A Long March 6A roared from Launch Complex 9A at 00:34 am China Standard Time on September 7th (16:34 pm Universal Coordinated Time on September 6th) out of the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center heading for a polar orbit. Riding on board was a small group of satellites.
Atop the rocket were three satellites, part of Yaogan-40 Group-03 (遥感四十号03组), developed by the China Academy of Space Technology. The three satellites of the third group are expected to perform electromagnetic environment detection over areas of Earth below, along with related technology tests for that mission.
Deployment of a third group of Yaogan-40 satellites follows group two in May and group one in September 2023, both also consisting of three satellites. It is unclear if the three groups work with one another, but teams on the ground likely corroborate data collected by the nine satellites to improve information gathered.
To deploy the three Yaogan-40 satellites, the Long March 6A was equipped with a special payload fairing and adapter, similar to Arianespace’s Système de Lancement Double Ariane. The rocket’s fairing for this mission was split into three segments1, with the uppermost fairing half segment deploying as standard during ascent, while the remaining segments stayed attached. During the deployment sequence, those fairing segments were detached to make way for payload deployment.
This year, the Long March 6A is ramping up its launch cadence with today being its seventh flight of 2025, and having last flown twenty days ago. To support a high-density launch schedule, launch teams have continued to implement and refine parallel operations where the next vehicle begins technical preparations at the processing facilities before the prior mission launches. Additionally, teams have improved documentation and processes for personnel handovers, according to the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, as well as having enhanced weather protection measures to address frequent thunderstorms at Taiyuan during this part of the year.
Today’s launch was the 16th mission for the Long March 6A, the 244th Long March vehicle launch from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, and the 593rd launch of the Long March launch vehicle series. This was also the 53rd launch from China in 2025.
Liftoff video via 我们的太空 on Weibo and Cosmic Penguin on Bluesky.
Livestream replay via ThatSpaceDogeGuy on YouTube.
Check out the previous Long March 6A launch
Taiyuan Launch Expands GuoWang Constellation [Long March 6A Y10]
![Taiyuan Launch Expands GuoWang Constellation [Long March 6A Y10]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oTcI!,w_1300,h_650,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F24baefdb-cdb0-4705-b5a5-a793d03f160f_3402x1958.jpeg)
A Long March 6A blasted off from Launch Complex 9A at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 22:15 pm China Standard Time (14:15 Universal Coordinated Time) on August 17th, heading for a near-polar orbit with another group of internet satellites.
What is the Long March 6A?
This section is for those less familiar with China's Long March series of launch vehicles.
The Long March 6A is the first new-generation launch vehicle in China to utilize a combination of solid and liquid propellants. This vehicle was developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology and utilizes a two-and-a-half-stage design, the boosters burn an unspecified solid propellant with the first and second stages burning rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen.
The payload capacity of the launch vehicle is currently as follows:
8,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit
4,500 kilograms to a 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit
The first-stage is powered by two YF-100 engines, generating a combined thrust of approximately 244 tons using rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen. The first-stage is augmented by four solid rocket boosters, each producing 124 tons of thrust from an unspecified solid propellant, resulting in a combined booster thrust of 492 tons. Together, the first-stage and boosters generate a total thrust of 736 tons. The second stage is powered by a single YF-115 engine, producing 18 tons of thrust using also burning rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen.
On the launchpad, the Long March 6A is believed to be up to 52 meters tall2, a handful of fairings are available, and weighs 530,000 kilograms when fully fuelled. The first and second stages of the vehicle have a diameter of 3.35 meters while the solid-fuelled boosters have a diameter of 2 meters, the fairing has a diameter of 4.2 meters.
So far, every Long March 6A has launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, in the north of Shanxi province.
See illustrated below, made by a Chinese netizen following the launch of Yaogan-40 Group-01.
It is unclear how tall the rocket is with its Yaogan-40 delivering fairing.