China lifted off a solar exploration satellite into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Sunday, furthering the country's scientific endeavor to unravel the secrets of the Sun.

The Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) was launched aboard a Long March-2D rocket at 07:43 a.m. (Beijing Time) and entered its planned orbit successfully.

The  satellite will be used to study the causality between the solar magnetic field and two major eruptive phenomena, namely solar flares and coronal mass ejections, thus providing data support for space weather forecasting.