On Saturday at 3:28 a.m., a Long March-4C rocket soared from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwest of the Chinese mainland, carrying the new Fengyun-3 08 meteorological satellite 🌍🚀.
Developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, the satellite will sharpen weather forecasting, monitor atmospheric chemistry and track climate change from its sun-synchronous orbit. It’s equipped with nine advanced remote sensing instruments—including a medium-resolution spectral imager, an infrared hyperspectral atmospheric detector and a microwave imager—to detect greenhouse gases across a 100 km swath like never before.
Fengyun-3 08 joins two other Fengyun satellites in orbit, creating a full-circle observation network that cuts weather data update times from 6 hours to 4 hours. This upgrade extends forecast lead times by about 24 hours and nearly doubles disaster monitoring efficiency, giving communities more time to prepare.
The three-stage Long March-4C liquid-propellant rocket can deploy up to 3 tonnes to a 700 km sun-synchronous orbit in any weather and at any time, marking the 596th mission of the Long March series.
With Fengyun-3 08 now in space, our global weather and climate monitoring is leveling up—bringing us closer to a smarter, greener future ✨🌱.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
