As the leading unit in domestic radar development, CETC 38 has participated in the development of multiple commercial satellites with SAR payloads, opening up the development path of my country’s commercial SAR satellite industry.
Today let’s talk about: the “national team” of commercial aerospace—the 38th Institute of China Electronics Technology.
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China Electronics Technology Institute 38
The 38th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, referred to as China Electronics Technology Research Institute 38, was founded in Guizhou in 1965 and moved to Hefei City at the end of 1988. Institute 38 is the backbone research institute for high-tech electronic equipment for national defense in my country. It is also a well-known domestic electronic research institution and a major radar electronics supplier.
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Main business
Institute 38 is a national first-class backbone research institute, with existing research and development platforms such as the National Integrated Circuit Design Center, the Russian New Technology R&D Center, the China Electronics Technology Floating Platform R&D Center, the Anhui Beidou Satellite Navigation Key Laboratory, and the Postdoctoral Research Workstation. Its business covers early warning detection radar, airborne early warning radar, earth observation radar, aerostat radar, integrated circuit design and other fields. It is a high-tech research and production unit integrating research, engineering design, and mass production.
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radar technology
As the leading unit in domestic radar development, Institute 38 has created many “firsts” in the history of Chinese radar: the first three-coordinate radar for homeland air defense, the first low-altitude warning radar, the first all-digital early warning aircraft radar, etc., and has undertaken and completed many major national projects. In 2002, the 38th Institute established a spaceborne remote sensing radar project team and broke through a series of new system radar key technologies. It developed the first domestic commercial SAR satellite “Haisi No. 1”, filling the gap in my country’s commercial SAR satellites.
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commercial aerospace applications
On December 22, 2020, China’s first commercial SAR satellite Haisi-1, jointly developed by 38 Research Institute and Tianyi Research Institute, was successfully launched, and on December 27, it obtained C-band satellite SAR images that reached international standards. The Haisi-1 SAR payload is a SAR system developed by 38 Research Institute with an entire satellite weight of less than 185kg and an imaging resolution of 1 meter. On February 27, 2022, my country’s Long March 8 carrier rocket was successfully launched carrying 22 satellites. Among them, the Chaohu-1 SAR satellite, the first satellite of the “Celestial Constellation”, and the Taijing 4-01 satellite, the first domestic X-band commercial SAR satellite, were provided by 38.
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Subsidiaries
38 owns several industrialized companies such as Anhui Sichuang Electronics Co., Ltd. and Anhui Bowei Changan Electronics Co., Ltd. Among them, Sichuang Electronics was established in August 2000 and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in May 2004. It is known as “China’s No. 1 Radar Stock”.
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Entering commercial aerospace
On the afternoon of September 28, 2021, Institute 38 released the “Celestial Constellation” at the 13th Zhuhai Air Show. The constellation is planned to consist of 96 light, small, high-performance SAR satellites. At present, the launch of the test star Haisi-1 and the first star Chaohu-1 has been completed, and the commercial SAR satellite dual-satellite network operation has been completed. 38 Institute participates in the development of multiple commercial satellites with SAR payloads, builds commercial SAR satellite constellations, actively promotes the industrial application of synthetic aperture radar technology and commercial remote sensing data services, opens up the development path of my country’s commercial SAR satellite industry, and enters commercial aerospace.
