经过40年的艰苦努力，我国独立自主地发展了风云极轨和静止气象卫星系列，实现了气象卫星的业务化应用。回顾了气象卫星发展过程中重大的历史事件，站在国际视野的角度，对我国风云气象卫星的发展进行了概括总结，并与发达国家的技术水平进行了对比。同时，也简要介绍了风云气象卫星资料在天气、气候、自然灾害和环境监测以及在农业中的应用。

With 40 years' huge efforts, China has successfully developed both polar and geostationary meteorological satellite series, and put them into operational use. This article reviews the significant historical events along with the stages of meteorological satellite development in the world, outlines the development of Chinese Fengyun meteorological satellites in the scope of international views, and compares Fengyun’s technical level with that in advanced countries. In addition, it briefly introduces the applications of meteorological satellite data in weather, climate, natural disasters and environmental monitoring, and in the agriculture service.