China's Yaogan-28 remote sensing satellite was sent into space at 3:06 pm on Sunday from a launch site in the city of Taiyuan in North China's Shanxi Province.

The satellite will be used for a variety of scientific experiments, land surveys, crop yield estimates and disaster relief efforts.

Yaogan-28 was carried into space by a Long March-4B rocket, making the launch the 217th mission for the Long March rocket family.

China launched the first Yaogan series satellite, Yaogan-1, in 2006.