China sent a new marine satellite into orbit Thursday morning.

A Long March-4B rocket carrying the HY-2B satellite took off at 6:57 a.m. from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province.

The HY-2B is an ocean dynamic satellite, which will form a network with the subsequent HY-2C and HY-2D for maritime environmental monitoring.

Thursday's launch was the 288th by the Long March rocket series.