China will launch its second geostationary orbit meteorological satellite, Fengyun-2 D on December 8, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

 

Yang Jun, director of the National Satellite Meteorological Center under the China Meteorological Administration, said on Friday that the Fengyun-2 D will form a twin-star observation system with Fengyun-2 C, China's first geostationary orbit weather satellite which was sent to orbit on October 19, 2004.

 

 

The two satellites have their own observation tasks, and at the same time, they can stand by each other in case of malfunction of either of them, Yang said.

 

The Fengyun-2 D will also enlarge the geostationary weather observation range and improve the forecast and monitoring on disastrous weather, Yang said.

 

In addition, China will launch the second-generation Fengyun 3 meteorological satellite in the second half of 2007, according to Yang.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2006)