China launches new satellite for Earth observation

JIUQUAN -- China launched a new Earth-observation satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China on Tuesday.

The satellite, Gaofen-3 02, was launched by a Long March-4C rocket at 7:45 am (Beijing Time) and has entered the planned orbit successfully.

The satellite will operate in a solar synchronous orbit at an altitude of 755 km and will be networked with the orbiting Gaofen-3 satellite to form a land-sea radar satellite constellation. It will improve the monitoring capabilities of marine ship observations, as well as the monitoring of emergencies at sea and the land-sea natural environment.

It will serve the fields of marine disaster prevention and mitigation, dynamic marine environment monitoring, environmental protection, water conservancy, agriculture and meteorology.

The Gaofen-3 02 satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, and the carrier rocket by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.

The launch marks the 398th mission for the Long March series carrier rockets.

[Video by Zhang Jie]