The “High-Resolution Earth Observation System Major Project” is one of the sixteen major science and technology projects identified in the “National Medium and Long-term Science and Technology Development Plan (2006-2020)”. It was fully launched in May 2010 and consists of a space-based part, a near-space and space-based part, a ground part and an application support part. The main purpose is to build a high-resolution advanced Earth observation system to meet the needs of national economic construction, social development and national security.
As the first satellite of the Gaofen series, “Gaofen-1” was developed by Dongfanghong Satellite Co., Ltd. and was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on April 26, 2013 by the Long March 2D carrier rocket. Gaofen-1 adopts the mature CAST2000 satellite platform and is equipped with two high-resolution cameras with a resolution of 2 meters for panchromatic and 8-meter multispectral and four multi-spectral medium-resolution wide-format cameras with a resolution of 16 meters. It breaks through the optical remote sensing technology that combines high spatial resolution, high temporal resolution and high spectral resolution, multi-payload image splicing and fusion technology and high-precision and high-stability attitude control technology. It simultaneously achieves the combination of high resolution and large width on a single satellite. On March 31, 2018, the Gaofen-1 02, 03, and 04 satellites, as the first batch of operational application satellites planned for the national civil space infrastructure, were successfully launched in the “one stone, three stars” method.
“Gaofen-2” is the first civilian optical remote sensing satellite with sub-meter resolution independently developed by my country. It was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on August 19, 2014 by a Long March 4B carrier rocket. It is equipped with two high-resolution 1-meter panchromatic and 4-meter multispectral cameras. It has the characteristics of sub-meter spatial resolution, high positioning accuracy and rapid attitude maneuverability. In full-color mode, it can achieve ground imaging with a resolution of 0.8 meters in a 48-kilometer strip area; in multi-spectral mode, its resolution can reach 3.2 meters. As my country’s civilian land observation satellite with the highest resolution, the successful launch of “Gaofen-2” marks that my country’s remote sensing satellites have entered the sub-meter-level “High-Resolution Era”.
“Gaofen-3” is my country’s first SAR satellite with a resolution of 1 meter. It is also my country’s first SAR satellite with a continuous imaging time of nearly an hour. It was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on August 9, 2016 by a Long March 4C carrier rocket. The Gaofen-3 satellite has 12 imaging modes, covering traditional strip imaging mode and scanning imaging mode, as well as wave imaging mode and global observation imaging mode for ocean applications. It is the synthetic aperture radar satellite with the most imaging modes in the world. It is mainly used in soil moisture monitoring, geological disaster warning, river basin water system characteristics, surface water distribution, waves and sea surface wind fields, internal waves, shallow sea underwater terrain, sea surface oil spills, sea ice and sea surface targets, etc. On November 23, 2021, the Gaofen-302 star was sent into a 755-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit by the Long March 4C carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, forming a double-star observation system with the Gaofen-301 star. On April 7, 2022, the Gaofen-303 satellite was successfully launched, achieving a three-star network with the two previously launched satellites, marking the official completion of my country’s first ocean surveillance and monitoring radar satellite constellation.
“Gaofen-4” is my country’s first and the world’s first geosynchronous orbit high-resolution remote sensing satellite with the highest resolution. It was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center LC-2 on December 28, 2015 by the Long March 3B/G2. The Gaofen-4 satellite adopts the area array staring method for imaging, and has visible light, multispectral and infrared imaging capabilities. The visible light and multispectral resolution is better than 50m, and the infrared spectral resolution is better than 400m. After its launch, Gaofen-4 will operate in a geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the earth. It will form a constellation with the previously launched Gaofen-1 and Gaofen-2 satellites operating in low orbits. It has the advantages of high temporal resolution and high spatial resolution.
“Gaofen-5” is the world’s first full-spectrum hyperspectral satellite to achieve comprehensive observation of the atmosphere and land. It was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on May 9, 2018. It has successfully filled the gap where domestic satellites cannot effectively detect regional atmospheric pollution gases. For the first time, Gaofen-5 is equipped with a total of 6 payloads: an atmospheric trace gas differential absorption spectrometer, a major greenhouse gas detector, an atmospheric multi-angle polarization detector, an atmospheric environment infrared very high-resolution detector, a visible short-wave infrared hyperspectral camera, and a full-spectrum spectral imager. It can monitor multiple environmental elements such as atmospheric aerosols, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide, methane, water quality, nuclear power plant warm drainage, terrestrial vegetation, straw burning, urban heat islands, etc. On September 7, 2021, the Gaofen-502 satellite was successfully launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Gaofen-501A, also known as the hyperspectral comprehensive observation satellite, was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on December 9, 2022 via the Long March-2D carrier rocket, operating in a sun-synchronous return orbit at an altitude of 705 kilometers.
