China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite 3 (CBERS-3), also known as Ziyuan I-03 or Ziyuan 1D, was a

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Eart ...

satellite intended for operation as part of the

China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program The China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program (CBERS) is a technological cooperation program between Brazil and China which develops and operates Earth observation satellites. History The basis for the space cooperation between China ...

between the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Center for Resources Satellite Data and Application and Brazilian

National Institute for Space Research The National Institute for Space Research ( pt, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, INPE) is a research unit of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations, the main goals of which are fostering scientific research an ...

. The fourth CBERS satellite to fly, it was lost in a launch failure in December 2013.

Spacecraft

CBERS-3 was a spacecraft based on the Phoenix-Eye 1

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus- ...

. It was developed by the

China Academy of Space Technology The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) () is a Chinese space agency and subordinate of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The agency was founded on 20 February 1968, and is the main spacecraft development and prod ...

, in partnership with Brazil, at a cost of US$125 million for each party. The spacecraft had a single solar array which would have provided power to its systems, generating 2,300 watts of electrical power, and had a design life of three years. The CBERS-3 spacecraft carried four instruments: MUXCam, a multispectral camera; PanMUX, a panchromatic imager; the Infrared Medium Resolution Scanner, or IRSCAM, and WFICAM, a wide-field imaging camera. These cameras were to have been used to observe a swath of of landmass at a time, enabling the satellite to scan the entire surface of the planet every 26 days, with a spatial resolution of up to . CBERS-3 was initially scheduled to be launched in 2010, however delays in its deployment, including failures in the electric conversion system, caused it to slip to 2013. The satellite would have restored the Brazilian government's ability to observe its own territory following a three-and-a-half-year gap caused by the failure of

CBERS-2B China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite 2B (CBERS-2B), also known as Ziyuan 1-2B, was a remote sensing satellite operated as part of the China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program between the Chinese Center for Resources Satellite Data ...

. One of the objectives of the CBERS-3 satellite's mission was to help monitor the process of

deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, covering an area of 3,000,000 km2 (2,316,612.95 square miles). It represents over half of the planet's rainforests and comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropi ...

Launch failure

A Chang Zheng 4B carrier rocket was used to launch CBERS-3. The launch took place at 03:26 UTC on 9 December 2013, using Launch Complex 9 at the

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 ...

. The satellite was intended to be placed into a sun-synchronous orbit, however the rocket malfunctioned, resulting in the loss of the satellite. China has begun an investigation into the causes of the failure. In response to the failure, China and Brazil have called for an extraordinary committee meeting to discuss the causes for the accident, next steps to be taken in the program and the acceleration the development and deployment of the CBERS-4 satellite, which had originally been scheduled for launch in 2015.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2013 China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program Spacecraft launched in 2013 Satellite launch failures 2013 in China Earth observation satellites of Brazil Satellites of China Spacecraft launched by Long March rockets