China launches new satellite for civilian hi-res mapping

China on Monday launched a new civilian high-resolution mapping satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in Shanxi province.

The Ziyuan III 02 satellite took off on the back of a Long March 4B rocket at 11.17 a.m., the centre announced.

It is the 228th flight mission by a Long March carrier rocket.

Also on board the rocket were two NewSat satellites developed by URUGUS S.A., the Uruguayan subsidiary of Argentine company Satellogic.

All three satellites have entered preset orbits, the centre said.

Ziyuan III 02 will be used in land resources surveys, natural disaster prevention, agricultural development, water resources management and urban planning, among other tasks.

It is the second satellite in a remote-sensing mapping system China plans to build by 2030.

It will join its predecessor Ziyuan III 01, launched in January 2012, to form a network and capture high-definition, 3-D images and multi-spectral data.

--IANS

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