BEIJING (Sputnik) – The Shijian-10, or SJ-10, was launched atop a Long March 2-D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert on April 6.
The SJ-10’s re-entry capsule touched down at 4:30 p.m. local time (08:30 GMT) at a planned landing area in northern China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the Xinhua news service cited retrievers as saying.
The bullet-shaped satellite was tasked with carrying out 19 experiments in orbit during its 12-day journey, including in areas of fluid physics, microgravity combustion, space material, space radiation effects, and space bio-technology.
The SJ-10 satellite program is a collaboration between 11 of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ departments and six universities, with participation by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. A total of four SJ-10 launches are planned by the end of 2016.
