FY-3 Series, The Second Generation of Polar-Orbiting Meteorological Satellites of China
In the R&D phase (2004-2008), i.e., most of the payloads are new developed instruments; two satellites (FY-3A and FY-3B) will be manufactured with limited sounding capabilities. The first satellite (FY-3A) and the instruments are now under manufacturing.
In the operational phase (after 2008), five satellites are planned with enhanced sounding and imaging capabilities on the basis of FY-3A & FY-3B.
2. FY-3A Satellite and Instrumentation
2.1 FY-3A satellite specifications and major orbital parameters
FY-3A is a sun-synchronous polar-orbiting meteorological satellite. The satellite in general is a hexahedron of 4.4 2.0 2.0 meters and the configuration is depicted in figure 1.
Figure 1. Configuration of FY-3A satellite
The total weight is estimated 2200 kg. The one solar panel is mounted on one side of the satellite main body which makes the total length of the satellite 10 meters in flight. The attitude control of the satellite is three-axis stabilized with a measuring precision of 50 meters with the aid of a star sensor onboard the satellite. Table 1 depicts the major orbital parameters of the satellite.
