China’s commercial rocket puts 2 satellites into 'twilight orbit'

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – China sent two satellites into space aboard a commercial rocket on Tuesday, the first to “successfully send satellites to the twilight orbit.”

An official statement from the State Council said that the CERES-1 Y9 carrier rocket was launched into space at 2333GMT, Monday, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

“The twilight orbit is a special type of sun-synchronous orbit in which the satellite crosses the equator at approximately 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., exactly when the local sun rises and sets,” the statement said.

“This means the satellite can always be illuminated by sunlight as the orbital plane and the earth’s twilight line are approximately coincident. Therefore, the satellite can receive adequate and continuous energy supply,” it added.

It was the 11th flight mission of the CERES rocket, which Beijing-based Galactic Energy developed.

According to the statement, a small-scale solid-propellant carrier rocket is designed to send micro-satellites to low orbit.

So far, Galactic Energy has launched 35 commercial satellites for 16 commercial satellite customers.

The two satellites are designed to focus on meteorological environment detection and real-time wide-area comprehensive perception satellite application services.