Ziyuan-3 (ZY-3A)

Spacecraft nº:

Chinese spacecraft nº: 177

Launch data: Designation  38046 / 12001A Launch date  09 Jan 2012 - 03:17:10 UT Launch site  Taiyuan, LC-9 Launch vehicle  CZ-4B (#Y26) Mission  Civil: Eart observation, Imaging LEO Sun-synchronous Earth orbit on Jan 13.27: Perigee / Apogee  496 x 505 km Eccentricity  0.0007 Inclination  97.49 deg Period  94.63 min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• The ZY-3 (Ziyuan-3, 'Resource-3') series represents China's first high resolution, stereoscopic mapping satellites for civilian use.
• To satisfy the needs for constructing a database for production of 1:50000 and larger scale maps and provide data for resource mapping, environmental surveying, disaster monitoring, city planning and national security needs.
• Payloads:
  • 1 TDI-CCD nadir-viewing camera with resolution better than 2.5 meters
  • 2 TDI-CCD front/rear-viewing cameras with resolution better than 4 meters
  • 1 multi-spectral front-viewing camera with resolution better than 10 meters
• The satellite can cover all areas of the Earth between 84 deg. North and 84 deg. South, with the re-visiting period at 59 days. In special cases, the satellite can re-visit the same area in 5 days.
• Orbit: 505.984 km circular orbit, inclination 97.421 degrees, local time at descending node 10:30
• Cameras:
  • 2.5m res. high-resolution camera (x1) (sweep area width 52 km)
  • 4m res. medium-resolution cameras (x2) (sweep area width 51 km)
  • 10m res. multi-spectral camera (x1) (sweep area width 52 km)
• Data transfer:
  Compression ratio: 4:1/2:1 for pan-chromatic images and loss-less compression for multi-spectral images
  Number of data transfer channels: 2

Mission details:

• On Jan 9, 2012 the zi yuan san hao (ZY-3) mapping satellite was launched, together with the small 28 kg VesselSat 2, built by LuxSpace for Orbcomm's AIS (maritime vessel tracking) system. On Jan 13 ZY-3 was in a 498 x 506 km x 97.5 deg orbit, Vesselsat-2 in a 489 x 500 km orbit and the CZ-4B third stage in a 219 x 487 km orbit.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch ZY-3. Credit: #411a