The Fengyun-4B satellite was successfully launched aboard a Long March 3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the early hours of June 3.As the first operational satellite of China's new generation of Fengyun-4B geostationary orbit weather satellite series, Fengyun-4B will work in coordination with the orbiting Fengyun-4A satellite network.
The "eye" of a forecaster
"Unlike test satellite A, which has A working life of five years, Fengyun-4B, as A operational satellite, has A design and working life of seven years, and has higher requirements for various performance indicators."Dong Yaohai, chief designer of Fengyun-4 at the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said Fengyun-4B will further improve its capabilities in high frequency, high resolution and high sensitivity, on the basis of inheriting the advantages of the comprehensive detection capability of A satellite.
According to the introduction, the latest B Star loaded fast imager has regional high time resolution and high spatial resolution monitoring capabilities.Combined with advanced geostationary orbit radiation imager, B satellite can realize 1-minute continuous observation imaging over A million square kilometers area on the basis of A satellite imaging China and its surrounding areas once every 5 minutes.
"This will help forecasters more flexively observe the structure and evolution of mesoscale catastrophic weather such as typhoons and rainstorms, and also make it easier to identify and capture small-scale, short life history and destructive severe convective weather such as short-term heavy precipitation, squall lines and thunderstorms."Wind cloud meteorological satellite project deputy chief designer Zhang Zhiqing said.
"In the past, forecasters used what the weather satellites had to offer.Fengyun-4B could become the 'eye' of forecasters when it is put into operation, "said a spokesman for the satellite.Demand-driven intelligent observation will lead the meteorological satellite business to shift from providing data products to rapidly responding to demand for forecast services, Zhang said.
0.05 degrees Celsius!Accurate sense of atmospheric changes
In addition to increasing the frequency, Fengyun-4B will provide higher detection sensitivity and accuracy than the A-star.It can accurately detect temperature changes in the Earth's atmosphere of 0.05 degrees Celsius from A distance of 36, 000 kilometers. Its temperature detection is within 0.5 degrees Celsius of the true value, twice as high as that of Star A.
Binary stars "combine" to make up for the lack of observation range
"Fengyun Family has long been included in the global operational meteorological satellite sequence by the World Meteorological Organization and has become the duty satellite of the International Charter Mechanism for Space and Major Disasters.Fengyun meteorological satellite continues to provide data products and services to 118 countries and regions."Zhuang Guotai, head of the China Meteorological Administration, said the Fengyun-4B star will join forces with the Fengyun-4A star to expand the scope of the Fengyun-4A family's global services.
Looking at the sky from A distance, Fengyun4A and B star pair "join forces", the observation range will reach to the Indian Ocean in the west and beyond the international boundary line of the Pacific Ocean in the east, covering not only China's land area, but also the Northwest Pacific Ocean, Oceania and other wider areas.