In order to promote exchanges and interactions among various subdivisions of commercial aerospace, NiHaoSpace has launched an expert column. Invite industry leaders such as founders, technical leaders, and senior experts from each segment to write articles and share topics such as industry progress, technology paths, and market prospects. The author of this issue is Liu Xingliang, the founder of Tianfu Gaofen Technology, who shares with you: “Space Camera: A Hundred-Billion-Level Vision Revolution in the Starry Sea”. In the vast universe, cameras are quietly changing the way humans understand the world. From microscopic cells to macroscopic galaxies, from military reconnaissance to agricultural monitoring, visual technology is creating an unprecedented industrial ecosystem in space. As the founder of a space camera company, Liu Xingliang still remembers the shocking moment when their first camera took off on a rocket. That moment was not only a victory for their technology, but also marked the beginning of a new era of “visual revolution” in space. In today’s world, space cameras have become the core equipment of aerospace science activities. They are used to capture images of the universe and provide important exploration results and scientific research basis for scientific research. From a business perspective, this means the birth of a huge market. <\/p>\n
01<\/p>\n
Traditional remote sensing market<\/p>\n
With the accelerated release of trillions of national debt, the demand for the satellite remote sensing industry in natural resources, emergency disaster reduction, ecological environment, water conservancy, agriculture and other to G fields remains unabated. The overall satellite remote sensing industry is still in the rising stage in the short term. At the same time, the “second growth curve” of the remote sensing industry (including emerging areas such as online business and overseas business) is expected to usher in a rapid climbing stage. Overall, with the accelerated recovery of the downstream market, my country’s satellite remote sensing downstream application market demand growth rate is expected to return to around 30% during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period. The logic of high industry prosperity remains unchanged, and satellite remote sensing is expected to remain a segment with relatively higher growth attributes in the satellite industry. <\/p>\n
02<\/p>\n
Tongyao integrated market<\/p>\n
The U.S. Star Shield program is based on Starlink technology, but has enhanced military attributes. As of September 2025, 199 satellites have been launched via Falcon 9 rockets, and it is planned to eventually deploy more than 15,000 satellites to form a distributed low-orbit network. The satellite initially operated in an orbit of 300 kilometers, and later gradually adjusted to 500-900 kilometers, achieving global coverage without blind spots through intensive deployment. Its orbital altitude is lower than traditional high-orbit satellites, which can significantly reduce signal delay (to less than 20 milliseconds) and improve Earth observation resolution. The future development direction of the low-orbit communication constellations of my country Star Network and Yuanxin Satellite is also the Tongyao integrated function integration model. A highly integrated ecosystem has been formed on the ground. For example, mobile phones can only communicate at first. When they develop to a certain extent, they are equipped with cameras and then navigation chips, becoming multi-functional devices for communication, remote sensing, and navigation. Although the deployment speed and iteration speed in space are slower than those on the ground, the general trends and logic will not fundamentally change. <\/p>\n
03<\/p>\n
Deep space exploration market<\/p>\n
There are countless aerospace optical companies in the global commercial aerospace industry that participate in national missions. For example, Fairchild and Marlin in the United States, Hasselblad in Sweden, Zeiss in Germany, Canon and Nikon in Japan. With the opening of my country’s commercial market, a group of aerospace optical companies with technical strength also have the opportunity to participate in national missions to provide optical payloads and solutions for deep space exploration. In addition to application scenarios other than earth observation, scenarios such as space debris monitoring, space attack and defense, space early warning, and deep space exploration are also one of the important scenarios for remote sensing in the future. <\/p>\n
04<\/p>\n
other markets<\/p>\n
The mobility of space optics technology is a key factor in opening up other markets. As an entrepreneur, Liu Xingliang believes that innovative thinking and cross-industry application capabilities are the keys to the success of a space camera company. The story of Japan’s Mitaka Optical Devices Company inspired him a lot. This small company with only 50 employees produces cameras that are used by NASA, and its neurosurgery microscopes account for more than 50% of the world market. Their secret to conquering the world from the micro to the macro lies in applying cosmic technology to neurosurgical microscopes. The company developed Cygnus, a microscope spatial positioning device used in neurosurgery, which became a turning point in the company’s move into the life-saving “medical” field. This ability to apply technology across industries is worth learning from all space camera companies. In the next five years, as China’s commercial space launch success rate gradually improves to the internationally advanced level, low-cost launches will become an accelerator for the popularity of space cameras. Space camera technology will further penetrate into people’s livelihood fields such as medical care, consumer electronics, and automobiles, forming a virtuous cycle of “space technology, earth applications”. Imaging technologies used today in asteroid exploration may be used in early cancer detection tomorrow; optical systems developed for observing deep space may soon appear in smartphones. The space camera industry is becoming a key bridge between the stars and reality, and its light has just begun to shine. <\/p>\n
About the author<\/p>\n
Liu Xingliang, CEO & General Manager of Tianfu Gaofen Technology. He once worked for the Eighth Shanghai Institute of Aerospace Science and Technology, participated in the design and development of deep space detectors, and won the title of Advanced Individual; he once served as CTO of a leading commercial satellite company, designing and developing eight commercial satellites, with 100% success in orbit; he founded Tianfu Gaofen (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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