China launches high-resolution imaging satellite to service civilian users
The Gaofen-3 can provide all-weather images day or night
China launched the Gaofen-3, an earth observation satellite carrying the nation’s most powerful space-based radar on Wednesday.
The satellite, which is capable of penetrating clouds and even the ground to monitor areas of interest at up to one metre resolution was launched aboard a Long March 4C rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in Shanxi province. The synthetic aperture radar, or SAR, on the Gaofen-3 emits powerful electromagnetic microwaves to its target area and generates high resolution images from the waves as they bounce back from the surface or interior of the target. The Gaofen-3’s antennas measure 18 metres, longer than any other Chinese satellite.
According to state media, it would be the first Chinese satellite to provide civilian users with sharp satellite images day and night, either on land or sea, under all weather conditions including rain, haze, smog and dust storms, as it works independently of natural light and heat.
It would be used for advance warning of disasters, weather forecasting, water resource assessment and monitoring of maritime rights.
The Gaofen-3 marked a “small but important step” in China’s long march to become a space power, said professor Wu Shunjun, a radar technology expert at the National Lab of Radar Signal Processing in Xidian University, Xian.