HY 3A, 3B

HY 3 (Haiyang = Ocean) is a chinese series of Earth observation satellites focused on all-weather ocean observation by SAR.

The satellites can achieve centimeter-level sea surface height measurement, and realize all-weather all-day observation of maritime targets, important marine disasters, land subsidence, and global change information, and meet various needs such as marine target monitoring and land resource monitoring.

W-SAR instrument is an all-weather high resolution observation of land and ocean features. It works in the X-band with a frequency around 9.5 GHz and provides variable resolution and swath. The SAR can operate in pushbroom and side looking modes. The swath selectable to 40 km, 80 km or 150 km with the resolution being selectable to 1 m, 5 m or 10 m, depending on the associated swath.

HY 3A will be launched in late 2020 on a CZ-6 launch vehicle from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.