China Successfully Launches Resource Satellite

China Successfully Launches Resource Satellite

China successfully put its earth resource satellite, the ZY-2, into the orbit with a Chinese Long-March 4-B rocket that blasted off at 11:25 am Friday from the Taiyuan Launching Center in north China's Shanxi Province.

The satellite is designed to gather and transmit remote sensing images and data, and can be used for territorial surveying, city planning, crop yield assessment, disaster monitoring and space scientific experiment.

The ZY-2 is China's second transmitting-type remote sensing satellite, after the launching of the Sino-Brazilian jointly made earth resource satellite last October.

The 45-meter-long Long-March 4-B carrier rocket is an upgraded version of the Long-March 4-A.

The launch is the 62nd time that Long March carriers have been used.

The rocket and satellite separated 12 minutes after the blasting off of the rocket before the satellite came into the orbit.

Experts believe that the successful launching of the ZY-2 earth resource satellite is expected to help push ahead China's economic growth.

The Taiyuan Launching Center has conducted 20 major satellite missions in the past five years, all proving successful.