China launches new satellite Yaogan 28 for monitoring disaster relief

On November 8, China launched the remote sensing satellite Yaogan 28 from the Taiyuan space center in the Shanxi Province, located in northern China. As the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, the government-owned satellite “will be used for experiments, land surveys, crop yield estimates and disaster relief.” 

Yaogan 28 was launched on November 8 at 3:06 p.m., Beijing time. After the liftoff on a 150-foot-tall Long March 4B rocket, Yaogan 28 is now orbiting Earth at an elevation of 290 miles. 

The launch of satellite Yaogan 28 represents the 27th successful launch of a Long March 4B rocket since 1999, for in the context of China it marks the 14th space launch in 2015.