Launched in January 2012, ZY-3 is the first civil high-resolution stereoscopic Earth mapping satellite of China.
It carries three high-resolution panchromatic cameras and an infrared multispectral scanner (IRMSS). The cameras are positioned at the front-viewing, vertical-viewing and rear-viewing positions. These cameras are able to take photos of the Earth from different perspectives at the same time, allowing precise determination of the exact locations of different places of interest on the photos, resulting in better production of large scale maps. At the same time, the payloads can also provide high-resolution infrared and stereoscopic images for satisfying resource mapping, environmental surveying, disaster monitoring, city planning and national security needs. The overall objective is to compile a database for the production of 1:50 000 and larger scale maps and to provide data for resource mapping, environmental surveying, disaster monitoring, city planning and national security needs. Operator: SpaceView (China).
Technical characteristics
| Mode: | Panchromatic (Vertical viewing) | Panchromatic (Front/Rear viewing) | Multispectral |
| Sensor bands (µm): | 0.45–0.90 | 0.45–0.90 | blue: 0.45–0.52 green: 0.52–0.59 red: 0.63–0.69 Near-IR: 0.77–0.89 |
| Spatial resolution, m: | 2.1 | 3.5 | 5.8 |
| Dynamic range: | 10 bits | ||
| Swath width, km: | 51 | 52 | 51 |
| Revisit time | 5 days | ||