Civil-use satellite Gaofen-7 launched
CHINA yesterday launched a new Earth observation satellite, Gaofen-7, which will play an important role in land surveying and mapping, urban and rural construction and statistical investigation, according to the China National Space Administration.
The Gaofen-7, launched on a Long March-4B rocket at 11:22am from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China’s Shanxi Province, is China’s first civil-use optical transmission three-dimensional surveying and mapping satellite that reaches the sub-meter level, CNSA said.
The satellite and carrier rocket were developed by the China Academy of Space Technology and the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
The users of the Gaofen-7 satellite will be mainly from the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Bureau of Statistics.
The same carrier rocket carried three other commercial and scientific experiment satellites, including one developed for Sudan, into space.
The development of the Gaofen-7 has achieved a breakthrough in sub-meter level 3D mapping camera technology, meeting the highest mapping accuracy requirement among the Gaofen series Earth observation satellites, CNSA said.
It can obtain high-resolution optical 3D observation data and high-precision laser altimetry data and can realize 1:10,000 scale satellite 3D mapping for civil use in China, according to CNSA.
The satellite can meet the needs of users in basic mapping, global geographic information, monitoring and evaluation in urban and rural construction, agricultural survey and statistics, etc.
Cao Haiyi, chief designer of Gaofen-7 from CAST, said the satellite also has excellent positioning accuracy. For instance, it is able to accurately locate the roads in the countryside.
The new satellite will work together with other Gaofen satellites to form an Earth observation system with high resolution and high positioning accuracy, which will help promote international sci-tech industrial cooperation through data sharing and support the Belt and Road initiative, said Wang Xiang, chief commander of the Gaofen-7 satellite project.
Since the Gaofen project began in 2010, China has had an increasingly clearer view of the planet. Launched in April 2013, Gaofen-1 can cover the globe in just four days.
(Xinhua)