XICHANG -- China successfully launched three new remote sensing satellites from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China's Sichuan province Thursday.

The satellites were launched as the second batch of the Yaogan 35 family at 10:22 am (Beijing Time) by a Long March 2D carrier rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully.

The satellites will be mainly used to conduct science experiments, land resource surveys, yield estimation of agricultural products and disaster prevention and reduction.

This launch marked the 424th mission for the Long March series carrier rockets.

China launched a batch of three Yaogan 35 satellites on Nov 6 last year.