A Long March 3B carrier rocket flight early on Saturday morning has failed, resulting in the loss of a satellite, according to the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

The rocket blasted off at 12:55 am carrying the Shijian 32 multirole satellite but encountered malfunctions during flight, failing to deploy the payload into orbit, the center said in a brief statement.

An investigation is under way to ascertain the cause of the failure, it noted, without providing additional details.

The Long March 3B model, developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, is one of China's most used rocket types. It is mainly used to launch satellites into geostationary transfer orbit and can transport 5.5 tons of payload. The rocket can also send spacecraft to other orbits such as medium-Earth and lunar transfer orbits.