China's second geostationary orbit meteorological satellite, the Fengyun-2 D, which has just been launched earlier Friday, will benefit from favorable space weather, said sources with the China Meteorological Administration.

The absence of M5 flares and solar proton events means that solar phenomena will hinder neither the satellite launch nor satellite-ground communication in the Dec. 7-10 period.

High-speed solar winds generated by coronal holes may lead to medium-sized geomagnetic storms but they will not affect the satellite launch, said Yue Guiming, a researcher with the National Center for Space Weather.

Fengyun-2 D will form a twin-star observation system with Fengyun-2 C, China's first geostationary weather satellite which went into orbit on Oct. 19, 2004.

Different observation tasks are assigned to the two satellites but they can stand in for each other in case of a malfunction.

The Fengyun-2 D will enlarge the geostationary weather observation range and improve forecasts and monitoring of calamitous weather.

China plans to launch a second-generation meteorological satellite, the Fengyun-3, in the second half of 2007.

Source: Xinhua