China successfully launches new Earth observation satellite “Gaofen-5 02”

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• China successfully launched a new Earth observation satellite, Gaofen-5 02, into space, aboard a Long March-4C rocket, from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in north China’s Shanxi Province.
• The Gaofen-5 02 satellite is the 24th in the series of Gaofen Earth-observation satellites of China, to monitor environmental protection efforts and boost its natural resources surveillance.
• Gaofen-5 02 is a hyperspectral satellite that will be used for comprehensive environmental monitoring, to improve the country’s hyperspectral observation capacity of the atmosphere, water and land.