Article Posted on : - Aug 16, 2011

An artistic representation of 'Haiyang-2’ maritime satellite

BEIJING (PTI): China has successfully launched a new satellite from the Taiyuan Launch Center to monitor the maritime environment.

The orbiter 'Haiyang-2' was boosted by a Long March-4B carrier rocket from the launch centre in the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi Province.

The satellite, the second in the past four days to have been launched, is for the supervision and survey of maritime environment and an important measure for prevention and reduction of maritime disasters, state-run Xinhua reported.

On Aug 12, a Pakistan Communication satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwest's Sichuan Province.

China is also developing a high-definition 'Civil Survey Satellite', the first of its kind in the country, to be launched at the year end.

The satellite 'ZY 3' will be launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre on a Long March 4B carrier rocket, said Song Chaozhi, deputy director of the administration.

Once successfully launched, the satellite will operate in a sun-synchronous orbit at about 506 km in altitude and be capable of producing seamless imagery of the earth's surface from 84 degrees south latitude to 84 degrees north latitude, according to an official release.

The satellite will provide images with the highest definition and accuracy in China, it said.

It will greatly help the mapping efforts in China's western regions where geographic information is difficult to collect and update due to limits of equipment and technology, Song said.