"Macao Science 1" satellites officially put into use

MACAO, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- A ceremony for the "Macao Science 1" space exploration satellites to be officially put into use was held on Tuesday in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR).

As the first such satellites jointly developed by the mainland and Macao, the "Macao Science 1" satellites are expected to significantly improve the country's space magnetic field exploration technologies.

Li Guoping, chief engineer of the China National Space Administration, said the satellites are Macao's first scientific and technological experiment satellites and the world's first exploration satellites monitoring the geomagnetic field and space environment in the South Atlantic Anomaly Region.

"The satellites will boost Macao's scientific and technological innovations, help with the transformation of Macao's economic and social development models, break new ground for scientific and technological cooperation between the mainland and Macao, and set new examples for scientific and technological development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area," Li added.

The mission features A+B joint observation, in which Satellite A carries payloads like high-precision vector magnetometers and standard-scale magnetometers to detect the earth's magnetic field. Satellite B includes high-energy particle detectors and solar X-ray instruments to obtain data on the space environment, such as solar radiation and high-energy particles, that serve the ends of geomagnetic field detection.

The satellites were launched in May this year from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Testing had been completed in the following months while the satellites were in orbit.

Zhang Keke, chief scientist of the satellite project, said the "Macao Science 1" satellites provide valuable data on high-precision changes of geomagnetic field on low attitudes.

The satellite platforms were manufactured by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and China's Northwestern Polytechnical University, while the scientific instruments on both satellites were provided by Macao University of Science and Technology.