China conducts its last launch of 2012

In China's last scheduled launch of 2012 a Long March 2D successfully placed the Turkish Gokturk 2 satellite in orbit. The launch took place from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre at 1612 GMT on 18 December. The satellite has a dual Military and Civil earth observation mission and will be used to service their requirements. Gokturk 2 has a planned life of five years and had a launch mass of 450 kilogrammes. The satellites main payload is a multi-spectral imager that has the capability of providing imagery with a resolution of 2.5 metres in the panchromatic band, 10 metres in the multi-spectral and near infra-red bands and 20 metres in the short wave infra-red band with an imagery swath of 20 kilometres. The launch was originally scheduled for the 19th December but was brought forward by 24 hours in order to avoid forecast adverse weather conditions.