BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) — The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China.

SATELLITE LAUNCH

China sent a new remote-sensing satellite group into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Friday.

The satellites were launched by a Long March-2C carrier rocket at 2:30 p.m. Beijing time. This is the ninth group belonging to the Yaogan-30 family. Also aboard was Tianqi-14, a satellite belonging to the Tianqi constellation.

PLATFORM FOR MATERIALS CALCULATIONS

A platform for materials calculations was put into operation in the Huairou Science City in the northeast suburbs of Beijing.

The platform is a supercomputing facility to meet the needs of individualized services of materials genome applications. Its application database has accumulated high-quality calculation results of 180,000 inorganic crystals.

RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR RURAL VITALIZATION

The Institute of Rural Vitalization under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) was launched in Beijing on Friday.

The new institute aims to combine research with education, nurture agricultural talent and promote the transformation of scientific achievements to better serve the country’s rural vitalization strategy.