Abstract: The early-morning-orbit satellite is one of the polar orbiting satellites whose local time of the descending node is around 6:00 A.M. The observing time is close to dawn and dusk. After the conceptual introduction, this paper analysed the characteristics of the satellite platform, the observing geometrical conditions of the early-morning-orbit satellite, and its potential applications as well. The results from the orbit simulation and the observing system experiments (OSE) indicate that the early-morning-orbit satellite together with the morning-orbit satellite and the afternoon-orbit satellite can provide the initial meteorological field for the numerical weather prediction (NWP) model without any blank left on the global scale every 6 hours so that the forecast period and the forecast accuracy can be improved for both the hemispheric and the regional scales. The images from FY-1D also show unique applications of the early-morning-orbit satellite on the climate and environmental monitoring. According the existing Fengyun satellite programme, the paper discussed the possible way of developing Chinese Fengyun early-morning-orbit satellite.