China on Wednesday successfully launched an advanced satellite to monitor the world's oceans, the latest effort in the nation's fast developing space programme, state press reported.
The satellite will be used to collect data on offshore wind fields, ocean circulation, tides and sea surface temperatures, Sun Zhihui, director of the State Oceanic Administration, told the Xinhua news agency.
The satellite was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launching Centre in the nation's northern Shanxi province just before midday (0400 GMT), it said.
The Haiyang 1-B satellite was developed and manufactured in coordination with China's military, previous reports said.
The satellite is the successor to the Haiyang 1-A that was launched in 2002 and had an operating life of two years, Xinhua said earlier.
The newly improved satellite will have twice the data collection capacity as its predecessor, while its operating life will be extended to three years, it said.
The satellite was launched on a Long March carrier rocket, the 96th launch via China's main launching vehicle, the China News Service said.
In 2003 China successfully launched astronaut Yang Liwei into orbit, becoming the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to put a man in space.
It has said it hopes to launch a lunar exploration satellite this year as part of a programme that is aimed at placing an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2012.
China announced last month it would launch a joint mission with Russia to Mars in 2009.
