Taiyuan, China, 11 April 2007: On Wednesday, China successfully launched the ocean color monitoring remote sensing satellite “Haiyang-1B” from the Taiyuan Satellite Launching Center.
China launched its first ocean monitoring satellite “Haiyang-1A” (Ocean 1A) in 2002, to monitor ocean color and temperature and the recently launched “Haiyang-1B” (Ocean 1B) is the successor of “Haiyang-1A”.
“China will develop five more oceanic satellites in the near future”, China’s ocean research official said here on Wednesday. Sun Zhihui, director of the State Oceanic Administration, made the remarks after the successful launch of the satellite.
He added, “China plans to have a system consisting of ocean color monitoring remote sensing satellites, ocean dynamic environment satellites and ocean surveillance satellites”.
China will launch the Haiyang-2 satellite, or ocean dynamic environment satellites, in 2009 and is currently analyzing customer demand for the Haiyang-3 satellite, or ocean surveillance satellite, Sun said.
Sun said oceanic satellites are needed in China to develop the country’s marine economy, providing marine disaster early warning and safeguarding the nation’s legitimate marine rights.
“Although China is one of only five countries in the world able to independently launch ocean color remote sensing satellites, we still lag behind developed countries in this field,” said Sun.
The State Oceanic Administration plans to establish oceanic satellite ground stations in Mudanjiang City, in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, and in Beijing, to enlarge the Sanya oceanic satellite ground station and to build national satellite data receiving stations in the Antarctica and the Arctic.