“Gaofen-6”, also known as the “Gaofen Land Emergency Monitoring Satellite”, is my country’s first low-orbit optical remote sensing satellite for precision agricultural observation. It was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center LC-43 on June 2, 2018 by the Long March 2D. Gaofen-6 has a design life of 8 years. It is equipped with a 2-meter panchromatic/8-meter multispectral high-resolution camera and a 16-meter multispectral medium-resolution wide-format camera. In addition to the common four bands of blue/green/red/near-infrared, the wide-format camera also adds a “red edge” band that can effectively reflect the unique spectral characteristics of crops, and an ultraviolet band, for a total of 8 bands. The Changchun Institute of Optics, Precision Mechanics and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences undertook the development task of all payloads of the satellite. Among them, the wide-format camera (16-meter resolution) is the first in China to use a free-form off-axis four-mirror optical system to achieve ultra-wide imaging of 850 kilometers; it is also the first to use a domestic long line array CMOS image sensor to achieve spectral imaging of 8 spectral bands, of which red-edge spectrum imaging is the first time in China.
“Gaofen-7” is a scientific research satellite with the highest mapping accuracy requirements among my country’s Gaofen series satellites. It was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center LC-9 on November 3, 2019 from the Long March 4B. It is equipped with payloads such as a dual linear array stereo camera and a laser altimeter. The spatial resolution is 0.8m-3.2m, the width is 20km, and the revisit period is 5 days.
“Gaofen-8” was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center LC-9 on June 26, 2015 by the Long March 4B carrier rocket. It has a resolution of 50 meters and has all-weather, all-weather, global coverage earth observation capabilities. It is mainly used in land census, urban planning, land rights confirmation, road network design, crop yield estimation, disaster prevention and reduction and other fields.
“Gaofen-9” was developed by the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology. The first satellite was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on September 14, 2015 on a Long March 2D carrier rocket. From May to August 2020, Gaofen-9 satellites 02-05 were launched into orbit one after another, forming a complete observation system.
“Gaofen-10” was developed by the Eighth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology and was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center LC-9 on August 31, 2016 by a Long March 4C carrier rocket. As a microwave remote sensing satellite, Gaofen-10 has made a breakthrough in sub-meter resolution imaging technology. Its remote sensing data has all-weather and all-day imaging capabilities, and can be observed through clouds and surface vegetation coverage. On October 4, 2019, Gaofen-10R was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center via the Long March 4C carrier rocket.
The “Gaofen-11” series satellites are developed by the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology. They are optical remote sensing satellites with ground pixel resolutions up to sub-meter level. They are mainly used in land census, urban planning, land rights confirmation, road network design, crop yield estimation, disaster prevention and reduction and other fields. Since its first launch on July 31, 2018, the “Gaofen-11” series of satellites have been deployed five times at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center using the Long March 4B carrier rocket: Satellite 01 was launched on July 31, 2018, and Satellites 02 to 05 were successfully put into orbit on September 7, 2020, November 20, 2021, December 27, 2022, and July 19, 2024.
The “Gaofen-12” series of satellites are mainly used for land census, urban planning, land rights confirmation, road network design, crop yield estimation and disaster prevention and mitigation. They also provide geographical information support for the “Belt and Road” construction and national defense modernization. On November 28, 2019, after the 01 satellite was successfully launched by the Long March 4C carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, the 02 to 05 satellites were successfully launched. Subsequent satellites were all launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, all using the Long March 4C carrier rocket.
The “Gaofen-13” satellite was successfully launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on October 12, 2020 by the Long March 3B carrier rocket. It is a high-orbit optical remote sensing satellite developed by the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology. Its follow-up satellite, Gaofen-13-02, was successfully launched by the same type of rocket from the same launch center on March 17, 2023.
The “Gaofen-14” satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 11:58 on December 6, 2020, by a Long March 3B-5 carrier rocket. The satellite is equipped with two linear array cameras (0.6 meter resolution), a multispectral camera (2.4 meter resolution), a hyperspectral camera (9.9 kilometers wide) and a 3-beam laser rangefinder. The camera parameters are calibrated on-orbit through the star camera and optical axis position measurement device. The image width obtained in a single acquisition is up to 40 kilometers, and the uncontrolled positioning accuracy of a single route reaches 1.83 meters in plane and 0.93 meters in elevation (RMS). On October 26, 2025, the Gaofen 14-02 satellite was successfully launched by the Long March 3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
The “Gaofen” multi-mode satellite was successfully launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on July 3, 2020. It has a panchromatic resolution of 0.42m, an 8-band multispectral resolution of 1.68m, a width of 15km, and a target positioning accuracy of no control points better than 10m. It has 6 imaging modes, making the resolution of my country’s civil optical remote sensing satellites reach sub-meter level for the first time and achieving “moving imaging” of targets in any direction.
