Sharjah 24 – WAM: China sent a new satellite into planned orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China's Gobi Desert on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Yunhai-1 03 satellite was launched at 7:15 am (Beijing Time) on a Long March-2D carrier rocket.

The satellite will be mainly used for detecting the atmospheric, marine and space environments, disaster prevention and mitigation, and scientific experiments.

The launch marked the 438th mission for the Long March rocket family.