China's New Earth-Observation Satellites in Unexpected Orbits: Report

A Chinese Long March 2D rocket launches two SuperView1 Earth observation satellites into orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016. (Image credit: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation)

Two commercial Earth-observation satellites launched by China on Wednesday (Dec. 28) are not in their intended orbits, according the launch news website Spaceflight Now.

Citing tracking data from the U.S. military, Spaceflight Now reports that China's two new SuperView 1 satellites (also known as Gaojing 1) are flying in lower-than-expected orbits. The satellites launched into space at 11:23 a.m. Beijing time Wednesday (0323 GMT or 10:23 p.m. EST on Tuesday) from China's Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and are currently in an "egg-shaped" orbit that ranges between 133 miles and 325 miles (214-524 kilometers) above Earth, Spaceflight Now reports. The satellites were expected to be delivered into a 300-mile-high (500 km) orbit by their Long March 2D rocket. [China in Space: The Latest News]

"The satellites would likely re-enter Earth's atmosphere within months in such a low orbit, and it was unclear late Wednesday whether the craft had enough propellant to raise their altitudes," Spaceflight Now reports.

You can learn more details about China's commercial SuperView 1 satellites in Spaceflight Now's full story here.

The Long March 2D launch of the two satellites followed just one week after China's successful launch of TanSat, a carbon dioxide mapping satellite, aboard a Long March 2D rocket on Dec. 21 from the country's Jiuquan satellite launch center. The country also launched the next-generation weather satellite Fengyun-4 aboard a Long March 3B rocket on Dec. 10 from the Xichang satellite launch center.

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Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.

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