China's Earth observing satellites begin operation

The Land Surveyor 1-01A and 1-01B satellites, a pair of Earth observation radar satellites, were put to formal operations on Friday, according to the China National Space Administration.

The administration said in a news release that the control of the two satellites was transferred to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the spacecraft's main user, at a handover ceremony in Beijing. The two satellites had completed all of their in-orbit technical tests and had been ready for formal operations, it noted.

The Land Surveyor 1-01A satellite was launched in January 2022 by a Long March 4C carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The Land Surveyor 1-01B was lifted by the same rocket model from Jiuquan the next month.

Both of them were built by by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp and are flying in a quasi-sun-synchronous orbit about 600 kilometers above the ground.

The pair has been tasked with using their L-band synthetic aperture radars to carry out round-the-clock, all-weather observation of ground areas to provide data and images to land resources, disaster prevention and relief, mapping, and forestry authorities. Their service will extensively strengthen the rapid response capability for major natural disasters, according to designers.

The Ministry of Natural Resources said that China pays nearly 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) each year for data and images obtained by foreign synthetic aperture radar satellites and those foreign products are far from enough to meet the needs of the country's landform survey and disaster forecast and monitoring operations.

Therefore, the satellites are expected to help reduce China's dependence on foreign satellite products in this regard, the ministry said.