China launches HY-2C ocean observation satellite

The HY-2 satellites will play a key role in China’s ocean resource surveys, disaster relief and environment management

SHANXI, China (Global Times) — China successfully launched its HY-2C ocean-observation satellite into planned orbit on Monday afternoon via a Long March-4B carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in North China’s Shanxi Province.

The HY-2C satellite, named after the Chinese word Haiyang for “ocean” and given the “HY” designation for short, is the country’s third ocean-observation satellite, and the second space-borne infrastructure satellite to provide ocean dynamics monitoring services, according to a space authority statement sent to the

Global Times on Monday. “The HY-2 satellites will play a key role in China’s ocean resource surveys, disaster relief and environment management. The follow-up satellite network will better serve the world and China’s maritime power strategy,” said Jiang Xingwei, director of the National Ocean Satellite Application Center under the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The HY-2C satellite will team up with the HY-2B, which was launched in October 2018, and subsequent Y-2D satellites to form a network for maritime environment monitoring, enabling China to carry out 24/7 all-weather high precision monitoring of maritime data including sea surface height, wave height as well as oceanic water color.

The HY-2C satellite and the Long March-4B carrier rocket were developed by the state-owned space giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, and China’s Ministry of Natural Resources is in charge of its operation.