China launches latest marine research satellite

China launched its latest oceanographic research satellite, the HY-2D, on a Long March 4B carrier rocket from the Gobi Desert on Wednesday morning, according to the China National Space Administration.

The administration said in a statement that the satellite, which lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, is tasked with working with its two predecessors — the HY-2B and the HY-2C — to form a space-based network monitoring the dynamic marine environment around the clock.

In October 2018, the HY-2B was lifted atop a Long March 4B at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province. The HY-2C was launched in September last year by the same type of rocket from the Jiuquan center.