Second series of Yaogan 35 satellites launched

China used a Long March 2D carrier rocket to launch several remote-sensing satellites into orbit on Thursday.

The rocket blasted off at 10:22 am at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province and soon placed the Yaogan 35-02 satellites, the second group in the Yaogan 35 series, into their preset orbits, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

The State-owned space contractor said in a release that the satellites will be used to carry out scientific experiments, survey land resources, forecast agricultural yields and help in disaster prevention and relief.

Long March 2D, designed and built by the company's Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, is powered by liquid propellants and has a liftoff thrust of 300 metric tons. It is capable of carrying spacecraft weighing up to 1.2 tons to a sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 700 kilometers.

The launch was the 424th flight of the Long March rocket fleet, the nation's largest launch vehicle family.

China has carried out 19 of its more than 60 planned space launch missions this year.