HY-2

HY-2 (HaiYang means 'ocean' in chinese) is a marine remote sensing satellite series planned by China (HY-2A to HY-2D).

HY-2 belongs to a serie of ocean-oriented satellites :

• HY-1A and HY-1B (respectively launched on May, 2002 and April, 2007) are designed to measure the ocean color and temperature with the visible and infrared sensor,
• HY-2 is focused on the marine dynamic environnement,
• HY-3 will combine visible/infrared and microwave sensors.

The objective of HY-2A is monitor the dynamic ocean environnement with microwave sensors to detect sea surface wind field, sea surface height and sea surface temperature. It includes an altimeter dual-frequency in Ku and C-bands, Doris, a scatterometer an a microwave imager.

The orbit  is sun-synchronous: the  first 2 years with a 14-day cycle (altitude 971 km), then one year with geodetic orbit (168-day cycle, 5-day  approx. subcycle,  altitude 973 km).