[Satellite TODAY 08-25-10] China has successfully launched its Tian Hui-1 stereo-topographic mapping satellite on a Long March 2D rockey from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. announced Aug. 24.
    The Tian Hui-1 is equipped with a 3-D survey camera, a CCD camera capable of a ground resolution of 5 meters at a camera angle of 25 degrees and a multi-spectrum camera with a ground resolution of 10 meters. The cameras can cover imagery that is 60 kilometres wide from a 500-kilometer high orbit.
    The DongFangHong Co., a joint establishment of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. and the Chinese Academy of Space Technology, manufactured the satellite. The launch was China’s third from the Jiuquan facility this year and the seventh Chinese orbital launch of 2010.