Solar generator in Sao Jose do Campos laboratory. Photo: AEB

[Via Satellite 05-09-2014] The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) has shipped the solar generator to China for the fourth China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS 4). The equipment underwent a series of battery tests in the Test and Integration Laboratory (ITL) of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in São José dos Campos, Brazil.

The solar generator, which weighs 55 pounds and is more than 52 feet long, will be integrated onto the body of the satellite in China. Save for upgraded Earth observation cameras, the satellite has the same format and structure as the CBERS 3, which was lost during a failure of the Chinese Long March 4B rocket last year.

CBERS4 is scheduled to be fully manufactured in September and will be transported to the Chinese launch base in the Shanxi province in October. The satellite will be used to capture images of agriculture, forests and other environmental interests.