Artist’s rendition of a satellite – 3dsculptor/123RF Stock Photo
In Europe, the last days of summer are upon us, but this does not mean the rest of the Earth Observation (EO) world is taking it easy. There have been a number of new satellite launches over the last week in China and New Zealand.
Earth Observation Launches From China
Last week, China launched the fourth of its Gaofen 12 EO satellites. The satellite was put into a near-polar orbit, at approximately 600 miles altitude, following its launch by a Long March 4C rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the 20th August. There is limited information available about the payload of the satellite, which was built by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). However, if it is similar the previous Gaofen 12 satellites, it is believed to be a synthetic aperture radar satellite with a sub-meter spatial resolution. The data from these Gaofen 12 satellites are reportedly being used for land surveys, urban planning, road network design, crop yield estimation and disaster response, and they are all part of the China High-resolution Earth Observation System (CHEOS).
Also launching from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center a few days later, the CERE-1 Y8 commercial rocket, from the Chinese company Galactic Energy, put the Jilin-1 Kuanfu 02A satellite in a sun-synchronous orbit on the 25th August. This satellite, also known as HKUST-XiongBin-1, due to a partnership between the satellite builders the Chinese commercial company Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). The satellite is a multi-spectral optical imaging satellite offering a spatial resolution of approximately 0.5 metres, with a swath width of 150 km. It is believed that the data will be used for applications related to global environment, disaster and sustainable development.
Earth Observation Launches From New Zealand
Last week, finally, saw the launch of the Capella Acadia 1 satellite by Rocket Labs. The mission, named ‘We Love The Nightlife’  was originally due to launch at end of July but was aborted during the engine ignition sequence. Bad weather postponed the launch further, but last week on the 24th August, Rocket labs successfully put the satellite into a circular orbit above the Earth at 640 km. Acadia 1 is a commercial X-band SAR satellite is and the first in the next generation of Capella’s satellites, offering increased radar bandwidth and improvements to reduce the time from imagery collection to user downloading.
Summary
The EO industry is truly a global one with developments, ideas and launches happening all over world. There is never a quiet period to take a breath and it is exciting to be involved in such a fast paced sector.
