BEIJING, China (AP) -- China has launched two new research satellites into space, including a 25-kilogram (55-pound) "micro satellite" that scientists heralded as a technological breakthrough, the government said.
A single Long March 2 C carrier rocket blasted off at 11:59 p.m. Sunday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan with the two satellites on board, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
About 12 minutes after liftoff, the carrier rocket released the 204-kilogram (450-pound) Experiment Satellite 1, which Xinhua described as "China's first transmission-type small satellite capable of stereo mapping."
Its functions include surveying China's land resources, the agency said.
Then, 30 seconds later, the rocket released the much smaller Nano-satellite 1, which will be used for high-tech experiments, Xinhua said.
It said the launch made China only the fourth country to launch a "nano" or "micro" satellite, after Russia, the United States and Britain.
Its lighter weight points to a trend toward ever smaller satellites, Xinhua said.
China last year put a human into space -- the third country to do so after Russia and the United States -- providing massive prestige to the Communist regime and the military-linked space program.
May God Bless China!
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actually i read in an article that thye could be latched onto american GPS satellites, renedering them useless. what an easier enemy we would face if they did not have GPS?
East is Red
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just read a Chinese site about this tiny satellite, it is actually is satellite-killer, or satellite-worm which will stick to american satellites and kill them when needed.
we can expect in near future hundreds of these tiny sate-killers will be launched.
War goes to space now, seriously.
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