The Ziyuan 3 satellite has sent back its first set of visual data days after the orbiter was successfully launched on January 9 to produce high-resolution imagery for civilian use.

According to a statement released Thursday by the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, the administration has made hi-resolution imagery based on analysis of the data and posted it on tianditu.cn, a map website made by the administration with independent intellectual property rights.

The visual data covered an area of 210,000 square kilometers that included the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, said the statement.

The image quality produced from this data is even higher than that achieved by overseas satellites with the same resolution, said the statement, adding that ongoing tests on the satellite might further improve its image quality.

The satellite is expected to compete with its foreign counterparts that currently dominate the country's hi-resolution remote-sensing and mapping market.

According to the center, the satellite is tasked with offering services to aid the country's land-resources surveys, natural-disaster prevention, agriculture development, water-resources management, and urban planning.

The orbiter was developed and produced by the China Academy of Space Technology, a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2012)