Fēngyún (FY, ) are China's
meteorological satellites. Launched since 1988 into
polar Sun-synchronous and
geosynchronous orbit, each three-axis stabilized Fengyun satellite is built by the
Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (
SAST) and operated by the
China Meteorological Administration
The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) is the national weather service of the People's Republic of China. The institution is located in Beijing.
History
The agency was originally established in December 1949 as the Central Military Comm ...
(
CMA).
To date, China has launched twenty-one Fengyun satellites in four classes (FY-1 through FY-4). Fengyun 1 and Fengyun 3 satellites are in
polar,
Sun-synchronous orbit
A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...
and
Low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
while Fengyun 2 and 4 are
geosynchronous orbit.
On 11 January 2007, China destroyed one of these satellites (FY-1C, COSPAR 1999-025A) in a
test of an anti-satellite missile. According to
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
, the intentional destruction of FY-1C created more than 3,000 high-velocity debris items, a larger amount of dangerous
space debris
Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, space garbage, or cosmic debris) are defunct human-made objects in spaceprincipally in Earth orbitwhich no longer serve a useful function. These include dere ...
than any other space mission in history.
Classes
Fengyun 1
The four satellites of the Fengyun 1 (or FY-1) class were China's first meteorological satellites placed in polar, Sun-synchronous orbit.
In this orbit, FY-1 satellites orbited the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
at both a low
altitude
Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...
(approximate 900 km above the Earth's surface), and at a high
inclination
Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object.
For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...
between 98.8° and 99.2° traversing the
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
every 14 minutes, giving FY-1-class satellites global meteorological coverage with a rapid revisit time and closer proximity to the clouds they image. FY-1A, launched in September 1988, lasted 39 days until it suffered attitude control problems.
FY-1B, launched in September 1990 along with the first two QQW (Qi Qui Weixing)
balloon satellite
A balloon satellite, sometimes referred to as a "satelloon", is a satellite inflated with gas after it has been put into orbit.
Echo 1 and Echo 2 balloon satellites
The first flying body of this type was Echo 1, which was launched into a hi ...
s, lasted until late 1992 when its attitude control system also failed.
FY-1C, launched in May 1999 along with
Shijian-5, also completed its two-year design life operating until January 2004.
The last satellite of the class, FY-1D, was launched in May 2002 and operated continuously for nine years until in May 2011 operations were temporarily lost. Despite resuscitation, FY-1D failed on 1 April 2012.
All Fengyun 1 satellites were launched from
Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center
The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) also known as ''Base 25'' (), is a People's Republic of China space and defense launch facility (spaceport). It is situated in Kelan County, Xinzhou, Shanxi Province and is the second of four laun ...
(
TSLC) in
Shanxi Province
Shanxi; formerly romanised as Shansi is a province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi and Datong. Its one-character abbreviation is ( ...
on
Long March 4A
The Long March 4A (), also known as the Changzheng 4A, CZ-4A and LM-4A, sometimes misidentified as the Long March 4 due to the lack of any such designated rocket, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket. It was launched from Launch Area 7 at the Tai ...
and
4B rockets and weighed 750 kg, 880 kg, 954 kg, and 954 kg respectively. Aboard each satellite were two multichannel visible and infrared scanning radiometers (MVISR) built by the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics (SITP) bearing an optical scanner,
image processor
An image processor, also known as an image processing engine, image processing unit (IPU), or image signal processor (ISP), is a type of media processor or specialized digital signal processor (DSP) used for image processing, in digital cameras o ...
, radiant cooler, and controller for the radiant cooler.
[Lui, A., 2019. Imaging global auroras in space. Light: Science & Applications, 8(1).] FY-1C and FY-1D satellites also carried on board a
high-energy particle
Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and neutrons, while the study ...
detector (HEPD) for study of the space environment, contributing to their increased
mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
.
FY-1 satellites are powered by two deployable
solar arrays
A photovoltaic system, also called a PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to abs ...
and internal
batteries.
