China is one of the most powerful space countries today, with the most satellites in orbit after the US. And even though the Chinese space agency remains rather secretive about its technology and barely ever engages in joint initiatives, the Chinese satellite industry has many examples of top-notch innovative technologies that take spacecraft to a new level.
Usually, a typical Chinese satellite mission is classified by the government, but some initiatives are made public, such as spacecraft deployed to study ecology and the environment. Below, we list some examples of Chinese satellites for environmental monitoring that stand guard over our planet’s resources.
Chinese Satellite Series for Environmental Monitoring
Today, the Chinese space industry has over 500 satellites in orbit, and most of them are designed for navigation, communications, and military reconnaissance. However, there are several EOS examples, too. So, what is the Chinese satellite called? In fact, the Chinese have four series of different satellites designed specifically for environmental monitoring.
Gaofen
Gaofen, literally translated from Chinese as ‘high-resolution,’ is the biggest series of Earth imaging satellites designed for agricultural, environmental, and disaster control monitoring. This program was first proposed in 2006, and the first launches happened shortly after, in 2010. Out of total 78 satellite launches, 76 were successful. The last batch so far took off on August 10, 2022, even though little is known about this last series resolution.
Many experts believe that Gaofen 8 satellite series may have a dual Earth observing and military reconnaissance purpose, especially considering that China agreed to share Gaofen data with Roscosmos. The exact details of this deal remain a mystery, but what we know for a fact is that all Gaofen satellites were launched on Chinese Long March rockets and are now operational in the Sun-synchronous orbit.
TanSat
TanSat, often referred to as CarbonSat is a single Chinese mini-satellite designed for monitoring carbon levels in the Earth’s atmosphere. According to Orbital Today, this is the only Chinese space mission made specifically for measuring CO2 levels. Notably, most western countries are more attentive to monitoring greenhouse gas emissions and analysing the consequences of climate change. But in the case of TanSat, one is still better than none.
TanSat initiative was first proposed in 2010, and shortly after, the work on the first Chinese CarbonSat began. However, this spacecraft was not launched until 2016. TanSat was designed exclusively by Shanghai Institute of Microsystem And Information Technology and is still operational today, even though the original mission duration was estimated at just three years.
Like most carbon-measuring spacecraft, this Chinese satellite is equipped with advanced spectrometers and imagers.
Haiyang
Haiyang is a relatively small series of Chinese satellites designed specifically for marine monitoring. Launches began in May 2022, and as of October 2022, eight Haiyang were already launched, and ten more should be deployed shortly. These remote-sensing series stand watch on ocean levels and their endangered species by monitoring chlorophyll levels, fluorescence, atmospheric correction, and temperature.
Yaogan
Yaogan is another series of Chinese satellites for Earth observation, but its reputation in the West is not as solid or transparent as that of Gaofen series. Similar to Haiyang, Yaogan is a remote sensing satellite that uses SAR imaging for quality imaging of our planet.
Yaogan satellites are placed both in LEO and SSO and, as of now, there are over a hundred active spacecraft watching our planet. However, China shares very little information about Yaogan, which led some people to assume this could be a military reconnaissance series, not an EOS system. Simply put, many wonders — does China explore space? Or does it spy on its neighbours?
Notably, Yaogan is not the first Chinese satellite that makes Western countries uneasy. Today, it’s hard to argue that Chinese contribution to environmental protection is on par with western countries. Still, despite China’s dedication to serving natural resources protection, many western experts still sound the alarm about this country’s secretiveness regarding the rest of its satellites.
The public grew particularly alarmed when a Chinese spacecraft used a robotic arm to transfer one of its decommissioned satellites into the graveyard orbit. Many believed this technology could be used for disabling other spacecraft in orbit.
In all honesty, though, we have no indication right now that China is building any weapons in space. Plus, one needs to understand that all satellites have a dual purpose, and absolutely all of them can serve military and reconnaissance purposes. What’s most important right now is that we all live on the same planet, and each of us plays a hand in replenishing its resources.
So, EOS initiatives from space power countries play a crucial part in preserving and potentially replenishing the precious resources we have back on Earth, and the Chinese satellite industry contributes a major share to such initiatives.