China successfully launched 13 satellites with a single rocket.

China successfully launched 13 satellites with a single rocket on November 6, 2020 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, China. Out of these 13 satellites, 10 satellites were from Argentina.

Highlights

The satellites were launched with the Long March 6 carrier rocket. For the Long March rocket, this was the 351st satellite launch in the series. Further, the launch included the biggest ever launch of foreign satellites by any country. China has been launching several satellites from foreign countries into space including the satellites from its close ally, Pakistan.

China’s  Space programmes

The space programmes of the China have mostly been launched to counter the  space programmes of Russia and the United States (US). China had launched its first ever rocket in 1960. Currently, China have launched 363 satellites. However, China is still behind the US in number of operational satellites. Russia is at the third position with its 169 operational satellites. The most recent launched satellite of China is Beidou which was launched on June 23, 2020. It is an  operational satellite navigational system of the Chinese. With this navigational system, China’s dependence on USA for GPS system has ended completely.  Further, China have planned to construct a permanent Chinese space Station by 2022. It has also launched Tianwen-1 in July 2020 which is a mars mission of China. The spacecraft will arrive to Mars in 2021.

Where does India stand?

India began its space journey in 1963. India was initially leaned on foreign partners like France and China. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) built India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, named after the mathematician Aryabhata, This satellite was launched by the Soviet Union on 19 April 1975. Satellite Rohini was the first satellite that was placed in orbit by Indian-made launch vehicle, called SLV-3.