Chinese Satellites

 Dong Fang Hong-1 Satellite

The first Dong Fang Hong-1 satellite was independently developed by Chinese scientists and was launched on April 24, 1970. Its main tasks were to carry out satellite technology experiments, to explore the atmospheric density. The 173kg satellite adopted the spin-stabilized attitude control system and had a designed life expectancy of 3 years. The satellite broadcasted The East Is Red music at 20.009 Hz.

 Recoverable Satellites

From 1974 to 1996, China has launched 17 recoverable remote sensing satellites, of which 16 satellites has returned to the ground. The satellite weighed 1,800-2,100 kilograms and had a designed lifetime of 3-15 days. These satellites sent back a lot of valuable information, playing a vital role in the economic development and the modernization of national defense.

 Dong Fang Hong-2A

The Dong Fang Hong-2A was the upgraded Dong Fang Hong-2 with function improved greatly and had 4 transponders. It mainly provided services of domestic communications, broadcasting, TV, and digital transfers.

The output power of each power amplifier was 10W. The EIRP within the service area was greater than 32dBW and G/T value greater than -11dB/K. The Dong Fang Hong-2A had liftoff mass of 1040kg and designed lifetime of four and a half years.

Dong Fang Hong-2A satellites were first launched into orbit on March 7, 1988. Then, on December 22, 1988 and February 4, 1990 two more Dong Fang Hong-2A were launched.

 Dong Fang Hong-3

The development of the Dong Fang Hong-3 started in 1986 and the first Dong Fang Hong-3 satellite was completed in 1994. It was sent into quasi-synchronous orbit, but did not enter into preset orbit because of the leakage of propellants.

After failure analysis and modification, the second Dong Fang Hong-3 was launched on May 12, 1997 and positioned at 125'E on May 20, providing telephone, data transmission, fax, VSAT network and TV services. Up to now, the satellite has operated for more than four years.

The main body of the satellite is a box-form structure. The satellite has large deployable solar wings and communications antenna with 2m in diameter, which are folded when the satellite is launched and deploy when the satellite enters orbit. The wing span can reach 18.1m and their height is 5.7m. The satellite has 2,260kg liftoff mass and 8-year-designed lifetime.

The Dong Fang Hong-3 satellite is composed of the propulsion bay, service bay, communications bay, communications antenna and solar wings. It has 7 subsystems, including control, power supply, measurement and control, propulsion, structure and communications, etc. The first 6 subsystems make up the satellite platform and the last one is the payload of the satellite.

 Feng Yun-2 Satellite

The Feng Yun-2 satellite was launched on June 10, 1997 and was China's first generation of geostationary orbit meteorological satellite. Its data is open for international users, that is to say the satellite data can be shared with other countries. The stations of the Feng Yun-2 can receive S- visible and infrared SpinScan radiometer (VISSR) high-resolution digital data and WEFAX low- resolution analog data.

The satellite has 1,330kg liftoff mass and 3-to-4-year designed lifetime.

The Feng Yun-2 meteorological satellite has the following functions:

1. Obtaining visible, infrared and water vapor cloud images with a radiometer onboard the satellite. Sea surface temperature, cloud analysis chart, cloud parameters and wind vector can be derived from these data.

2. Collecting and transmitting observed data from widely dispersed data collection platforms.

3. Broadcasting S-VISSR data and WEFAX.

4. Monitoring space environment from the satellite.

 China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite-1 (CBERS-1)

In the late 1970s, China started the design of the earlier stage of the resources satellite. On July 6, 1988, China and Brazil began to jointly develop the CBERS.

After more than 10 years' hard work of technicians of the two countries, the CBERS was finally launched into orbit and put into operation on October 14, 1999.

It is China's first high-speed transmission remote-sensing satellite, first application satellite that was put into operation after its first launch. Most of its payloads, and attitude and orbit control accuracy of the satellite had reached the international level of the 1990s.

Since the launch of the CBERS, the Chinese Resources Satellite Application Center has successfully received more than 90,000 picture information data. These data are mainly used in agricultural resources monitor, agricultural ecological environment protection, crop yield estimation, grassland monitor, forestry resource environment disaster monitor and review, geological mapping, mine prospecting and mapping, the investigation of oil, natural gas and non-ferrous metal, western development ecological environmental monitor, updating data base of national resource environment and highway traffic, education, scientific research and comprehensive application, etc. The CBERS-1 has played a very important role in the prevention and mitigation of disasters.