On June 3, 2021, FY-4B satellite, as the first operational satellite of FY-4 series, was successfully launched in Xichang Satellite Launch Center. On July 1, 2021, on the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, FY-4B satellite successfully acquired the first batch of high-resolution and high-efficiency visible light observation images. This is the first time that the minute-level meteorological change process can be seen with naked eyes. The key load to realize this function is the geostationary orbit high-speed imager, the latest "core technology" loaded on FY-4B. Professor Wu Xiaohong's team from Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) undertook the mission of developing the box and sunshade of the high-speed imager.
Wu’s team has developed, with great assiduity, a series of functional materials with electricity and heat conductivity and stray light dissipation. It has also developed the first ultra-low pollution and high stability, electricity and heat conductivity structure/function integrated compound-material box in China, and the first high-efficiency stray light suppression and ultra-low pollution, honeycomb-sandwich structured compound-material sunshade for geostationary orbit meteorological satellite. These provide a strong guarantee for the high-speed imager to obtain higher-resolution images.
The geostationary orbit high-speed imager can realize high-frequency observation of one time per minute in the area of 2000 km × 2000 km, and the imaging time of smaller areas is even shorter. It is the first time in the world to realize all-day observation with a spatial resolution of 250 meters in geostationary orbit, which greatly improves the satellite’s observing ability for weather phenomena with small scale and short duration, and plays an important role in short-term approaching weather forecasts.
First picture of geostationary orbit radiation imager
Animated cloud image of geostationary orbit rapid imager
