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...
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".
Here's an official news article:
http://m.news.cntv.cn/2015/09/14/ARTI1442208216619883.shtmlSounds 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".
Photo published on CASC's weibo account:
Catalogued by USSTRATCOM as object 2015-047A/40894
in 617 x 664 km x 98.01°
Larger versions of some of the photos above:
Could GF-9 be an replacement for YG-4?
Could GF-9 be an replacement for YG-4?
Orbit and orbital plane very similar to GF-1
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.
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.