China launches two high-resolution remote sensing satellites

China on Wednesday successfully launched a pair of high-resolution remote sensing satellites to get commercial images. The satellites were launched on Wednesday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in Shanxi Province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. 

The satellites, SuperView-1 01/02, blasted off at 11:23 am Beijing time on the back of a Long March 2D rocket. They are able to provide commercial images at 0.5-meter resolution. 

They are able to provide commercial images at 0.5-meter resolution. 

The satellites launch followed release of a white paper yesterday which said China plans to form a BeiDou network consisting of 35 satellites for global navigation services by 2020. It is expected to compete with America's Global Positioning system.