China's newly launched environment monitoring satellites have started operation and are sending back concrete data, Chinese authorities have announced.

The two satellites successfully sent back data obtained by the charge coupled devices (CCD) cameras at 5:00 PM on Monday and the images converted from the data were clear, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense said in a brief release.

The two small environment and disaster monitoring satellites were launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province on Saturday.

Equipped with state-of-the-art imaging systems and infrared cameras, the satellites can provide a global scan every two days, closely track natural disasters and provide quick assessments of damage to guide rescue and reconstruction work.

The two satellites, with an estimated lifespan of more than three years, are part of China's effort to create a satellite constellation with four optical satellites and four radar satellites.

The constellation would enable China to have a stable and efficient forecasting and service network for environmental and natural disaster monitoring.

(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2008)