China launches six Yaogan remote-sensing satellites on Long March 4B
A Long March 4B rocket lifted off from Jiuquan on Saturday carrying six satellites from the Yaogan-53 and Yaogan-56 groups into their planned orbits, China's 75th launch of 2026.
China launched six remote-sensing satellites into orbit on Saturday on a single Long March 4B rocket, state media reported.
The Long March 4B (serial Y81) lifted off from Launch Site 94 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 3:25am Beijing time on Saturday (19:25 UTC on Friday), carrying the satellites into low Earth orbit, according to CGTN (https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-10-24/One-rocket-six-satellites-China-launches-new-Yaogan-satellites-1RuQnYkS4tq/share_amp.html) and the specialist tracker China in Space (https://www.china-in-space.com/p/another-six-yaogan-remote-sensing).
The payload comprised three satellites from the Yaogan-53 group (07, 08 and 09) and three from the Yaogan-56 group (19, 20 and 21), which entered their preset orbits successfully, Xinhua reported via Bastille Post (https://www.bastillepost.com/global/article/6285748-china-launches-new-remote-sensing-satellite-groups-2). Their stated uses are scientific experiments, land and resource surveys, crop yield estimation, and disaster prevention and mitigation (https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-10-24/One-rocket-six-satellites-China-launches-new-Yaogan-satellites-1RuQnYkS4tq/share_amp.html).
Commercial firms MinoSpace and GalaxySpace contributed to developing the satellite groups, though it was not specified which satellites or how much each contributed, China in Space reported (https://www.china-in-space.com/p/another-six-yaogan-remote-sensing). Western launch trackers list the Yaogan payloads as remote-sensing satellites whose full purposes are not disclosed (https://www.china-in-space.com/p/another-six-yaogan-remote-sensing).
The launch was the 673rd mission of the Long March rocket series, the 59th flight of the Long March 4B, and China’s 75th launch of 2026, according to China in Space (https://www.china-in-space.com/p/another-six-yaogan-remote-sensing). It follows a September deployment that added the 01 to 03 satellites of each group (https://www.china-in-space.com/p/another-six-yaogan-remote-sensing).
More on this topic: all Satellite Internet stories
