China plans to launch eleven Huanjing satellites for disaster and environmental monitoring

Environmental monitoring

Environmental monitoring describes the processes and activities that need to take place to characterise and monitor the quality of the environment...

 ("huanjing" （环境） is Chinese for "environment"). The satellites will be capable of visible, infrared, multi-spectral and synthetic aperture radar

Synthetic aperture radar

Synthetic-aperture radar is a form of radar whose defining characteristic is its use of relative motion between an antenna and its target region to provide distinctive long-term coherent-signal variations that are exploited to obtain finer spatial resolution than is possible with conventional...

 imaging.

The first two satellites, Huanjing-1A and Huanjing-1B, were launched on September 6, 2008 on a CZ-2C (i.e. Chang Zheng-2C / Long March-2C) rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center

Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center

The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center also known as Base 25 , is a People's Republic of China space and defence launch facility . It is situated in Kelan County, Xinzhou Prefecture, Shanxi Province and is the second of three launch sites having been founded in March 1966 and coming into full...

. In a report dated 2008-09-03, the Associated Press of Pakistan

Associated Press of Pakistan

Associated Press of Pakistan is a government-operated national news agency of Pakistan. It is not associated with the Associated Press agency .-Lack of financial resources:...

 indicated the launch would be conducted 2008-09-05 using a Long March 2C

Long March 2C

Long March 2C , or Chang Zheng 2C as in Chinese pinyin is a member of the Long March 2 rocket family, an expendable launch system operated by the People's Republic of China. This vehicle was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, and the first launch occurred on November 26,...

 carrier rocket. On 2008-09-05, Aviation Week reported the first launch would be of optical imaging satellites.

Launches

Date	Launch site	Payload	Outcome	Comments
2008-09-06	Taiyuan Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center also known as Base 25 , is a People's Republic of China space and defence launch facility . It is situated in Kelan County, Xinzhou Prefecture, Shanxi Province and is the second of three launch sites having been founded in March 1966 and coming into full...	Huanjing 1A and 1B	Success