China successfully launches CBERS 04A satellite into orbit

China successfully launched the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS) 04A on a long march-4B carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province on Friday, according to the China National Space Administration.

CBERS 04A is the sixth satellite under the earth resource satellite cooperation program between the two countries.

It will better satisfy the two countries' desire in the exploration of land and resources, land classification, environmental monitoring, disaster prevention and mitigation, climate change research, classification and yield estimation of crops in areas such as the urgent demand for remote sensing data, and can provide service for the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The satellite was jointly developed by the China Academy of Space Technology and the National Institute for Space Research of Brazil. The carrier rocket was developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.

The mission also carried eight satellites, including a wide-range multispectral remote-sensing microsatellite donated to Ethiopia.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)