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China has launched dozens of rockets for weather, climate and agricultural monitoring in the past two years [Xinhua]
The satellite, which was launched from the Jiuquan Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, was carried aboard a Long March-2D rocket.
This type of rocket has been used in more than 260 similar space missions.
Saturday’s launch comes just two days after China launched a pair of “Superview” remote-sensing satellites from the Taiyuan Launch Center in the north of the country.
The Superview satellites are capable of processing commercial images within 50-cm resolution and can be used by global customers surveying and mapping land.
They can also be used to monitor and warn of environmental hazards.
Since 1970, China has launched more than 100 satellites for weather and disaster monitoring, communications and navigation.
China is also developing the homegrown Beidou navigation network as an alternative to the US-run Global Positioning System.
Apart from Russia, China is one of America’s biggest rivals in space exploration.
China plans to land “taikonauts” on the Moon by 2036 and Mars thereafter.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
