Gaofen 9, Long March 2D, JSLC - September 14, 2015 (04:42 UTC)

• #20 by Galactic Penguin SST on 14 Sep, 2015 05:22
• Quote from: Chris Bergin on 14 Sep, 2015 05:18

  Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 14 Sep, 2015 04:42

  Launch time should be around right now. Stand by for news on this one...
  

  
  30 mins past T-0....someone would have visually seen a launch?
  

  
  Indeed someone has seen it (see the photos below)!
  
  I suggest that we wait for the official announcement though...
  

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• #21 by Galactic Penguin SST on 14 Sep, 2015 05:35
• It looks like the state television news channel has confirmed launch success with liftoff at 04:42 UTC......right rocket, but wrong name for the payload! In this latest episode of the Great Chinese Spaceflight Mystery, the passenger is called....."Gaofen 9".
   
• #22 by Galactic Penguin SST on 14 Sep, 2015 05:45
• Here's an official news article: http://m.news.cntv.cn/2015/09/14/ARTI1442208216619883.shtml
  
  Sounds like it might be another similar case like GF-8 with ex-spysat models turned over to a semi-civilian role, as it mentioned that GF-9 will "provide sub-meter class resolution optical images for city planning, road network design, land ownership determination etc. purposes". 
• #23 by Nordren on 14 Sep, 2015 06:44
• Photo published on CASC's weibo account:
  
  

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• #24 by Chris Bergin on 14 Sep, 2015 07:06
• Rui's article:
  http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/09/china-lofts-yg28-long-march-2d/
• #25 by input~2 on 14 Sep, 2015 08:13
• Catalogued by USSTRATCOM as object 2015-047A/40894
  in 617 x 664 km x 98.01°
• #26 by input~2 on 14 Sep, 2015 08:28
• Launch video
  http://news.cntv.cn/2015/09/14/VIDE1442218082975561.shtml
• #27 by input~2 on 14 Sep, 2015 12:41

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• #28 by Satori on 14 Sep, 2015 12:48
• Launch images...

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• #29 by Satori on 14 Sep, 2015 12:49
• And more...

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• #30 by Galactic Penguin SST on 14 Sep, 2015 14:59
• Larger versions of some of the photos above:

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• #31 by limen4 on 14 Sep, 2015 19:27
• Could GF-9 be an replacement for YG-4?
• #32 by jcm on 14 Sep, 2015 20:19
• Quote from: limen4 on 14 Sep, 2015 19:27

  Could GF-9 be an replacement for YG-4?
  

  
  Orbit and orbital plane very similar to GF-1
• #33 by limen4 on 15 Sep, 2015 19:15
• Quote from: jcm on 14 Sep, 2015 20:19

  Quote from: limen4 on 14 Sep, 2015 19:27

  Could GF-9 be an replacement for YG-4?
  

  
  Orbit and orbital plane very similar to GF-1
  

  AFAIN GF-1 is still working and was designed for a 5-8 year lifetime. Some recent images by GF-1 have been released under http://www.cnqiang.com/junshi/junbai/201508/01247648.html. A replacement of GF-1 seems unlikely but yes the same orbit and orbital plane indicates a jointly work. What triggered me to think about a replacement of YG-4 is the same launch time as GF-9.
• #34 by limen4 on 17 Sep, 2015 19:42
• This source (http://www.chinaspaceflight.com/satellite/Gaofen/GF-9/GF9-launch.html) reports that chief designer of GF-9 is Zhao Jian (赵键). The same source tells that development time was 8 years. It is noteworthy, that Zhao was also the designer of YG-24 and VRSS-1.
• #35 by Liss on 14 Oct, 2015 12:30
• Quote from: limen4 on 15 Sep, 2015 19:15

  What triggered me to think about a replacement of YG-4 is the same launch time as GF-9.
  

  True if the former would keep its orbital plane which is not the case. In almost seven years, YG-4 LTDN drifted from 11:00 to 07:12. Neither of YG-2 type satellites would keep their LTDN nor did regular altitude maneuvers.
• #36 by beidou on 09 Nov, 2015 19:45
• Per Chinese media report, this satellite has a GSD of 0.5 m, the highest we know for a Chinese remote sensing satellite ever.