On December 29, 2018 at 08:00 UTC the “Long March – 2D” (“Changzheng-2D”) rocket-carrier was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, the northwest of China. The rocket orbited 6 “Yunhai-2” atmospheric research satellites and one test spacecraft for China’s planned Hongyan low Earth orbit communications network.