From stumbling to counterattack all the way, Fengyun is such a satellite
[During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, my country plans to launch 7 Fengyun weather satellites. By 2035, my country's comprehensive meteorological strength will reach the world's advanced level, meteorology will be deeply integrated into people's livelihood protection and industry development, and a strong meteorological country will be basically established. ]
Produced by Deep Eye Studio
Written by: our reporter Fu Yifei
Planning: Chen Lei
Starting WeChat, a lonely villain stared at the earth.
This first complete picture of the Earth released by NASA to the world is called "Blue Marble".
It was taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, and the perspective is over the African continent.
Whenever Chen Xiaojie, deputy director of the General Office of Meteorology and Environment of the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and the chief designer of the Fengyun 4 satellite, opens WeChat, his thoughts will always fly to September 25, 2017.
That day was the day when my country’s new-generation geostationary orbiting meteorological satellite Fengyun-4A was officially delivered and put into use, and the WeChat startup screen changed its face-the image was still the blue earth, but the display position was changed to the eastern hemisphere. Fengyun-4 A star.
"The perspective of the photo is the Earth observed from above China, and the feeling is very different." Chen Xiaojie is still impressed by this.
In early 1969, a rare rain, snow and freezing disaster swept half of China. At that time, the only countries in the world with meteorological satellites were the Soviet Union and the United States.
Although our country can receive foreign meteorological satellite cloud images, it is only purely "black and white images", and cannot mine the original data and retrieve various meteorological elements, and its application is greatly restricted.
On January 29, 1969, Premier Zhou Enlai proposed: "We must quickly change the backwardness and develop our own weather satellite." In February 1970, Premier Zhou personally issued documents from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission, and issued an order for the development of weather satellites. task.
As a result, my country's meteorological satellite business officially started.
So far, my country has successfully launched 17 Fengyun series meteorological satellites, and 7 of them are currently in orbit.
These satellites, which are the most "intellectual", observe the changes of the earth in space, prompting us to add clothes and umbrellas.
According to the China Meteorological Administration, my country plans to launch Fengyun-4B and Fengyun-3E in 2021, and a total of 7 Fengyun meteorological satellites are planned during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.
"By 2035, my country will establish a meteorological business system with precise monitoring, accurate forecasting, and fine service. The comprehensive meteorological strength will reach the world's advanced level. The meteorology will be deeply integrated into people's livelihood and industry development, and a strong meteorological country will be basically established." The bureau director Zhuang Guotai revealed .
Fate is ill-fated, the first star "died" within 39 days of launch
On September 4, 1988, Meng Zhizhong, the chief designer of the Fengyun-1 satellite, stood on the launch tower tens of meters high, and his heart was overwhelmed.
That was the day my country’s first Fengyun satellite was originally planned to be launched.
But after the commander issued the "5 hour preparation" command, the control center suddenly lost all the satellite telemetry signals and the launch was terminated.
Ren Xinmin, chief designer of the Fengyun-1 satellite project, ordered an on-site inspection.
Meng Zhizhong and Xu Fuxiang, the then chief designer of the attitude control system, led the test team members to climb the tower and nervously performed "operations" on the satellite.
At this time, there are no guardrails all around, and a rocket full of propellant is under the satellite, and every movement must be careful.
What makes Meng Zhizhong feel more pressure is that the scheduled launch time is approaching, and stations in various places are already ready, and they keep calling for information; from Beijing to Shanghai to the launch center, soldiers are deployed on communication lines along the way, and everyone is on duty. Waiting for the message to be launched.
The troubleshooting work on the tower is progressing slowly, and Meng Zhizhong is both anxious and guilty.
Until the evening, the cause of the failure was finally found out, it was the CMOS circuit of the telemeter that “latched up” under certain circumstances.
The test team took the telemeter down and returned it for repair overnight, and installed it back to the satellite the next morning.
Three days later, the Fengyun-1A satellite developed for nearly 10 years was successfully launched, making my country the third country in the world to have a polar orbiting meteorological satellite.
However, only more than a month later, the accident happened again.
On this day, the staff of the National Satellite Meteorological Center discovered that the satellite cloud image received was gradually skewed, and finally only the arc of the earth could be seen.
The satellite is out of control.
Zou Jingmeng, then director of the China Meteorological Administration, asked eagerly: Is there a way?
Meng Zhizhong was speechless.
Because there was no backup equipment installed, the Fengyun-1A star "died" in space under the eyes of everyone. At this time, it was only 39 days after its launch.
A rare satellite ground rescue in the history of world aerospace
On September 3, 1990, Fengyun-1B was successfully launched.
It can provide weather forecasts for the 11th Asian Games in time, but after only a dozen days, it became abnormal.
The scientific and technical personnel completed the repair in time, but found a thorny problem: the satellite did not carry out anti-radiation reinforcement in the selection of components and software design. This loophole caused the computer circuit chip to be exposed to the bombardment of high-energy particles in space, and it is easy to produce single particles. Turnover problems can cause computer malfunctions and malfunctions of the attitude control system at any time.