Destruction of FY-1C
On 11 January 2007, China conducted its first anti-satellite (
ASAT) missile test, destroying FY-1C with a
kinetic kill vehicle
A kinetic energy weapon (also known as kinetic weapon, kinetic energy warhead, kinetic warhead, kinetic projectile, kinetic kill vehicle) is a projectile weapon based solely on a projectile's kinetic energy to inflict damage to a target, inst ...
, identified by the United States
Defense Intelligence Agency
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) specializing in military intelligence.
A component of the Department of Defense and the United States In ...
(
DIA) as the SC-19, a modified
DF-21
The Dongfeng 21 (DF-21; NATO reporting name CSS-5 - Dong-Feng () is a two-stage, solid-fuel, single-warhead medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) developed by China's Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics Technology Academy. A part of the Dongfe ...
ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typic ...
with mounted kill vehicle. The shootdown, and the subsequent creation of a record-setting amount of in-orbit
debris
Debris (, ) is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded waste, garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, as in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier, etc. Depending on context, ''debris'' can ref ...
, drew serious international criticism.
[BBC News (2007)]
Concern over China's missile test
Retrieved January 20, 2007.
Fengyun 2
Satellites of the Fengyun 2 class are based on the spin-stabilized
Dong Fang Hong 2 platform and are China's first class of meteorological satellites in
geostationary orbit
A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...
.
Unlike meteorological satellites in polar orbit (like the FY-1 and FY-3 classes), FY-2 satellites in geostationary orbit remain in a fixed position relative to the Earth 35,000 km above its surface and maintain a constant watch over an assigned area.
Unlike polar orbiting satellites which view the same area about twice a day, geostationary satellites can image a location as fast as once a minute and show long term meteorological trends - at the cost of resolution.
Built by the Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering and operated by the Chinese Meteorological Administration, FY-2 satellites are 4.5 m tall and are
spin-stabilized rotating at 100 rotations per minute. FY-2-class satellites have been marketed for their openly available data whereby any user with a receiver could view FY-2 derived sensory data.
Satellites of the Fengyun 2 class have a mass of 1,380 kilograms, use solar cells and batteries for power, and a FG-36
apogee motor
An apogee kick motor (AKM) is a rocket motor that is regularly employed on artificial satellites to provide the final impulse to change the trajectory from the transfer orbit into its final orbit (most commonly circular orbit, circular). For a ...
jettisoned after attaining orbit.
On 2 April 1994, China attempted to launch the Fengyun 2 from
Xichang Satellite Launch Center
The Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC), also known as the Xichang Space Center, is a spaceport in China. It is located in (), Mianning county, approximately northwest of Xichang, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan.
It is op ...
(
XSLC) when, prior to its mating with the
Long March 3
The Long March 3 (), also known as the Changzheng 3, CZ-3 and LM-3, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. They were all launched from Launch Area 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It was a three-stage rocket, and was mostly used ...
, a fire caused an explosion destroying the satellite, killing a technician, and injuring 20 others. Officials of the Chinese space agency described the $75 million
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
loss of the satellite as a "major setback" to the Chinese space program.
Despite this, China launched eight successive Fengyun 2 satellites without incident.
Fengyun 3
Chinese participation in the monitoring of
aurora
An aurora ( aurorae or auroras),
also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...
s for scientific and space weather investigation was initiated with the launch of the Fengyun-3D satellite, which carries a wide-field auroral imager.
Fengyun 4

As of 2021, China has launched two Fengyun 4 class satellites.
List of satellites
See also
*
China Meteorological Administration
The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) is the national weather service of the People's Republic of China. The institution is located in Beijing.
History
The agency was originally established in December 1949 as the Central Military Comm ...
*
2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test
On 11 January 2007, China conducted an anti-satellite missile test. A Chinese weather satellite—the FY-1C (COSPAR 1999-025A) polar orbit satellite of the Fengyun series, at an altitude of , with a mass of —was destroyed by a kinetic kill ...
*
Yunhai-2
*
Gaofen
References
External links
Fēngyún-3 satellite programme
{{CNSA space program
Weather satellites of China
Spacecraft launched by Long March rockets
Intentionally destroyed artificial satellites
Satellite collisions
Spacecraft that broke apart in space