Newshot China to develop and launch "Hongmeng Program," "Kuafu-2," Exo-Earth Survey, and Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry Space Observatory in the next 3-5 years
IT Home, November 12: At 19:41 on November 11, 2026, China launched the Pathfinder satellite of the Space Exploration Program from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center using a Long March 2D (CZ-2D) Y108 carrier rocket in a four-satellite combination configuration. The satellites successfully entered their predetermined orbits, and the launch mission was a complete success.
According to the National Space Science Center, the Pathfinder satellite is a technology test satellite for the Space Exploration Science Satellite Program. It will conduct in-orbit verification and in-orbit experiments on key payload technologies with leading and major application prospects in the "Hongmeng Program," "Kuafu-2," and the National Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan for Space Science. After the verification mission is completed, it will carry out demonstration detection and research on space environment monitoring. The satellite has a designed lifespan of 2 years and operates in a sun-synchronous dawn-dusk orbit at an altitude of 600 km.
The Pathfinder satellite project involves the development of four satellites: A, B, C, and D. Satellite A's payloads include the Magnetic Field and Velocity Field Imager (MHI), the Very Large Area Gamma-ray Space Telescope Pathfinder (VLAST-P), the High-Resolution Atmospheric Boundary Layer Lidar (HiRAL), the Langmuir Probe (LMP), and the Space Weather Effects Monitor (SWEM). Satellites B, C, and D form a space distributed low-frequency interferometric imaging spectrometer technology test system in a formation configuration. After the satellites enter orbit, they will complete the separation of Satellite A from the BCD satellite combination, complete the separation and deployment of Satellites B, C, and D, formation control, and inter-satellite measurement verification, and carry out in-orbit technical verification and testing of payloads.
The Pathfinder satellite project is organized and implemented by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with the following responsibilities:
- Overall project coordination is handled by the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences;
- The satellite system is handled by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites; the MHI payload is developed by the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics; the HiRAL payload is developed by the University of Science and Technology of China; the VLAST-P payload is developed by the Purple Mountain Observatory; the LMP payload, the SWEM payload, and the BCD satellites' low-frequency interferometric imaging spectrometer payload are developed by the National Space Science Center;
- The launch vehicle system is developed by the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation;
- The ground support system is handled by the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with ground reception tasks specifically implemented by the Aerospace Information Research Institute.
IT Home learned from the official announcement that, looking to the future, the Space Exploration Science Satellite Program — a major science and technology task led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences to seize the commanding heights of science and technology — focuses on major frontier issues in space science such as the origin of the universe, the origin of space weather, and the origin of life. In the next 3-5 years, it will successively complete the development and launch missions of four space science satellite programs: the "Hongmeng Program," "Kuafu-2," the Exo-Earth Survey, and the Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry Space Observatory, striving to achieve new breakthroughs in fields such as the cosmic Dark Ages, the solar magnetic activity cycle, the detection of exoplanets similar to Earth, and the physical laws under extreme cosmic conditions.