Chinese Long March 4B conducts surprise Gaofen-8 launch

The Chinese have conducted another surprise launch on Friday with the launch of an Earth Observation System satellite called Gaofen-8. The launch took place at 06:22 UTC via the use of a Long March-4B rocket that set sail from the LC9 launch complex at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. There is very little information about the GF-8 Ganfen-8 satellite orbited on Friday, other than the objectives of the mission – later released to the state media – that it was to provide country surveying, disaster response, agriculture mapping, city planning, land ownership marking and road network planning. More

(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jun 27)