Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
China launched a weather satellite as civilian flights altered their routes to avoid a Chinese-imposed no-fly zone to the north of Taiwan which Beijing put in place because of the possibility of falling rocket debris.
Taiwan’s transport ministry said Beijing had initially notified Taipei it would impose a no-fly zone from Sunday to Tuesday but later said that period had been reduced to 27 minutes on Sunday morning after Taiwan protested.
The no-fly announcement rattled regional nerves as it followed shortly after China staged new war games around Taiwan, which Beijing views as sovereign Chinese territory.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, China’s main contractor for its space programme, said the weather satellite Fengyun 3G had successfully launched from the northwestern province of Gansu at 9:36 a.m. (0136 GMT).
The satellite then entered its set orbit, the contractor said, describing the launch as a “complete success”. The Fengyun 3G is a low-earth orbit satellite designed to track rainfall.
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