The China Great Wall Industry Corp. signed an agreement with Satellogic, a company based in Argentina and backed by Chinese financing, to launch 90 commercial Earth observation nano-satellites or micro-satellites by the end of 2020, via 5 or 6 dedicated Long March rocket flights. Satellogic has launched 8 satellites till now. Spaceflight Now described it as "one of China's biggest wins" as it's the largest single deal in more than 20 years for China's launch industry in the international commercial market. The 90-satellite constellation planned by Satellogic follows the launch of five ÑuSat Earth-observing smallsats on Long March 4B and Long March 2D rockets since 2016. Three more ÑuSat-type satellites are slated to fly as secondary payloads on a Chinese launch later this year, before Satellogic begins flying spacecraft on dedicated Long March missions. The next 90 satellites being built by Satellogic will “incremental evolutions” of the ÑuSat design, also known as the Aleph 1 series. The spacecraft will launch into polar, sun-synchronous orbits around 310 miles (500 kilometers) in altitude.The Long March 6 is one of China’s newest rockets. Fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen, the Long March 6 stands around 95 feet (29 meters) tall and is capable of placing payloads of up to 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) into a sun-synchronous orbit several hundred miles above Earth. China has launched two Long March 6 missions to date — both successfully — from a launch pad at the Taiyuan space base in northeastern China’s Shanxi province. The larger Long March 2D rocket is a workhorse for China, launching more than 40 times since the 1990s from Taiyuan and from the Jiuquan base in northwestern China’s Inner Mongolia region. “We’re proud to extend our highly successfully working relationship with Satellogic,” said Gao Ruofei, Executive Vice President of China Great Wall.

(Comment: Satellogic, which is headquartered in Buenos Aires and has its satellite manufacturing facility in nearby Montevideo, Uruguay, is building a fleet of satellites to cover the globe with visible, hyperspectral and infrared imagery. The company is one of several startups active in the commercial Earth-imaging market, along with Planet, BlackSky, ICEYE, and others.The Satellogic satellites are fitted with black-and-white, hyperspectral and infrared cameras designed to collect light at numerous wavelengths, revealing information about vegetation, land use, and pollution not easily discernible with a conventional visible camera.)