38046 - ZY 3

ZY 3 was launched from Taiyuan on 2012 January 9 at 03:17 UT. The satellite was launched by a Long March 4B rocket and weighed 2,630 kg. ZY 3, also known as ZIYUAN 3, is the first of a new series of high-resolution civilian remote sensing satellites and will be used for stereo mapping.

The spacecraft carries three high-resolution panchromatic cameras and an infrared multispectral scanner (IRMSS). The cameras are positioned at front-facing, ground-facing and rear-facing positions. Two cameras (front-facing and rear-facing) have a spectral resolution of 3.5 m and 52.3 km ground swath while the ground-facing camera has a spectral resolution of 2.1 m and 51.1 km ground swath. The IRMSS has a spectral resolution of 6.0 m and 51.0 km ground swath. The satellite will be used to provide imagery to monitor resources, land use and ecology, and for use in urban planning and disaster management.

The satellite has a planned operational lifetime of 4 years with a possible extension to 5 years.

The initial orbital parameters were period = 94.65 minutes, apogee = 508.4 km, perigee = 494.9 km, inclination = 97.5 degrees on 2012 Feb 20 at 21:21:07 UTC.

Facts in Brief

Launch Date: 2012-01-09
Launch Vehicle: Long March 4B
Launch Site: Taiyuan, Peoples Republic of China
Mass: 2630.0 kg