The loopholes cannot be filled, and the only way is to strengthen ground monitoring of satellites and correct problems in time.
Meng Zhizhong and Xu Fuxiang led the scientific and technical personnel into two working groups, which took turns on duty at the Xi'an Satellite Measurement and Control Center.
They use the opportunity of satellites to pass six times a day to monitor their work in orbit.
On February 14, 1991, on the New Year’s Eve, the satellite cloud picture suddenly distorted and rolled.
In the ensuing 75 days, the staff took turns on duty uninterruptedly and started a satellite ground rescue operation that is rare in the history of the world's aerospace.
They are like emergency doctors, rejuvenating the "emergency" B star Fengyun-1.
However, frequent "surgery" has severely damaged the vitality of the satellite and greatly reduced its lifespan.
In the end, the Fengyun-1 B satellite worked intermittently until November 1992, and it operated normally for 285 days in orbit, failing to reach the 1-year design life target.
"Two bombs and one star" academician Sun Jiadong, a meritorious scientist, has been with Fengyun for more than 40 years as the chief designer of the Fengyun-2 satellite project.
He once said: "I have been a satellite chief engineer in my life, and Fengyun-2 is the most unforgettable."
In February 1994, my country's first geostationary orbit meteorological satellite, Fengyun-2 01, came to the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
After a number of tests, the satellite was successfully filled with fuel and fitted with a solid apogee engine, and it was only awaiting the last full test before the transition.
On the morning of April 2nd, the test began.
At about 10:50, the solid apogee engine burned and exploded, thick black smoke with blood-red flames gushing out, the observation window glass was shattered, and the power supply to the plant was interrupted.
This major accident took the life of an assembly worker and caused more than 30 test team members to be injured and hospitalized.
Because they did not understand the performance and dangers of hydrazine fuel, and ignored the requirements of anti-static and environmental temperature and humidity, the astronauts suffered bitter lessons.
Fengyun One C star fought a beautiful "turning over"
The successive accidents caused the development of Fengyun Satellite to fall into a downturn.
But the astronaut who fell down again and again stubbornly stood up again and again.
They compiled the heavy experience and lessons into a book, which became a typical teaching material to guide the follow-up work.
Meng Zhizhong was 60 years old when he was appointed to preside over the development of the Fengyun-1 C satellite.
The previous setbacks made him unwilling.
He analyzed that the reason why the Fengyun-1 A and B satellites did not complete their missions was not because the performance indicators did not meet the requirements, but because the reliability was not high and the results were aborted.
The development of a long-term reliable and stable operational weather satellite for business applications has become the common goal of the team.
On May 10, 1999, the Fengyun-1 C satellite was successfully launched.
This launch was later selected as one of my country's three major events in the last year of the 20th century and was engraved in the China Millennium Monument.
In August 2000, the World Meteorological Organization included the satellite in the world operational meteorological satellite sequence.
Fengyun-1 C star fought a beautiful "turning over".
It has been in orbit stably for 7 years and is known as the "first longevity star in sun-synchronous orbit", opening a new page in my country's meteorological satellite business.
Since then, the development of Fengyun Satellite has become smoother.
In 2002, the FY-1 D satellite was launched and became one of the longest-lived remote sensing satellites in China.
The Fengyun-2 C satellite, launched in 2004, was the most widely used operational satellite in China at that time, and was highly praised by the World Meteorological Organization, and was listed as one of the important operational satellites of the Global Meteorological Satellite Observation Network.
From 2006 to 2014, my country successively launched four Fengyun-2 series satellites, which provoked the burden of weather protection for major national events.
In 2008, on the eve of the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games, my country's second-generation sun-synchronous orbit meteorological satellite Fengyun-3 launched its first star.
Since then, the FY-3 B, C, and D stars have been launched successively, realizing the upgrade of FY-1.
They are networked and operated with complementary functions, realizing from two-dimensional imaging to three-dimensional detection, from single optics to full-spectrum wide-spectrum detection, and greatly shorten the update time of global numerical weather forecasting, prolong the forecast time, and further improve the forecast accuracy.
Counterattack in the international "dark war", one star does the work of two stars
On January 15, 2021, the price of Taihu bantam in the Shanghai vegetable market doubled from 10 days ago.
Local media found that this has something to do with the continuous cold waves that have appeared in recent days.
According to the forecast of the Meteorological Observatory, another cold wave hit on January 16. The local vegetable supply unit deployed ahead of schedule and fully carried out emergency supply work.
Weather changes affect people's clothing, travel, and even all aspects of life.
Tang Shihao, director of the Remote Sensing Application Office of the National Satellite Meteorological Center and chief designer of the Fengyun Meteorological Satellite Application System, introduced that providing support for accurate cold wave forecasting and monitoring the development and impact of cold waves are just one of the "basic skills" of Fengyun satellites.
In particular, the successful launch of a new generation of geostationary orbital meteorological satellites called the "strength responsibility" of China's meteorological satellite community, the Fengyun-4A satellite, has enabled my country's meteorological satellite technology to shift from following and running side by side to running side by side, leading the country, and promoting my country's weather The comprehensive ability is further improved.
