China launched a remote-sensing satellite early on Thursday morning for a host of civilian purposes, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's leading space contractor.

The State-owned conglomerate said in a news release that the Yaogan 33C was carried by a Long March 4C rocket that lifted off at 2:14 am at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gobi Desert and successfully arrived in its preset orbit.

Remote-sensing satellites refer to those tasked with observing, surveying and measuring objects on land or at sea as well as monitoring weather.

The Yaogan satellite family is the largest fleet of remote-sensing spacecraft in China. Their data has been widely used by governments, public service sectors and businesses.

Developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, the Yaogan 33C is tasked with obtaining data for scientific research, the mapping of land and marine resources, forecasting agricultural yields and disaster prevention and mitigation, the company said.

The Long March 4C, also a product of the Shanghai academy, has a liftoff weight of 250 metric tons and is mainly used to send satellites to sun-synchronous orbits. It is capable of transporting satellites with a combined weight of 3 metric tons to a typical sun-synchronous orbit 700 kilometers above the earth.

The mission was China's 41st rocket launch this year and the 486th flight of the Long March rocket family, the nation's main launch vehicle fleet.