The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has announced the launch of a new Earth observation satellite.

The Gaofen-9 (05) satellite lifted off aboard the Long March-2D carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in north-west China. It is now successfully orbited.

It follows the orbiting of Gaofen-9 (04) satellite earlier this month.

The Gaofen-9 series of optical remote-sensing satellites are capable of providing sub-meter resolution imagery. They will be used for land surveys, city planning, crop yield estimation, disaster prevention and mitigation, and more, according to Chinese media.

This mission was the 343rd launch of the Long March launch vehicle family.

It also saw other payloads, the People’s Liberation Army-developed multifunctional experimental satellite and the National University of Defense Technology-developed Tiantuo-5 spacecraft, sent into orbit.

In a separate development, the CNSA announced that the Gaofen-7 Earth observation satellite has been commissioned into service.

Launched on 3 November 2019, the Gaofen-7 is China’s first civil-use optical transmission 3D surveying and mapping satellite.

CNSA administration head Zhang Kejian was quoted by Xinhua as saying: “Gaofen-7 will further meet the needs of users in basic mapping, global geographic information, monitoring, and evaluation in urban and rural construction, etc.”

In June, China launched the last satellite in its BeiDou navigation system from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan Province.