China Sunday put into orbit a satellite jointly developed with Brazil after the 200th launch of its Long March rocket family, state media reported.

The Long March-4B rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan satellite launch centre in the northern province of Shanxi, Xinhua news agency said.

It was the fifth environmental monitoring satellite to be launched since 1999 as part of the joint programme with Brazil.

The latest one will watch for deforestation in the Amazon.

Brazil's National Space Agency said last week the two countries would share the $30 million cost of sending the two-ton satellite into a 778-kilometre-high (483 mile) orbit.

Xinhua said the first Long March was launched on April 24, 1970 and successfully carried China's first satellite, Dongfanghong-1, into space.

It quoted Lei Fanpei, chairman of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, as saying the rockets would make at least another 100 launches in the next seven years.

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© 2014 AFP