On June 6, China published the first batch of photos captured by Gaofen-1, China's first high-definition earth observation satellite. Those pictures will provide valuable information of natural condition and disaster prevention. Li Dong has the details.

 

　　Released by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, the 13 photos feature images of four cities -Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Yinchuan in the northwest of the country and Datong in the north.

 

　　An official with the Ministry says these images have attained top international standards in terms of the width of observation. Gaofen-1 has significantly raised the efficiency of Earth observation, compared to other remote-sensing satellites.

 

　　Gaofen-1 blasted off from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on April 26, carried by a Long March-2D carrier rocket. The satellite has been taking pictures of the earth two days after it was launched into space. It can take a panorama picture covering an area of over 800 kilometers in one shot.

 

　　Wang Bingbing, deputy director of the Center for Resources Satellite Data and Application at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation says that much of the observation data has been sent back and has shown that the satellite is running in good condition.

 

　　"We began to record the data from the ground system at 10:33 on April 28, with the first image being processed 14 minutes later. By 11:57, the standard production process of the first and second-grade products had been completed."

 

　　The satellite is the first low-orbit remote-sensing satellite designed to be in use for longer than five years. It carries two 2m panchromatic/8m multi-spectral high-definition cameras, and four 16m resolution wide-angle cameras. They can gather data of both high resolution and accuracy. Wang Bingbing says the satellite is in smooth operation.

 

　　"According to remote sensing data from over 20 orbits of the Gaofen-1 satellite in five consecutive days, the satellite operates quite well and its effective load works quite normally. The quality of the image maps is high as well."

 

　　Developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, Gaofen-1 is the first of five or six satellites to be launched for the high-definition Earth observation system between 2011 and 2016.

 

　　The satellite will be used for purposes including geometric correction, monitoring changes of land use and mineral resource development, geological disaster surveying and inspection, surveying of water and the quality of air, grass land and arable land.

 

　　Recently, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the successful construction of a network of remote sensing satellite ground stations that covers all of China's territory.

 

　　According to the academy, the network can receive, transmit, store, process and distribute remote sensing data from satellites to obtain information from the entire region.

 

　　It will play an important role in land use, disaster monitoring and research on resources and the environment.

 

　　For CRI, I am Li Dong.