Development of Remote Sensing Technology in China

One, China's remote sensing (mapping) satellites and ground station construction in general

On October 14, 1999, China and Brazil jointly developed the Earth resources satellite "Resources I" was successfully launched at China's Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, which is China's first independent remote sensing satellite for land resources. Subsequently, China's remote sensing satellites entered a rapid development phase, and in 2012, China's first civilian high-resolution optical transmission stereo mapping satellite "Resource 3" was successfully launched. 2013, Gaofen-1 satellite was launched, and China began to own its own Gaofen remote sensing satellites, and in 2014, Gaofen-2 was successfully launched, and China owned the first self-developed satellite with spatial resolution superior to that of the Gaofen satellite. In 2014, Gaofen-2 was successfully launched, China has the first civilian optical remote sensing satellite with a spatial resolution of better than 1 meter, and China's remote sensing satellites have entered the sub-meter "Gaofen Era". 2016, Gaofen-3 was successfully launched, which is China's first C-band multi-polarized synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellite with a resolution of 1 meter.

At present, there are five satellite launch centers***[1] in China, namely: the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, which is the earliest and largest satellite launch center created in China, and also China's only manned space launch site; the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, which is mainly tasked with launching satellites in GEO, and test launches and application launches of communication, broadcasting, and meteorological satellites; and the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, which is responsible for launching satellites in solar orbit meteorological, resource and communication satellites and carrier rockets; Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, which is mainly responsible for launching geosynchronous orbit satellites, large mass polar orbit satellites, large-tonnage space stations and deep space exploration satellites; and China's mother port for launching satellites from the sea, China Oriental Spaceport, which is equipped with the capability of all-arcing and sea-launching. Spaceport.

1, recent satellite launches

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) statistics[2], as of November 2018, China operates or has all the 280 active satellites in orbit, of which there are 134 remote sensing satellites, accounting for 47.86%, which is higher than the 35.55% proportion of the global in-orbit satellites that are accounted for by remote sensing satellites.

Since the end of 2019, in terms of the Gaofen series of satellites, the country has successfully launched Gaofen 10, Gaofen 7, Gaofen 12, Gaofen 9, 02 and 03 stars, Gaofen multi-mode satellites, Resource 3, 03 stars, Gaofen 13, Gaofen 14, and other satellites. In terms of commercial satellites, China's first commercial remote sensing satellite "Jilin 1" satellite network operation, with high resolution, ultra-large width, high-speed storage, high-speed digital transmission and other characteristics, for agriculture, forestry, resources, environment and other industries to provide more abundant remote sensing data and product services.