China launches new satellite

TAIYUAN - China launched a new satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern province of Shanxi on Saturday.

The satellite, Gaofen-11 03, was launched by a Long March-4B rocket at 9:51 a.m. (Beijing Time) and entered the planned orbit successfully.

Developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the satellite will be mainly used for land surveys, city planning, land rights confirmation, road network design, crop yield estimation and disaster prevention and mitigation.

The launch marked the 397th mission for the Long March series carrier rockets.