China launches new high-resolution satellite into space

ANKARA

China has successfully launched a new high-resolution remote sensing satellite, state-run media reported on Friday.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the country sent a high-resolution multi-mode imaging satellite into the planned orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province.

The new launch was the 337th in series, launched by a Long March-4B carrier rocket, the agency added quoting the China National Space Administration.

The move is part of the Beijing program to reduce reliance on foreign technology in the topographic mapping.

Last month Beijing launched three high-resolution Earth observation satellite into space, one of them Gaofen-9-02, to help in the construction projects associated with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) -- infrastructure development and investment activity of China spread in nearly 70 countries. It also includes the flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor worth $50 billion.

The Gaofen-9-02 is capable of taking images of the Earth's surface with a resolution of less than a meter and will be used in land surveying, urban planning, road network design, agriculture, and disaster relief. It will support the construction of the projects in the BRI, according to state-run Global Times.