32958 - FENGYUN 3A

Fengyun 3A sometimes listed as FY 3A, is a Chinese (PRC) weather satellite that was launched by a Long March 4C rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) in Shanxi province at 03:02 UT on 27 May 2008. The triaxially-stabilized 4.4 m x 2.0 m x 2.0 m, 2.2 tonne, 1.1 kW craft carries weather probes in visible, infrared, and microwave bands for global mapping, as well as for managing the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

VIRR (Visible and Infrared Radiometer) will provide intensities in ten wavelength channels, most of them in infrared.

MODI is a moderate resolution imager that provides images in 19 wavelength bands ranging from 0.47 nm through 1.03 nm, plus an image at the far-infrared 11.5 nm band.

MWRI (Microwave Radiation Imager) will provide images in GHz bands of 10.65, 18.7, 23.8, 36.5, 89, and 150 GHz thermal emissions from land and oceans.

IRAS (Infrared Atmospheric Sounder) is a "sounder" that provides altitude distribution of aerosols and carbon dioxides in the stratosphere, in 20 wavelength channels.

MWTS (Microwave atmospheric Temperature Sounder) is an eight-channel (19.35, 23.9, 31.0, 50.31, 53.74, 54.96, 57.95, and 89 GHz) "sounder" to sense the vertical atmospheric temperature profile.

In addition, Fengyun 3A carries an ozone mapper/profiler, a radiation budget monitor, and a space environment probe to monitor energetic particle fluxes.

Alternate Names

FY 3A

Facts in Brief

Launch Date: 2008-05-27
Launch Vehicle: Long March 4C
Launch Site: Taiyuan, Peoples Republic of China