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and global scopes. CBERS-O2B was launched success-
fully on 19 September 2007, and is a core contribution
to the Earth Observation Ministerial Summit.
Ocean satellite
China’s first Ocean satellite (HY-1) is an experimental and
operational satellite for detecting ocean colour and sea
surface temperature. It was successfully launched on 15
May 2002 as a piggyback satellite on the FY-1D satellite
using the Long March rocket. The payloads on satellite
include a ten-band Chinese Ocean Colour and
Temperature Scanner (COCTS) and a four-band CCD
imager. HY-1 satellite is the beginning of a new era of
China’s ocean remote sensing; it also ended China’s historic
lack of ocean satellites. It has an operational lifespan of
nearly two years and is used widely for marine environ-
mental monitoring. The second Chinese ocean colour
satellite, HY-1B, was successfully sent into orbit on 11 April
2007. The Ocean satellite series will be developed soon.
the wide-field-of-view imager. Both sides agreed that the CBERS-1
would be assembled and integrated in China, and CBERS-2 in Brazil.
CBERS-1 was successfully launched from China’s Taiyuan satellite
launch center on 14 October 1999. On 2 March 2002, the satellite
was officially delivered for service. CBERS-1 has operated success-
fully during its two-year life-expectancy, and more than 230,000
satellite data pictures have been received from it. These have been
widely applied in various areas of social and economic development
for both countries.
CBERS initiated the first high-tech space cooperation between two
developing countries, and former Chinese president Jiang Zemin
hailed the project as an “excellent example of south-south coopera-
tion.” Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso also spoke
highly of the cooperation. Following the successful launch of CBERS-
1 in October 1999 and CBERS-2 in October 2003, the governments
of China and Brazil signed an additional protocol to jointly develop
CBERS-2B, CBERS-3 and CBERS-4 and to cooperate in a data appli-
cation system, which kept the continuity of the China-Brazil Earth
Resources Satellite data and broadened its application within regional
N
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Composite imagery of the Antarctic by FY-1C GDPT Channel 1,2,3
Image: National Satellite Meteorological Center, China Meteorological Administration