China rolls out new weather forecasting satellite

China has successfully launched a new weather satellite with 11 remote sensing payloads that will monitor global ice coverage and sea surface temperatures, in addition to enhancing the country’s weather forecasting capability.

The satellite was launched on Monday into planned orbit from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwest, reports Xinhua News Agency.

The report said that Fengyun-3E (FY-3E) would be the world’s first meteorological satellite in morning orbit for the civil service.

It is designed with a lifetime of eight years and will obtain atmospheric temperature, humidity, and other meteorological parameters mainly for numerical prediction applications, thereby improving China’s weather forecasting capability.

It will also monitor global ice cover, sea surface temperatures, natural disasters, and ecology to better respond to climate change and prevent and mitigate meteorological disasters.

In addition, the satellite will monitor the solar and space environments and their effects, as well as monitor ionospheric data to meet the needs of space weather forecasting and ancillary services.