China sends up survelliance probe

A Chinese rocket blasts into the night sky in the northwestern province of Gansu.

According to state news, the remote-sensing satellite entered orbit successfully after the early Monday takeoff.

The Yaogan XVII is set to monitor land resources, agriculture and disaster control as well as conduct experiments, say Chinese officials.

But Western space watchers blog that this kind of satellite has the technology to monitor other kinds of targets such as foreign warships - valuable data for China's maritime forces.

As China increases its space footprint, U.S. authorities have expressed concern about Beijing's potential ability to disrupt American communications technology.

A classified United States intelligence assessment last year mapped out the growing vulnerability of U.S. satellites used for secure military communications, missile launch monitoring and targeting coordinates.