China to Launch First Ocean Satellite Next YearChina plans to launch its first ocean satellite HY-1in 2001, which is mainly used for monitoring marine environment and calamities. This will help fill up the gap that China has so far no ocean satellite of its own, thereby broadening the field of marine investigation.About 71% of the earth are covered by the sea. Ocean is the cradle of human life, treasury of resources, "hometown" of wind and storm, and is also an important base for the sustainable development of human society. A long time has elapsed since human beings started to conduct their studies on the ocean. And now with the ocean satellite as its center, people conduct an effective monitor to the submarine topography, fishing and alga distribution, tropical cyclone, Kuroshio, El Nino by means of airplanes, ships, observation stations, buoys, oil platforms and ground databank centers. The Ocean satellite has played a very important role in the ocean environment protection, resources exploitation and utilization, calamity forecasting and monitoring. China borders on the Pacific Ocean in the east with a sea territory reaching approximately three million square km, accounting for one third of its mainland areas, yet China has long been relying on the ocean satellites of other countries for marine monitor. To change the situation, China has planned to launch its own ocean satellite every two years with a timeframe of 10 years, thereby forming the third satellite series for civil use, following the Fengyun and Resource satellites. |
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