New Tests of China-Brazil Satellite

Hello reader!

It follows a note published on the day (06/26) in the website of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) informing about the new tests Sino-Brazilian Satellite.

Duda Falcão

New Tests of China-Brazil Satellite

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

In China, it was completed another stage of CBERS-3 satellite testing before its launch, arranged for the end of the year. Experts of the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais – INPE) and of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) have checked the satellite self-compatibility and its electromagnetic compatibility with the launch vehicle.

These tests are necessary to prove that a satellite equipment does not interfere with another one. The simulation on Earth of all the conditions that the satellite will face, since its launch by the end of its life in space, is indispensable due the inability to repair it in orbit.

Before leaving for China, CBERS-3 had all its equipment and subsystems tested at the Integration and Testing Laboratory (LIT) of INPE, in São José dos Campos (SP).

In Brazil, the satellite has undergone several tests for electromagnetic interference and compatibility, vibration, vibracoustic and thermal vacuum further to the mass properties measurement. Now, in China, the final tests to CBERS-3 launching qualification are underway.

Efficiency

The use of satellites allows an efficiently and economic monitoring of environmental changes, both natural and those caused by humans. The observation from space is even more important for large countries such as Brazil and China.

In 1988, both countries established the CBERS Program (China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite) to join efforts for knowledge on Earth Observation. Three satellites have been launched - CBERS-1, in 1999, CBERS-2, in 2003 and CBERS-2B, in 2007. The fourth satellite, CBERS-3, is scheduled for late 2012, while CBERS-4, for 2014.

Satellite images are essential to collect information about Earth's surface, either necessary to assess global change, forestry, agribusiness development, urban and coastal studies. Satellites are also essential to quickly obtain information about events whose location and occurrence is difficult to predict or access, such as natural disasters (floods, for example), or produced by humans (forest fires, pollution caused by oil spills at sea).

INPE daily distributes hundreds of satellite images by the internet to 1500 public and private institutions in Brazil. The availability of CBERS data allows the development of new applications of remote sensing in Brazil.

CBERS-3 inside the anechoic chamber of the China Space Center in Beijing

Source: WebSite of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE)