Country | People's Republic of China |
---|---|
Purpose | Reconnaissance |
Status | Active |
Program history | |
Maiden flight | 20 December 2019 |
Successes | 3 |
Failures | 0 |
Launch site(s) | TSLC |
Vehicle information | |
Launch vehicle(s) |
Tianyan (Chinese: 天眼; pinyin: Tiānyǎn; literally: 'Sky/Heaven Eye'), often translated into English as SkyEye or Eye in the Sky, is a reconnaissance satellite program of the China .
The name Tianyan (天眼) in Chinese can also refer to CCTV cameras, concept of the third eye ('divine eye' in Chinese Buddhism), clairvoyance, a 2005 cartoon, 2015 British thriller film Eye in the Sky, or the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) - a ground-based radio telescope in Guizhou Province nicknamed Tianyan.
To date, the Tianyan satellite program includes satellites from two classes, Yizheng and Xingshidai.
Tianyan-1 (天眼一号; Tiānyǎn yī hào), alternatively identified as Yizheng-1 (仪征一号; Yí Zhèng yī hào), is a commercial Chinese electro-optical Earth-imaging reconnaissance satellite launched in 2019.[1] Yizheng 1 reportedly has a spatial resolution of 0.9 meters.[1]
Yizheng-1 was designed and funded by Zhongxing Space Remote Sensing Satellite Technology Service Co. Ltd. (中星空间遥感卫星技术服务有限公司), a private company based in Jiangsu Province's Yizheng Economic Development Zone, where the satellite derives its name.[2] Yizheng-1 is the first satellite designed by the company and is the first of eight planned satellites in the Yizheng constellation according to Guo Haiyu.[2][3] The satellite was launched by the private satellite company MinoSpace, also known as Weina Star Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing MicroStar Technology Co., Ltd, and Beijing Weina Starry Sky Technology Co. Ltd. (北京微纳星空科技有限公司簡稱微纳星空), based in Haidian District, Beijing.[1][4] This launch was the company's fifth.[5]
Yizheng-1 was launched at 11:22 am (CST) on 20 December 2019 aboard a Long March 4B (CZ-4B) rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) Launch Site 9 into sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) in low-earth orbit (LEO).[1] 16 minutes after the launch (at 11:38), once the rocket had exited the atmosphere and deployed the Yizheng-1, the ground station began to receive telemetry data, and one minute later (at 11:39), the satellite indicated that it had successfully deployed its antenna and solar panels.[2][6] Tianyan-1 was launched in the "One Arrow and Nine Stars" (一箭九星; Yī Jiàn Jiǔ Xīng) mission alongside eight other satellites:[1][4][7]
In a ceremony held the day of the launch, Liu Changrong (刘长荣), director of the Yizheng Economic Development Zone, announced that Yizheng-1 was the first sub-meter high-resolution optical remote sensing satellite to be independently developed, designed, manufactured, launched, and operated from Jiangsu Province.[2] A press release published three days following the launch by Yizheng City Natural Resources and Planning Bureau described the satellite as weighing 72 kilograms and bearing a high-resolution imager to support natural resource monitoring, disaster prevention, urban planning, and emergency management; though the satellite likely also supports reconnaissance missions of the Chinese government.[9]
Tianyan-2 (天眼二号; Tiānyǎn èr hào), alternatively known as Xingshidai-8 (星时代八号; Xīng Shídài bā hào; 'Star Age 8'), is a commercial Chinese 6U CubeSat reconnaissance satellite bearing both a low-resolution Earth video-imager launched in 2019 along with Tianyan-1 (Yinzheng-1). The satellite also carried the nickname SciFi World AI Satellite (科幻世界号AI卫星; Kēhuàn shìjiè hào AI wèixīng) as a dedication to the SciFi community.[10][11]
Xingshidai-8 was jointly-developed by Beijing Micro-Nano Star and Chengdu Guoxing Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd.[11]
Xingshidai-8 was launched alongside Yizheng-1 (Tianyan-1) as part of the "One Arrow and Nine Stars" mission at 11:22 am (CST) on 20 December 2019 aboard a Long March 4B (CZ-4B) rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) Launch Site 9 into sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) in low-earth orbit (LEO).[1][4][7]
Name | Other Name | Launch | Function | Orbit | Orbital Apsis | Inclination | Period | SCN | COSPAR ID | Launcher | Launch Site | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tianyan-1 | Yizheng-1 | 20 December 2019 | Earth observation | SSO | 617.7 km × 636.2 km | 97.8° | 97.1 min | 44881 | 2019-093C | Long March 4B | TSLC Site 9 | Operational |
Tianyan-2 | Xingshidai-8 | Earth observation | SSO | 604.3 km × 623.2 km | 97.9° | 96.8 min | 44882 | 2019-093D | Operational | |||
Tianyan-5 | Xingshidai-12 | 6 November 2020 | Earth observation,
Experimental communications |
Decayed on 08 August 2023 | 46837 | 2020-079L | Long March 6 | TSLC Site 16 | Decayed | |||
Tianyan-? | Yizheng-2 | To be announced | Earth observation | Unknown, not yet launched | Jielong-1 | JSLC Site 95, Pad B | Unlaunched | |||||
Tianyan-? | Yizheng-3 | Earth observation | Unknown, not yet launched | Unlaunched | ||||||||
Table data sourced from Gunter's Space Page, N2YO, and the United States Space Force 18th Space Defense Squadron (18SDS) |
Note: This topic belongs to "Spaceflight" portal
Template:Chinese Reconnaissance Satellites
Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianyan (satellite).
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