A atmospheric-sounding satellite developed by China’s private satellite maker GalaxySpace entered its preset orbit on Friday after the launch that also sent two other satellites into space.
The satellite named Tianlu-1 has high vertical resolution, multi-parameter detection, and all-weather observation. It’s for limb sounding of middle and upper atmosphere, said reports.
GalaxySpace said the satellite provides advanced tools and technologies for middle and upper atmosphere exploration, to collect spatial datasets with vertical profiles of the region.
The middle and upper atmosphere, between the maximum altitude of traditional aircraft and the minimum orbit of satellites, is unexplored and underutilized.
Getting data from this region, including atmospheric density, temperature, composition, and wind fields can greatly improve extreme weather forecasting, space weather research, and climate change research.
It will also support aerospace services, said the company.
"Limb-sounding remote sensing represents an innovative approach in space-based atmospheric observation. This technique involves positioning a satellite at a specific orbital altitude, where it conducts layered detection of the middle and upper atmosphere along the tangent direction," said Xi Bin, chief engineer of GalaxySpace.
Xi said by analyzing spectral data of atmospheric emissions, scattering, and absorption, the satellite can get critical physical parameters of the atmospheric layers.
GalaxySpace said the satellite has three payloads to capture high-resolution vertical profiles of temperature, atmospheric composition, density, and wind field vectors.
Xi said in the future, a batch of detection missions will provide data to enhance China’s independent satellite communication and navigation and support high-altitude platform deployment and application.
The data products will support atmospheric model development, environmental change research, and ionospheric modeling, Xi said.
Friday’s launch by a Long March-2D rocket, the 556th mission of the Long March rocket series, sent Tianlu-1, Lantan-1, and a Pakistani satellite into space from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
