China launched a Long March 4B carrier rocket on Thursday afternoon to send a remote-sensing satellite into orbit, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

The State-owned space contractor said in a news release that the rocket blasted off at 12:12 pm at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwestern China's Gobi Desert and transported the Shijian 26 satellite into its preset orbit.

The Shijian 26 satellite was jointly developed by the Harbin Institute of Technology, Aerospace Dongfanghong, a subsidiary of the China Academy of Space Technology, and the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is mainly used in fields such as land survey and environmental protection and providing information services for economic development, according to the company.

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The satellite has become the newest in China's fleet of remote-sensing satellites, which refer to spacecraft tasked with detecting and monitoring the physical characteristics of objects on land or at sea by measuring its reflected and emitted radiation.

Data obtained by remote-sensing spacecraft has been widely used in governments, public service sectors and businesses.

The Long March 4B rocket model is built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. It can transport multiple satellites with a combined weight of 2.5 metric tons to a typical sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers.

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The space mission was China's 33rd rocket launch this year and the 579th flight of the Long March rocket family, the nation's main launch vehicle fleet.