Fengyun

Fēngyún (FY, simplified Chinese: 风云; traditional Chinese: 風雲; lit. 'wind cloud') are China's meteorological satellites. Launched since 1988 into polar Sun-synchronous and geosynchronous orbit, each three-axis stabilized Fengyun satellite is built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) and operated by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA). To date, China has launched twenty-one Fengyun satellites in four classes (FY-1 through FY-4). Fengyun 1 and Fengyun 3 satellites are in polar, Sun-synchronous orbit and Low Earth orbit while Fengyun 2 and 4 are geosynchronous orbit.

On 11 January 2007, China destroyed one of these satellites (FY-1C, COSPAR 1999-025A) in a test of an anti-satellite missile. According to NASA, the intentional destruction of FY-1C created more than 3,000 high-velocity debris items, a larger amount of dangerous space junk than any other space mission in history.