Satellite images simply out of this world

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China Daily, February 4, 2016
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China released the first pictures taken by its Gaofen-4 Earth observation satellite on Wednesday. They mark the first time a spacecraft has taken high-resolution images of our mother planet from an altitude of 36,000 km.

Picture taken by Gaofen-4 on Jan 21 shows smog-covered Beijing. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Picture taken by Gaofen-4 on Jan 21 shows smog-covered Beijing. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The pictures cover Beijing, the Flaming Mountains in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Namtso Lake and Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West, in the Tibet autonomous region, Dunhuang in Gansu province, the Yellow River Delta and Yangtze River Delta regions, as well as some areas in Western Australia affected by forest fires in early January.

The five-metric ton Gaofen-4 was sent skyward atop a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province on Dec 29. Seven days later, it entered geosynchronous orbit nearly 36,000 km above Earth.

By the end of January, the satellite had created about 4,600 images covering more than 26 million sq km including 8.5 million sq km in China and 17.7 million sq km overseas, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, which is in charge of China's space programs.

Starting from mid-March, the spacecraft will begin to take pictures for its major users such as the Ministry of Civil Affairs, State Forestry Administration, China Earthquake Administration and China Meteorological Administration to help with disaster prevention and relief, forest monitoring as well as weather forecast.

Tong Xudong, a senior official at the administration who oversees the Gaofen program, said Gaofen-4 is able to cover China and the whole of Southeast Asia and can shift among multiple targets in a short period of time. It is capable of monitoring a designated area around-the-clock while sending back images in almost real-time.

By now, images and data generated by Gaofen satellites have benefitted around 1,800 government departments, institutes and companies in 18 sectors while 21 provincial-level regions have set up a Gaofen data applications center, Tong said.

China launched the Gaofen project in May 2010 and has listed it as one of 16 nationally important projects in science and technology.

Gaofen-1 was sent into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia in April 2013. Another four Gaofen satellites were launched in 2014 and 2015.

The next in this satellite family, Gaofen-3, will be launched this year, he added.

Tong Xudong, a senior official at the administration who oversees the Gaofen program, said Gaofen-4 is able to cover China and the whole of Southeast Asia and can shift among multiple targets in a short period of time. It is capable of monitoring a designated area around-the-clock while sending back images in almost real-time.

By now, images and data generated by Gaofen satellites have benefitted around 1,800 government departments, institutes and companies in 18 sectors while 21 provincial-level regions have set up a Gaofen data applications center, Tong said.

China launched the Gaofen project in May 2010 and has listed it as one of 16 nationally important projects in science and technology.

Gaofen-1 was sent into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia in April 2013. Another four Gaofen satellites were launched in 2014 and 2015.

The next in this satellite family, Gaofen-3, will be launched this year, he added.

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