CBERS-2

China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite 2 (CBERS-2), also known as Ziyuan I-02 or Ziyuan 1B, was a remote sensing satellite operated as part of the China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite programme between the China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application and Brazil's National Institute for Space Research.^[1] The second CBERS satellite to fly, it was launched by China in 2003 to replace CBERS-1.^[3]

CBERS-2 was a 1,450-kilogram (3,200 lb) spacecraft built by the China Academy of Space Technology and based on the Phoenix-Eye 1 satellite bus.^[1] The spacecraft was powered by a single solar array, which provided 1,100 watts of electricity for the satellite's systems.^[2][5] The instrument suite aboard the CBERS-2 spacecraft consisted of three systems: the Wide Field Imager (WFI) produced visible-light to near-infrared images with a resolution of 260 metres (850 ft) and a swath width of 890 kilometres (550 mi); a high-resolution CCD camera was used for multispectral imaging at a resolution of 20 metres (66 ft) with a swath width of 113 kilometres (70 mi); the third instrument, the Infrared Multispectral Scanner (IMS), had a resolution of 80 metres (260 ft) and a swath width of 120 kilometres (75 mi).^[6]

A Chang Zheng 4B carrier rocket, operated by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, was used to launch CBERS-2. The launch took place at 03:16 UTC on 21 October 2003, using Launch Complex 7 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre.^[3] The satellite was successfully placed into a sun-synchronous orbit.^[7]

Following the launch of CBERS-2B in 2007, CBERS-2 was retired from service.^[2] As of 1 December 2013, the dericict satellite remains in orbit, with a perigee of 780 kilometres (480 mi), an apogee of 782 kilometres (486 mi), 98.17 degrees inclination and a period of 100.33 minutes. Its orbit has a semimajor axis of 7,152.64 kilometres (4,444.44 mi), and eccentricity of 0.0001886.^[4]

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