China Long March 4B Launch of Haiyang-2E Earth Ocean Observation Satellite
At China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Launch Site 94 in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a Long March 4B lifted off to fly towards a sun-synchronous orbit at 07:46 am China Standard Time on July 2, 2026, (23:46 pm Universal Coordinated Time on July 1st), carrying a new ocean monitoring spacecraft.
The Haiyang2E satellite will replace the Haiyang-2B launched in 2018 and work with the Haiyang-2C, 2D and other orbiting satellites in a network serving maritime rights, disaster mitigation, resource exploitation, and marine research.
The Long March 4B, also known as the Chang Zheng 4B, CZ-4B, and LM-4B, is a Chinese expendable orbital launch vehicle. It is mostly used to place satellites into low Earth orbit and Sun-synchronous orbits.
Atop of the launch vehicle was the China Academy of Space Technology-built 1,500-kilogram Haiyang-2E on behalf of China’s National Satellite Ocean Application Service, under the State Oceanic Administration. The spacecraft will monitor the environment of the world’s oceans, measuring their waves, temperatures, and winds. To do that, a handful of instruments are onboard:
A 1,600-kilometer swath Microwave Radiometer Imager for surface temperature, wind, and vapor monitoring; a dual-beam, 1,300-kilometer swath Scatterometer for collecting wind data; a 25-kilometer resolution Calibration Microwave Radiometer for measuring water vapor; a 16-kilometer resolution Radar Altimeter for tracking wave height; and a Laser Retroreflector Array to enable accurate distance measurements.
To assist the spacecraft with its tasks, France’s Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) system is onboard as part of a regular collaboration for the Haiyang-2 series. This system assists the spacecraft by measuring its location in orbit with centimeter accuracy, allowing teams on the ground to better understand instrument data collected.
Haiyang-2E joins eight other spacecraft of its series currently in orbit, while being the eleventh deployed since the first launch in May 2002. The last addition was Haiyang-4-01 in November 2024 for monitoring ocean salinity. Across the current spacecraft, those designated under Haiyang-11 for measuring ocean color, Haiyang-22 keeps track of the marine environment, and Haiyang-33 performs general monitoring of the oceans.
Today’s Haiyang-2 spacecraft is also part of a new trio that will be launched this year and next, at least with Haiyang-2F and Haiyang-2G set to be added. Those will replace the aging Haiyang-2B, Haiyang-2C, and Haiyang-2D, respectively.
Finally, today’s launch was the 57th mission for the Long March 4B, the 118th launch for the Long March 4 series, the 270th Long March vehicle from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, and the 654th launch of the Long March launch vehicle series. This was also the 45th launch from China in 2026.
Duration: 37 seconds
Date: July 1, 2026
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