Recalling the development and launch of the Fengyun-4 A satellite, Chen Xiaojie felt like a fierce competition.
In 2016, as if agreed in advance, the development of a new generation of geostationary orbit weather satellites in China, the United States, Europe, and Japan has all developed to a critical juncture, and everyone is secretly competing.
In addition to European satellites that have not been launched due to various reasons, Japan took the lead in launching the Himawari 9 satellite in early November 2016.
This satellite uses many American technologies and products and will replace the "Sunflower 8" previously launched by the country.
On November 19, the new generation of US geostationary orbit weather satellite GOES-R was launched.
The industry commented that, compared with the previous weather satellite, the satellite brought a leap like a black-and-white TV to a high-definition color TV.
On December 11, my country's Fengyun-4 A satellite was launched.
Chen Xiaojie said that Fengyun-4A is not only the world leader in comprehensive ground observation capabilities, it is also the world’s first single star to achieve comprehensive observation of geostationary orbit meteorology by "multi-spectral 2D imaging + hyperspectral 3D detection + ultra-narrowband lightning imaging". satellite.
In the past, the mutual interference between vertical detection instruments and imaging observation instruments has always been an international problem.
The previous practice in Europe was to put the two on two satellites.
Compared with international competitors, the performance of FY-4 A star is not inferior.
Some people describe that this star is doing the work of 2 stars at the same time.
According to Dong Yaohai, chief designer of the Fengyun-4 satellite system, the satellite realizes the simultaneous operation of multiple loads with moving optical components through the self-developed SAST-5000 satellite platform, and the loads coexist harmoniously.
The multi-channel scanning imaging radiometer carried by the satellite was the most advanced radiation imager of my country's geostationary orbit satellite at that time. It could scan the eastern hemisphere every 15 minutes with a maximum spatial resolution of 500 meters.
"For a geostationary orbit close to 36,000 kilometers high, the accuracy of 500 meters is equivalent to placing a few candles a few kilometers away, and you can see it clearly." Dong Yaohai said that this accuracy is the same as the GOES-R launched by the United States. Satellites are comparable.
At the same time, the interferometric atmospheric vertical sounder on the FY-4A star can detect the atmosphere vertically; the first satellite-borne lightning imager in my country can be used to stare at my country and its surrounding areas with a wide-angle lens. It can take 500 photos per second to record the frequency and intensity of lightning.
15 years later, the comprehensive strength of meteorology leads the world
Starting this year, the Fengyun family will have to "add a few."
According to the China Meteorological Administration, the FY-4B satellite, the second satellite of FY-4, has basically completed its research and development. According to the plan, it will be launched this year.
The load of FY-4B satellite has been optimized.
For example, in the multi-channel scanning imaging radiometer, some channels have been locally optimized; the spatial resolution of the atmospheric vertical sounder has also been improved.
At the same time, a fast imager has been added to this satellite, which can flexibly observe different areas according to instructions by adjusting the lens. The resolution is the highest among the current global geostationary orbit meteorological satellites.
Tang Shihao looked forward to this.
He said that the current FY-4A satellite imaging of my country and its surrounding areas is once every 5 minutes, with a maximum resolution of 500 meters.
For some small-scale and short-duration weather phenomena, they may be missed.
The fast imager carried by the Fengyun-4B star can image an area of millions of square kilometers in one minute with a maximum resolution of about 250 meters, and has stronger monitoring capabilities for small and medium-scale weather systems.
The Fengyun-3 E satellite that my country plans to launch this year will be the world's first morning and evening meteorological satellite.
At present, the global polar orbiting meteorological satellites are in morning or afternoon orbits, which means that their observation period is morning or afternoon.
The FY-3E star will be observed in the twilight time, which can make up for the current observation gap and improve the accuracy and timeliness of global numerical weather prediction.
Tang Shihao introduced that after the FY-3E satellite and the FY-3 series satellites currently in orbit are networked and operated, the daily observation time will be more evenly distributed, and meteorological data of the morning and evening hours will be obtained.
In addition, in the past, the Fengyun satellite could only be observed by infrared and microwave instruments at night, while the Fengyun-3E satellite is equipped with low-light observation equipment and has the ability to observe at night with visible light.
The reporter learned from the China Meteorological Administration that the types of Fengyun satellites that my country plans to launch during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period will be further enriched.
For example, in the geostationary orbit, there will be Fengyun satellites in different orbits to observe through optical and microwave means.
In terms of low orbits, in addition to morning and afternoon orbits, and twilight orbits, my country will also launch precipitation satellites into low-inclination inclined orbits to monitor precipitation in low-latitude regions.
Tang Shihao said that the future development of Fengyun satellites will mainly include improving the monitoring capabilities of the atmospheric wind field, cloud and rain atmosphere and its vertical structure, improving monitoring accuracy and monitoring timeliness, and enhancing the satellite's coordinated mobile observation capabilities.