BEIJING, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- China plans to launch the first satellite of the Fengyun-4 (FY-4) series by 2013, said the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) during a meeting here Friday.

The FY-4 project involves the country's second-generation of geo-stationary meteorological satellites.

Leading scientists and engineers believe FY-4 could help China more accuratelyforecast weather, climate, environment and natural disasters, when it is launched. Currently, the project is in the proposal stage.

CMA Vice Director, Yu Rucong, said FY-4, a successor of the FY-2 series, would further boost China's ability to monitor cloud systems and atmosphere temperature and humidity.

China plans to launch another 22 meteorological satellites by 2020. Four are from the FY-2 series, 12 from the FY-3 series and six from the FY-4 series.

Sun Laiyan, vice director of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, said the FY series had become a model of remote sensing satellite operations and civiliansatellite services.

No details of just what FY-4 will be able to do have been decided on. However, scientists say it will be more advanced than FY-3 which launched at the Taiyuan satellite center in northern Shanxi Province May 27.

FY-3 worked with the FY-2D to ensure timely weather forecasts during the Beijing Olympic Games. It is equipped with a dozen detectors such as the infrared scan actinograph and a microwave formatter. FY-3 can provide data to forecast between 10 to 15 days of weather in a row.
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