China's environment monitoring satellites start operation
9/9/2008 17:45
China's newly launched environment monitoring satellites have started
operation and are sending back concrete data, Chinese authorities have
announced.
The two satellites successfully sent back data obtained by the
charge coupled devices (CCD) cameras at 5 pm yesterday and the images converted
from the data were clear, the State Administration of Science, Technology and
Industry for National Defence said in a brief release.
The two small
environment and disaster monitoring satellites were launched from the Taiyuan
Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province on Saturday.
Equipped with
state-of-the-art imaging systems and infrared cameras, the satellites can
provide a global scan every two days, closely track natural disasters and
provide quick assessments of damage to guide rescue and reconstruction
work.
The two satellites, with an estimated lifespan of more than three
years, are part of China's effort to create a satellite constellation with four
optical satellites and four radar satellites.
The constellation would enable
China to have a stable and efficient forecasting and service network for
environmental and natural disaster monitoring.
Xinhua
|
