BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- China has handed over control of Ziyuan III 02, a new civilian high-resolution mapping satellite, to its user.

Control of the satellite was passed to its main user, the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation (NASG), on Monday, after it had been in orbit for more than 200 days since it was launched on May 30 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

It will be used mainly for collecting 3D mapping information within Chinese territory.

The satellite will join its predecessor Ziyuan III 01, a research satellite launched in January 2012.

Together, the two Ziyuan III satellites boast a "revisit time," the time elapsed between observations of the same point on Earth, of around three days, down from five days when Ziyuan III 01 was operating alone.

Their operation will double the efficiency of image formation and reduce the period of global coverage by half