A Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket carrying four meteorological satellites blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, on January 5.

The four satellites, belonging to the Tianmu-1 meteorological constellation, have entered the planned orbit. They will be mainly used to provide commercial meteorological data services, according to China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC), one of China's major State-owned space contractors.

Developed by China Space Sanjiang Group, a CASIC subsidiary in Hubei Province, the 20-meter Kuaizhou-1A has a liftoff weight of about 30 metric tons. It is capable of sending 200 kilograms of payload into a sun-synchronous orbit, or 300 kg of payload into a low-Earth orbit.

The mission marked the 25th flight of the Kuaizhou-1A rockets. (en.hubei.gov.cn by Zhang Yawei）