Long March 2C rocket carrying four satellites launched

China launched a Long March 2C carrier rocket on Monday morning at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province to place four satellites into space.

The rocket blasted off at 8:19 am and deployed three Yaogan 30-series remote-sensing satellites as well as a micro communication satellite into their orbits, said the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country's leading space contractor.

The State-owned conglomerate said the newest Yaogan 30 satellites are tasked with conducting electromagnetic environmental detection and other experimental operations.

The first satellites in the Yaogan 30 series were launched in September 2017. A total of 10 groups of Yaogan 30 satellites have been deployed and all of them were carried by the Long March 2C.

A Long March 2C is 43 meters long and 3.35 meters wide and has a liftoff weight of 242.5 metric tons. The rocket is mainly used to deploy satellites to low-Earth and Sun-synchronous orbits.

The launch was the 380th flight of the Long March rocket fleet, the nation's largest launch vehicle family.