China has made the first space launch of the year and he has opened a new series of satellites dedicated to Earth observation for civil tasks. The Ziyuan-3A (ZY-3A) departed from the base of Taiyuan at 3:17 UTC on January 9, aboard a CZ-4B rocket. Although not many details of its configuration, the ZY-3, of 2,630 kg, carrying three cameras, high-resolution geologic mapping tasks. These panchromatic cameras that are accompanied by other multispectral infrared range.

As the satellite advances along its polar sun-synchronous orbit, about 500 km altitude, you can see almost any area of ​​the surface. A central chamber photograph what lies immediately below the path, with a resolution of about 2.1 meters. The other two optical cameras, one front and one behind, will do the same show, with a resolution of up to 3.5 meters, the front and rear landscape found in the vehicle.

Combining the different angles are obtained stereoscopic images of the targets. For its part, the infrared camera will obtain additional information with a resolution of up to 6 meters. The satellite will pass over a given point every five days, allowing gather information on changes.

It is expected that the data can be used for agricultural utility mapping, risk reduction, natural disasters, land use control, etc.. The task will be for a period of 4 to 5 years.

The launch also marked the placement in orbit of a microsatellite called VesselSat-2. Be part of a constellation of three mills equipped with AIS automatic identification sensors, which exploit the high seas. The VesselSat weigh 28 kg and are owned by LuxSpace Sarl of Luxembourg, which will integrate them into the system Orbcomm.