2016年CRI China Releases First-batch Images Captured by Gaofen-4 Satellite

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The State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense¹ released 17 pictures captured by Gaofen-4 on Wednesday, covering an area of at least 400 kilometers.

The project's chief designer, Tong Xudong, said Gaofen-4 is in good condition and capturing stable images.

"All these images have demonstrated different geomorphologic features in certain regions, which show Gaofen-4's potential in surveying ecological² environment and bush fire."

One image taken on January 21st shows Beijing and neighboring areas amid heavy smog, while another clear image of the same region was taken on Jan. 25, when the smog dispersed³.

Other images feature Nam Co in the Tibet Autonomous⁴ Region, the world's highest saltwater lake, and the Yellow River delta⁵ and a forest fire in South Australia.

By using a huge CMOS digital camera, the Gaofen-4 can still find objects as small as an oil tanker⁶ on ocean, even though it's orbiting 36-thousand kilometers away from earth.

Fan Yida, an official with Ministry⁷ of Civil Affairs, says the satellite can make a valuable contribution to disaster mitigation in China.

"Gaofen-4 provides quick, reliable and stable remote sensing data, which will benefit forest surveying, fire prevention, disaster reduction, and earthquake forecasting across China. It also offer advanced technological⁸ means in terms of extracting seismic⁹ structure information and predicting meteorological changes."

Before China launched the Gaofen-1 observation satellite in April 2013, almost all of these kinds of pictures and data had to be bought from foreign companies.

Tong Xudong adds that the introduction of high definition data produced by domestic made satellite, has reduced the country's financial burden, and improves the data's quality.

"Recently, the price of foreign satellite data has dropped sharply and the foreign data with a resolution ratio of less than two meters has already been withdrawn¹⁰ from China's market."

The Gaofen project aims to launch seven high-definition observation satellites before 2020.

The Gaofen-4 satellite was launched on December 29th, as China's first geosynchronous orbit HD optical imaging satellite.

For CRI, this Huang Shan.