Taiyuan, December 20 (Xinhua) -- At 11:22 am on December 20, China successfully launched the China Pakistan Earth Resources Satellite 04A using the Long March 4B carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The mission also carried eight satellites, including China's "South South Cooperation" project to address climate change - a small satellite gifted to Ethiopia and the "Tianqin-1" technology experimental satellite.

At 11:22 on December 20th, China successfully launched the China Pakistan Earth Resources Satellite 04A using the Long March 4B carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. This mission also carried eight satellites, including the "South South Cooperation" project for China's response to climate change - a small satellite gifted to Ethiopia and the "Tianqin-1" technology experimental satellite. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Zheng Runyi)
    The China Brazil Earth Resources Satellite 04A is the sixth satellite jointly developed by China and Brazil. It will replace the China Brazil Earth Resources Satellite 04 to obtain global high, medium, and low resolution optical remote sensing data, which can better meet the urgent needs of the two countries for remote sensing data in areas such as land resource exploration, land classification, environmental monitoring, climate change research, disaster prevention and reduction, crop classification, and yield estimation. It can also provide services for countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
    The China Pakistan Earth Resources Satellite 04A is equipped with three optical payloads, including a wide swath panchromatic multispectral camera developed by the Chinese side, a multispectral camera and a wide field of view imager developed by the Pakistani side. Among them, the resolution of the wide swath panchromatic multispectral camera can reach 2 meters, and the width is better than 90 kilometers; The resolution of the multispectral camera is 17 meters and the width is better than 90 kilometers; The wide field imaging instrument has a resolution of 60 meters and a width of over 685 kilometers.

At 11:22 on December 20th, China successfully launched the China Pakistan Earth Resources Satellite 04A using the Long March 4B carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. This mission also carried eight satellites, including the "South South Cooperation" project for China's response to climate change - a small satellite gifted to Ethiopia and the "Tianqin-1" technology experimental satellite. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Zheng Runyi)
    It is reported that the satellite inherits the observation elements and data continuity of the 04 satellite, and has stronger imaging capability, higher positioning accuracy, and lateral swing capability. It will lay the foundation for expanding the application of resource series satellite data from China and Pakistan to the global high-resolution business field.
    In 1988, China and Pakistan launched the Earth Resources Satellite Cooperation Project, setting a successful precedent for space cooperation among developing countries and being hailed as a model of "South South cooperation" in the high-tech field. For over 30 years, the two sides have jointly developed six China Pakistan Earth Resources Satellites, and the satellite data has been widely used in industries such as agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, land resources, environmental protection, and disaster prevention and reduction in both countries. It provides strong support for national projects such as China's land resources application project, Brazil's Amazon rainforest monitoring, and national environmental change. In the future, both China and Pakistan will continue to enhance and expand the international influence of the China Pakistan Earth Resources Satellite brand, and expand the field of space cooperation between the two countries.
    The small satellite donated to Ethiopia by our country is Ethiopia's first artificial Earth satellite, with a mass of about 65 kilograms and a designed lifespan of 2 years. It is mainly equipped with a multispectral broadband camera and can obtain multispectral remote sensing data in fields such as agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, disaster prevention and reduction, supporting Ethiopia's research on climate change response.