Advanced weather satellite Fengyun 4A begins operation

China's most advanced weather satellite began formal operation on Monday, 36,000 kilometers above the Earth. It will extensively improve the country’s capability in meteorological forecast, disaster prevention and relief, environmental monitoring and climate change handling.

The 5.4-metric ton Fengyun 4A, developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, lifted off Dec 11 atop a Long March 3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China's Sichuan province.

Through trial runs over the past months, the satellite has proved to be performing well and the quality of images and data generated by it are good, said a news release from the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, which oversees the satellite project.

It said that during the trial runs, the satellite was used to detect and monitor typhoons, sandstorms and rainstorms, as well as smog.

Engineers from the China Meteorological Administration took over control of the satellite on Monday and began its formal operation, which is expected to last more than six years.

Zhao Jian, an administration official in charge of the project, said China plans to send the Fengyun 4B in 2018 and Fengyun 4C in 2020.

In another development, WeChat, the most popular instant messaging application in China, has replaced the original picture greeting users as they log on to the app -- an image of the Earth taken by the crew of the United States' Apollo 17 spacecraft on December 7, 1972, at a distance of about 29,000 km from the surface -- with another image of the Earth that was recently shot by the Fengyun 4A.

The new greeting picture, which started to be displayed at 5 pm Monday, will remain in place for three days, WeChat said.