BEIJING, March 30 -- China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and China Satellite Launch, Telemetry and Control General (CLTC) formally delivered the first two satellites (HJ-1A/B) of the Environment and Disasters Monitoring Microsatellite Constellation to the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Environmental Protection during the delivering ceremony which was organized by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND).

The Environment and Disaster Monitoring Microsatellite Constellation was put forward by China to achieve the large-area, All-weather, All-time dynamic monitoring of environment and disasters, and then to ensure the continuous stable development of national economy and society. HJ-1A/B were launched on Sept 6, 2008 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, obtained the first image on September 8, established the two-satellites-constellation on October 13, and passed the in-orbit-test review on February 19, 2009 after more than 5 months’ in-orbit-test. The constellation of the two satellites can form the multi-spectrum image with 30-m resolution of any location every 2 days. In 7 months in-orbit operation, HJ-1A/B not only supported the day-to-day services of environment protection and disaster monitoring, but also attempt to provide services in the field of forest，grassland fire monitoring and global crop estimation, and achieved the estimated targets.

CHEN Qiufa, vice-minister of Ministry Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), administrator of SASTIND,dressed the delivering ceremony.

In the delivery ceremony, CHEN Qiufa, vice-minister of Ministry Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), administrator of SASTIND, said that HJ-1A/B have attracted international attention after their launch. HJ-1A is also the Small Multi-Mission Satellite (SMMS) of Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) and it will be the important data resources of APSCO space application. HJ-1A/B will play an important role in the soon-to-open Beijing office of the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response which will provide satellite disaster reduction data to the world. During the in-orbit-test, HJ-1A/B have provided some images to the member countries of APSCO, and provide timely support to Australia side for the forest fire fighting. Presently, some countries have put forward application to build ground station to receive data. HJ-1A/B will become other Earth-Observation-Satellites with global influences, along with USA Landsat series and France SPOT series satellites.

the delivering ceremony

LUO Pingfei, vice-minister of civil affairs, said satellite-remote-sensing is important in the support system of space-air-ground comprehensive disaster reduction technology, and provides important technology means to consummate the national system of disaster reduction, early warning, disaster estimation, emergency command and etc. HJ-1A/B will provide a stable, long-term data source in the disaster reduction management. In the next phase, Ministry of civil affairs will promote the application of HJ-1A/B data, fulfill the demands of deferent users.

WU Xiaoqing, vice-minister of Environment Protection, said that HJ-1A/B will greatly improve our macro-monitoring ability to ecological environment, and lay a solid foundation to the construction of advanced comprehensive environment monitoring and early warning system. Ministry of Environment Protection will promote the construction of environmental application system, provide effective technical support to the decision-making. At the same time, this Ministry will release the data policy, promote the application, strengthen the international cooperation, train expert team in the field of environmental application.

SASTIND is responsible for organizing the implementation of the Environment and Disasters Monitoring Microsatellite Constellation Project. The satellites and the launch vehicle were produced respectively by DFH Satellite Corporation and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, CASC. The Launch Telemetry and Control were managed by CLTC, and Center of Earth Observation and Digital Earth, China Academy of Sciences, and the China Center for Resource Satellite Data and Applications (CRESDA) are responsible for the data receiving and processing. Center of Environment Satellite, Ministry of Environment Protection and National Center of Disaster Reduction, Ministry of Civil Affairs are responsible for construction and management of application systems.

the delivering ceremony

LUO Ge, Director- General, Department of System Engineering, SASTIND chaired the delivering ceremony with the representatives from Ministry Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Land Resources, Ministry of Environment Protection, Ministry of Agriculture, China Meteorological Administration, State Oceanic Administration, State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, China Academy of Sciences, China Satellite Launch, Telemetry and Control General, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and etc.