China launches new satellite for Earth observation

China launched a new Earth observation satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Thursday.

The satellite, Gaofen-3 03, was launched by a Long March-4C rocket at 7:47 a.m. (Beijing Time) and has entered the planned orbit successfully.

The satellite will be networked with the orbiting Gaofen-3 and Gaofen-3 02 satellites to form a land-sea radar satellite constellation and capture reliable, stable synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images.

These images will boast a 1-meter resolution together with a one-day revisit period, thereby improving the monitoring capabilities of China's land-sea radar satellites.

It will serve the fields of marine disaster prevention and mitigation, dynamic marine environment monitoring, marine research, environmental protection, water conservancy, agriculture and meteorology, while helping to safeguard maritime rights and interests.

The launch marks the 414th mission for the Long March series carrier rockets.