On the 24th of March a CZ-2C rocket was launched from the Xichang spaceport (\u897f\u660c) with three Yaogan Weixing satellites (\u9065\u611f\u536b\u661f), which translates as \u201eremote viewing satellites\u201d. This was the first successful Chinese launch since a failed flight of the CZ-7A rocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yaogan<\/em> is a very broad term encompassing several kinds of satellites utilized by China for both civil and military purposes (a term also known as dual use). Starting from 2006 over 60 Yaogan satellites were launched into orbit. Some of them provide regular Earth observation services in visible bands. Those satellites are utilized for such applications as disaster management, agriculture monitoring, and last but not least intelligence analysis. Some Yaogan satellites conduct observations in radar bands (SAR), which allows them to see the surface of the Earth even below the cloud cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are also Yaogan satellites used for electromagnetic signal monitoring. By using such satellites one can easily determine the location of vehicles or other objects communicating by radio. Therefore they are a very helpful asset used to observe ship movements at sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n