Beijing to launch remote sensing satellites for Islamabad in June, says China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology

Beijing: China will launch two remote sensing satellites for Pakistan in June, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT) said on Tuesday. It will be the first international commercial launch for a Long March-2C rocket after it carried Motorola’s Iridium satellites into orbit in 1999. The rocket will also carry the China-France Oceanography Satellite into space in September this year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported quoting CALVT. The satellite will monitor ocean wind and waves. Long March-2C rockets are mainly used to send satellites into low Earth or Sun-synchronous orbits. China had launched Pakistan’s communication Satellite PAKSAT-1R in 2011. In 2016, Pakistan and China had signed an agreement for the launch of a special remote sensing satellite this year to monitor the development of the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.