[From CNSA] On December 12, 2004, COSTIND held Sino-Brazil Earth Resource Technology Satellite No 2 Satellite Delivery Ceremony in Beijing to hand over the satellite from the research unit, China Space Technology Research Academy to the representative of the satellite user, China Resource Satellite Application Center, for operation.
Sino-Brazil Earth Resource Technology Satellite No 2 Satellite and No 1 Satellite launched in 1999 are the same type of satellites and the first generation transmission earth resource satellites in China. The operation of the satellite puts an end to the history of China's relying on earth resource satellites of foreign countries. The satellite was invested and developed by China and Brazil jointly in 1988. Sino-Brazil Earth Resource Technology Satellite No 1 Satellite stopped operating on August 13, 2003 and completed its mission successfully. It worked extra one year and ten months beyond its designed lifetime. The No 2 satellite is composed of two parts, available load cabin and service platform. Its designed lifetime is two years, and it can cover the whole surface of the earth once in 26 days. The total mass of the satellite is 1,540 kg. It is cuboid, and uses single wing solar cells cluster.
The No 2 Satellite was successfully launched in Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China on October 21, 2003, and accurately entered the sun-synchronous orbit with 98.5 inclination of orbit. Till January 31, 2004, it has operated for 103 days, 1,472 circles around the earth. The ground system has received data of 472 circles (periods of orbit within reception range), and the satellite has filed data of 30,209 pictures. After the launch, experts in the satellite research department, application department and observation and control department began to observe it in two periods. The first period is to observe engineering parameters of the satellite. It is to test whether all systems in the satellite are working normally, and whether its functions and performance parameters meet the designed demands by assessing the results of satellite observation and control. The second period is to assess the practical performance of available load, mainly reception of satellite remote sensing data and treatment quality.
After testing, all systems and performance of the satellite meet designed requirements, the available load is working normally, and the quality of pictures is much better than that of No 1 satellite. It can serve users better. In application assessment, the data can meet the demand to produce 1:100,000 scale satellite picture map, and part of areas can reach 1:50,000 and even bigger. According to the test results in orbit, resource satellite No 2 can be delivered to user for operation.
After delivery, Remote Sensing Satellite Ground Station of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumchi Ground Station of China Resource Satellite, and Guangzhou Ground Station will be responsible for receiving satellite date. The data can cover all land and sea of our country and surrounding area. China Resource Satellite Application Center is responsible for pretreatment, file and distribution of the data, and Xi'an Satellite Observation and Control Center in China and Brazil Observation and Control Department are responsible for observation and control separately.
The delivery of the No 2 Satellite for operation meets the continuous demand from users of resource satellite. The data of Sino-Brazil Resource Satellite have been widely used in land, mining, agriculture, forestry, irrigation, environment protection, ocean and urban planning, and have achieved good economic and social benefits.
The delivery of the No 2 Satellite for operation will consolidate the cooperative foundation in space science and technology between China and Brazil, and will enhance the confidence of the two developing countries, China and Brazil, to further and enlarge cooperation in space technology. At present, the two sides are actively carrying out research on resource satellite No 3 and 4. Moreover, they also decide to start cooperation in construction of satellite ground system, satellite application technology development and other space technology.
With the successful launch, operation and application of Sino-Brazil Earth Resource Technology Satellite, many countries show great interest in our resource satellite. At present, some countries have expressed their intention to receive data from the satellite. And related departments in our country are starting to international exchange and cooperation in resource satellite application gradually, and cooperation in data application with Brazil has obtained gratifying achievement. The delivery of the satellite for operation will further promote the influence of our resource satellite in the world, and will advance the data of resource satellite to go to the international market. (By Zhang Tao Li Qian Photo/Li Qian)
Luan Enjie, administrator of CNSA, holds the satellite delivery ceremony.
Mr. Olroput, ambassador of Brazil in China, is giving a speech at the satellite delivery ceremony.
