China has launched on Tuesday, Dec. 29, Gaofen-4, its most sophisticated observation satellite, as part of the country's high-definition (HD) earth observation project, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
According to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND), Gaofen-4 fired off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan at 00:04 a.m. aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket, which was the 222nd flight of the Long March rocket series.
Xu Dazhe, head of SASTIND and China National Space Administration, said that Gaofen-4 is China's first geosynchronous orbit HD optical imaging satellite and also considered as the world's most sophisticated HD geosynchronous orbit remote sensing satellite.
Tong Xudong, the chief designer of the Gaofen project with SASTIND, said that the successful launch of Gaofen-4 marked the 19th space mission in 2015.
The satellite will be used for disaster prevention and relief, surveillance of geological and forest disasters, and meteorologic forecast.
The report said that the project aims to launch seven high-definition observation satellites before 2020.
The country launched Gaofen-1, the first satellite of the project, in April 2013. Gaofen-1 and Gaofen-2 have low orbits (600-700 km) around the Earth, different from Gaofen-4, which is located at the orbit 36,000 kilometers away and moves synchronously with the Earth.
Gaofen-4 is capable of "seeing" an oil tanker on the sea with a huge CMOS camera, getting the best imaging level among global high-orbit remote sensing satellites, Li Guo, chief designer of Gaofen-4, told the media.