China launched a remote sensing satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Sunday.

A Long March-2D rocket carrying the Yaogan-42 02 satellite blasted off at 7:45 a.m. Beijing Time. The satellite has entered the preset orbit.

China's Long March-2D is a two-stage liquid-propellant carrier rocket with a liftoff thrust of 300 tonnes.

It is designed to launch single and multiple satellites into various orbits from the country's three major satellite launch centers in Jiuquan, Taiyuan and Xichang. It can deliver 1.3-tonne payloads to a sun-synchronous orbit 700 kilometers above the Earth.

This is the 517th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.