The launch of Yaogan-II was done on top of a Chang Zheng-2D (CZ2D) rocket, which in English is named Long March. The launch took place at 15:12 Beijing time from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert (Inner Mongolia, in northwestern China) about 1,600 kilometers (995 miles) from Beijing, China.

The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) primarily built Yaogen-II. The Long March 2D is a two-stage launch vehicle that contains storable propellants. The rockets launch spacecraft into low-Earth orbit. A typical payload of the Long March 2D is 3,500 kilograms (7,700 pounds) and the typical orbit is a 200-kilometer (124-mile) circular orbit.

The synthetic aperture radar satellite will be used for scientific research and climate forecasting such as agricultural resources surveying and crop yield estimate and disaster forecasting.

A much smaller satellite, developed by Zheijiang University, also went into orbit with Yaogan-II. It will conduct micro-electronics research while in space.

The website of the China National Space Administration is: http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/cindex.html.

Additional information about the Chang Zheng-2D rocket is: http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/cz2d.htm.

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