The development of infrared remote sensors for Chinese meteorological satellites

Abstract

Meteorological satellites have become an irreplaceable weather and ocean observing tool. Since the first Chinese polar-orbiting meteorological satellite Feng-Yun (FY-1A) was launched successfully in 1988, there are totally 13 meteorological satellites that were launched into both sun synchronous and geostationary orbit. China is among the few countries in the world which are simultaneously operating both orbiting meteorological satellites. All the satellites have been incorporated into the global constellations of operational meteorological satellites within the WMO framework. More satellites are under construction to be the second generation ones. The status of Chinese meteorological satellite mission is introduced in this paper.