China launches nine commercial satellites

China launched its Long March-6 rocket on Tuesday, sending nine commercial satellites into space.

The rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province at 11:20 a.m. (Beijing Time).

This was the 366th flight mission of the Long March rocket series.

The satellites, including Qilu-1 and Qilu-4, have entered their planned orbits and will provide east China's Shandong Province with remote sensing services for land survey, urban construction, agriculture, forestry, energy, disaster prevention and reduction.

Other satellites onboard the rocket will be used to test technologies in satellite platform design, real-time imaging and observation, data acquisition and transmission, or to offer observations of small celestial bodies and remote sensing services.