China today successfully launched its first seismo-electromagnetic satellite to study seismic precursors, which might help it establish a ground-space earthquake monitoring and forecasting network in the future. <br/><br/>Xinhua news agency said a Long March-2D rocket, which was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China's Gobi Desert at 15:51 (local time), carried the 730-kilogramme China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES) into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 500 Kms. <br/><br/>Known as Zhangheng 1 in Chinese, it will help scientists monitor the electromagnetic field, ionospheric plasma and high-energy particles for an expected mission life of five years. <br/><br/>Zhao Jian, a senior official with China National Space Administration (CNSA) said Zhangheng 1 will record electromagnetic data associated with earthquakes above 6 magnitude in China and those above 7 magnitude around the world, in a bid to identify patterns in the electromagnetic disturbances in the near-Earth environment. <br/><br/>He said Zhangheng 1 cannot be used to predict earthquakes directly, but it will help prepare the research and technologies for a ground-space earthquake monitoring and forecasting system in the future.