China sent new military satellites to orbit Wednesday (Nov. 3) for an undisclosed mission, following a lengthy launch delay.
State media reported the second cluster of Yaogan-32 satellites flew to space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near the Gobi Desert at 3:43 a.m. EDT (0743 GMT or 3:43 p.m. local time.)
"Entering the scheduled orbit, the launch mission was a complete success," said the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) in mission report machine-translated into English.
The satellites went to orbit aboard a Long March 2C rocket, the same booster type that launched the previous set of Yaogan-32 satellites to space in 2018. At the time, state media provider Xinhua said the satellites would be "used for electromagnetic environment surveys and other related technology tests," according to NASASpaceflight.com.
Related: The latest news about China's space program
State media had much the same description for the new set of satellites launching to space, with Space China saying the Yaogan-32 series would "carry out electromagnetic environment detection and related technical tests." Xinhua's short news report, though, did not have a description of the mission.
The mission was originally set to launch in mid-September, but was delayed for undisclosed reasons.
China operates its space program independently of other countries and has a tradition of only mentioning launches after the fact. In recent months, the country has come under criticism from senior NASA leadership for its activities in space, including allowing a large rocket to fall uncontrolled from orbit. (No one, ultimately, was injured.)
Last week, China reported it had set a new record of orbital launches in 2021, with 40 missions put into space.
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