China launched a remote sensing satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gobi Desert on Thursday afternoon, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

The State-owned space contractor said that the Yaogan 34-02 satellite was placed in a preset orbit aboard a Long March 4C rocket that lifted off at 3:09 pm.

The satellite will team up with its predecessor, the Yaogan 34-01, which has been in operation for nearly 11 months, as well as with subsequent Yaogan 34-series satellites to be deployed in the future, as part of a space-based network for purposes such as land mapping, urban infrastructure planning, agricultural yield forecasting and disaster relief, the company said in a statement.

With a liftoff weight of 250 metric tons, the Long March 4C is mainly used to send satellites into sun-synchronous orbit. It is capable of transporting satellites weighing up to 3 metric tons into orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers.

In addition to the satellite, the final stage of the rocket carried a demonstration device to test new technologies, the company noted.

Both the satellite and the rocket were built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, a research and manufacturing complex that is part of the CASC. The launch marked the 411th flight of a Long March rocket and China's sixth space mission this year.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

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