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The Feng Yun 3A experimental meterological satellite was launched from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in northern Shanxi Province on 26 May. The satellite was developed by the Shanghai Academy of Space Flight Technology. It is a three-axis, stabilised vehicle measuring 4.4 x 2 x 2 metres, with a launch mass of 2200 kg, making it one of the largest satellites ever launched by China.

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Feng Yun-3A is the first in the FY-3 series. It will be joined by 3B in 2009-2010. The operational Feng Yun-3 system will eventually be composed of six satellites.

The satellite carries seven active instruments. The Visible and InfraRed Radiometer, the Moderate Resolution Visible and Infrared Imager, and the Microwave Radiation Imager will be used to make observations of the Earth's surface at various wavelengths. The Infrared Atmospheric Sounder, the Microwave Atmospheric Temperature Sounder and the Total Ozone Mapper and Ozone Profiler will observe various parameters of the atmosphere. The Space Environment Monitoring Unit will examine high-energy particles in the path between the top of the atmosphere and the spacecraft.

Feng Yun-3A is the first in the FY-3 series. It has a launch mass of 2200 kg, making it one of the largest satellites ever launched by China.

MODI will image the Earth at 250-metre resolution in what SAST publicity calls ‘near true colour’ during the day. At night, it will generate thermal infrared imagery.

MWRI will measure thermal emissions from land and ocean surfaces at microwave frequencies. The use of microwaves will give the instrument the ability to take measurements of different phases of water in the atmosphere, clouds and surfaces using six different frequencies and polarisations.

Gao Huoshan, the general director of the FY-3 research team, said the satellite advanced the state of the art in China. He said the best resolution of existing Chinese satellites was 1.1 km.

He said MODI data would be of vital significance in climate change studies and emergency response to natural disasters.

It would also contribute to key geographical data for research on aviation, navigation, agriculture, forestry and oceanography.

Data from the satellite will be widely used. Apart from its use by the China Meteorological Administration for internal Chinese purposes, the CMA and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute have established a data collection terminal at the North Pole to transmit data collected by FY-3.

The World Meteorological Organisation had said it will use FY-3A data, Europe's METOP and the US NPOESS to detect changes in the atmosphere, the ocean and the ground surface.

Zheng Guoguang, director of the CMA, said the FY-3A would work with the existing FY-2 to ensure timely weather forecast during the Olympics.

The launch is the 106th mission of China's Long March series of rockets. The first was in 1970, when a Long March-1 rocket successfully sent China's first satellite, Dongfanghong-1, into space.

China has launched eight meteorological satellites since. Another 22 meteorological satellites are slated to fly before 2020, organised into the FY-2, FY3 and FY4 series.

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