Gaofen 1 () is a Chinese
high-resolution
Image resolution is the level of detail of an image. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail.
Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies ...
Earth observation satellite
An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...
, and the first of the
Gaofen series satellites.
History
The civilian CHEOS (China High-resolution Earth Observation System) satellite program was proposed in 2006 and received approval in 2010. Gaofen 1 was the first of six planned CHEOS spacecraft for being launched between 2013 and 2016.
The satellite's primary goal is to provide near real time observations for
disaster prevention and relief,
climate change monitoring,
geographical mapping,
environmental
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...
and
resource
''Resource'' refers to all the materials available in our environment which are Technology, technologically accessible, Economics, economically feasible and Culture, culturally Sustainability, sustainable and help us to satisfy our needs and want ...
surveying as well as
precision agriculture
Precision agriculture (PA) is a management strategy that gathers, processes and analyzes temporal, spatial and individual plant and animal data and combines it with other information to support management decisions according to estimated varia ...
support.
Subsequently, over twelve satellites were launched in the Gaofen series, with varying
optical
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...
,
infrared
Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
and
radar imaging
Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), direction (geometry), direction (azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to det ...
capabilities. They are managed by civilians.
Launch
Gaofen 1 was launched on 26 April 2013 at 04:13 UTC with a Long March 2D carrier rocket from the
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC; also known as Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center; Launch Complex B2; formally Northwest Comprehensive Missile Testing Facility (); Base 20; 63600 Unit) is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility ( spacep ...
along with the three small experimental satellites:
TurkSat-3USat (
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
),
CubeBug 1 (
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
) and
NEE-01 Pegaso (
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
) in a
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 ...
.
See also
*
Chinese space program
The space program of the People's Republic of China is about the activities in outer space conducted and directed by the China, People's Republic of China. The roots of the Chinese space program trace back to the 1950s, when, with the help ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earth Observation Satellite
Spacecraft launched in 2013
Earth observation satellites of China
2013 in China
Spacecraft launched by Long March rockets