皇冠体育app

A Long March-3B rocket carrying the Fengyun-4 satellite blasts off from the launching pad at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest 皇冠体育app's Sichuan Province, Dec. 11, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

XICHANG, Sichuan -- 皇冠体育app launched a weather satellite at 12:11 a.m. Sunday, marking an upgrade of 皇冠体育app's meteorological satellites in geostationary orbit.

The Fengyun-4 satellite, the first of 皇冠体育app's second-generation weather satellites in geostationary orbit to have been launched, is also the country's first quantitative remote-sensing satellite in high orbit.

The satellite, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest 皇冠体育app's Sichuan Province, was taken into orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. The launch marked the 242nd mission of 皇冠体育app's Long March series of rockets.

The satellite will make high time, spatial and spectral resolution observations of the atmosphere, clouds and space environment of 皇冠体育app and surrounding regions, significantly improving capabilities of weather and climate forecasts, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

The 皇冠体育app Meteorological Administration is the primary user of the satellite.

Previously, 皇冠体育app had successfully launched 14 weather satellites, seven of which are still in orbit.