China launched a new satellite for disaster reduction from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province on August 9.

The satellite was launched by a Long March-2C carrier rocket at 6:53 a.m. (Beijing Time) and entered the planned orbit. Its primary users will be the Ministry of Emergency Management and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

The satellite will form an in-orbit network with a similar one launched into space last October, making up a preliminary satellite constellation for emergency management and environment monitoring.

The S-band synthetic aperture radar system aboard the satellite can work on cloudy and rainy days, which effectively overcomes the shortfalls of optical satellites.

Also, the emergency data processing system on the satellite can realize on-board real-time imaging, as well as information extraction and pre-processing for hot-spot areas.

The satellite will provide basic data for disaster relief and also contribute to land resources surveys, water conservancy, agriculture and forestry.

The launch was the 482nd mission to use the Long March rocket series.