TAIYUAN -- China sent a resource satellite and two small satellites into planned orbits from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi province on Thursday.

They were launched on a Long March-4B carrier rocket at 11:26 am (Beijing Time).

The resource satellite, ZY-1 02D, will provide observation data for natural resources asset management, ecological monitoring, disaster prevention and control, environmental protection, urban construction, transportation and contingency management.

China sends a resource satellite and two small satellites into planned orbits from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi province on Thursday. (Photo: People's Daily)

One of the two small satellites launched on the same rocket belongs to Beijing Normal University, and is named BNU-1, and the other belongs to a Shanghai-based private space technology company.