A Long March-2D carrier rocket carrying the Gaofen-6 satellite, a new Earth observation satellite, blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, June 2, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

China last Saturday launched a new high-resolution satellite, Gaofen-6, the first agricultural remote sensing satellite indeed.

Gaofen-6 was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern province of Gansu aboard a Long March-2D carrier rocket. 

It has a similar function to that of Gaofen-1 satellite, but with better cameras and it can cover larger areas and provide higher resolution images. 

Gaofen-6 will be mainly used in mapping crop planting areas, estimating crop yield, supporting precision and facility agriculture and monitoring natural disaster. 

The Gaofen project started in 2010, which has been playing an important role in agricultural remote sensing monitoring.

The project has succeeding in reducing China’s dependence on foreign remote sensing satellite data.