China Meteorological Administration (CMA) is operating FENGYUN (or FY for acronym) geostationary and polar-orbiting satellite systems. Currently, six FY satellites are on-orbit with well performance, including four geostationary meteorological satellites and two polar orbiting meteorological satellites. FY satellites take place in series. The odd number series are the polar-orbiting, while the even number series are the geostationary. The capital letter after the serial number refers to the seat of a particular satellite in the launching sequence.
Consistent with the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) in 2040 for the space-based observing system component, an integrated observing system of Fengyun weather and climate satellites will be established by 2035, which is a backbone system with specified orbital configuration and measurement approaches, composed of FY-5 polar-orbiting and FY-6 geostationary meteorological satellites.
The established FY-5 satellites system will fill in the blanks of space-based profiling of global wind as atmospheric dynamical fields, climatic variables, fill in the gaps of spatial and temporal coverage by optimizing the constellation configuration, promote space/ground co-observing capability to better meet the requirements for emergency response to meteorological disasters.
As of mid-2023, there were nine Fengyun meteorological satellites in operation in China. The high-orbit meteorological satellites in the Fengyun family act as "sentinels," monitoring real-time climate changes in the Chinese region. The low-orbit satellites patrol the globe, providing more detailed information on the Earth's temperature.
China has initiated the research and development of a third-generation Fengyun low-orbit meteorological satellite, the Fengyun-5, and is conducting research on new satellite technology. The integration of a Fengyun-5 satellite with the high-orbit satellites will form a complete meteorological satellite system, realizing systematic comprehensive observation. This will meet the demand for timely global data acquisition, real-time generation of meteorological emergency products and broadcasting.
China started the design of Fengyun 5 meteorological satellites and the third generation polar orbit meteorological satellite observation system in late 2019. The new satellites and observation system will conduct high-precision global 3D atmospheric detection, Zhang Peng, deputy director of National Satellite Meteorological Center said. China had launched a total of 17 Fengyun meteorological satellites, with seven currently in orbit. With an increasing demand for meteorological satellite data, China plans to launch another nine Fengyun satellites before 2025.
Fengyun 5 satellites will be low-orbit meteorological satellites with a network of comprehensive observation satellites, special-purpose observation satellites and constellations for extreme weather monitoring. They will be the successor of the Fengyun 3 satellites currently in service and are expected to completely replace them by 2035.
The planned meteorological satellites, including Fengyun 5 satellites in polar orbit and Fengyun 6 satellites in geostationary orbit, will better support meteorological disaster prevention and enhance global meteorological services, Yang Jun, director of NSMC said. From 11 to 14 November 2019,the sixth Session of International Strategic Consultative Committee on Chinese Meteorological Satellite Programmes was held in Haikou, Hainan. Veteran experts from Chinese and foreign meteorological satellite fields have carried out consultation on the third generation polar orbiting meteorological satellite, Fengyun-5 satellite development plan.
Dr. Zhang Wenjian, Assistant Secretary General of World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and 12 experts of International Strategic Consultative Committee on Chinese Meteorological Satellite Programmes like Tillmann Mohr, Chair of the committee, as well as experts from National Satellite Meteorological Center (NSMC) and Hainan University attended this event.
FY meteorological satellites have played a noticeable role in establishing international user emergency support mechanism, and conducting multi-level scientific personnel exchanges. It is projected that by 2040, users will have surging demand for meteorological satellites; the depth and width of meteorological satellite application will be conspicuously enhanced, with a higher demand of the resolution, data quality, and stability of satellite observation.
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