China's Long March-6 rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province on April 27, sending nine commercial satellites into space.

The satellites, including Qilu-1 and Qilu-4, have entered their planned orbits and will provide East China's Shandong province with remote sensing services for land survey, urban construction, disaster prevention, as well as agriculture, forestry and energy projects.

This is the first time Shandong has launched its own high-resolution commercial remote sensing satellites. According to the Shandong Institute of Industrial Technology, 20 satellites developed by Shandong will be sent into space in the next three to five years.

The satellites blast off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi province atop a Long March-6 rocket on April 27. [Photo by ZhengTaotao/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Workers monitor the launch process of the Qilu-1 and Qilu-4 satellites at the Shandong Institute of Industrial Technology on April 27. [Photo/chinanews.com]