Science

TIANPING 3B-01

Radar calibration / technology support · Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST)

Tianping 3B-01 is one of three Chinese satellites launched together October 21, 2024 aboard a Long March 6 rocket from Taiyuan, serving as a radar cross-section calibration target rather than an imaging or reconnaissance spacecraft. Alongside its cluster-mates Tianping-3A-01 and 3B-02, it's designed to give ground-based radar stations a precisely known, predictable signal to bounce measurements off of — the equivalent of a reference weight used to verify a scale is reading correctly, applied to radar power levels and antenna alignment instead. Chinese state media reported this launch as carrying a single satellite before the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology clarified that three separate spacecraft had actually been deployed. The mission also supports low-orbit space-environment monitoring and helps refine orbital-prediction models used across China's broader satellite-tracking infrastructure.