The delivery of HY-1 series of satellite competed, the development of HY-3 series satellites started

Recently, the Science and Technology Development Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources organized a review meeting of the in-orbit delivery of the HY-1D satellite in Beijing. This means that the HY-1D satellite has completed its in-orbit testing and can be delivered to the user for long-term use. The HY-1D satellite was launched on June 11, 2020 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. It is equipped with 5 payloads including Chinese Ocean colour and temperature scanner (COCTS), a coastal zone imager (CZI), Ultraviolet Image (UVI), Satellite Calibration Spectrum (SCS), AIS. This meeting brought a successful conclusion to the HY-1 series satellites (including A/B/C/D four satellites) project.

According to the follow-up plan, the new generation of ocean colour satellites is confirmed to be the HY-3 series (replacing the originally planned HY-1E, HY-1F), with research and development work being carried out. The HY-3 series of satellites are developed by Dongfanghong Satellite Ltd. using the mature CAST2000 platform. Two satellites including HY-3A and HY-3B (also namely HY-3 01 and HY-3 02) will be launched in the next five years.

As the new generation of ocean colour satellite, HY-3 satellite is equipped with 4 payloads including Chinese Ocean colour and temperature scanner (COCTS), a coastal zone imager (CZI), Mid-resolution spectral imager and AIS. This is a civilian ocean remote sensing satellite, with its application targets  the same as the HY-1 series of satellites, mainly used for ocean colour, temperature, coastal marine ecological environment monitoring. Among them, the COCTS is mainly used for global ocean colour and temperature monitoring. The coastal zone imager (CZI) is mainly used for monitoring of vegetation of the coastal area. The medium-resolution spectral imager is mainly used for the monitoring of the ocean colour in the offshore area. AIS is mainly used to obtaining the position of ships over the sea.

Compared with the HY-1 series satellites, the design lifetime of the HY-3 series has been increased from 5 years to 8 years, and the main specifications of the each payload have been greatly improved. The spatial resolution of COCTS has been increased from 1000m from 500m, with additional UV, shortwave, and infrared spectral bands, and the number of spectral bands has been increased from 10 to 18. The spatial resolution of the CZI has been increased from 50 meters to 20 meters, and the number of spectral bands has been increased from 4 to 9. The spatial resolution of the medium-resolution spectral imager reaches 100 meters, and the number of spectral bands is 19. The main specifications of AIS remain unchanged. The improvement of the performance specifications of each payload will further enhance the detection ability and level of the national ocean color remote sensing.