyperspectral satellites 01 and 02 into the planned orbits.
The rocket blasted off from the sea near the city of Haiyang. Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center conducted the offshore launch mission, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
The Smart Dragon-3 rocket uses solid fuel and consists of 4 stages. It is a cost-effective and reliable launch vehicle, and is mainly used to launch spacecraft into sun-synchronous orbit or low Earth orbit.
The rocket is characterized by a strong carrying capacity, as it is 31 meters long and has a maximum diameter of 2. 64 meters, and it has the capacity to carry about 1. 5 tons to a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers.
