Civil-use observation satellite sends back 1st detailed images

Images and data from the Gaofen satellites have been widely used in more than 20 industries across China and have helped reduce the country's dependence on foreign remote-sensing products, Tong Xudong, chief designer of the Gaofen program, said on Tuesday.

"By now, more than 80 percent of satellite remote-sensing data that our country needed to buy from foreign countries have been replaced by Gaofen products," he said. "Before the Gaofen program, the highest resolution of images taken by our low-orbiting, remote-sensing satellites was 2.1 meters, and now it has reached 0.65 meter. Moreover, the resolution of our remote-sensing satellites operating in geostationary orbits was about 1,000 meters before Gaofen, while the Gaofen satellites have raised it to 50 meters."

China has recently opened a website to give users around the world access to images and data of the Earth generated by Gaofen satellites.

Wang Chi, co-founder and CEO of TerraQuanta, a satellite data solution provider in Beijing, said that Gaofen satellites have substantially broadened the sources of satellite-generated data and images for his company, thus helping to diversify its product portfolio and add more value to its products.

"Gaofen satellites' services have offered us extra options when we choose satellite-generated information," he said. "Their deployment also helped us a lot when we negotiated with our foreign suppliers to pursue lower quotations."

He suggested that authorities operating Gaofen satellites should improve distribution, which includes the processes of searching, downloading and transmitting Gaofen-generated data and images, to give users faster access to such information so Gaofen will be more attractive and useful to the expanding business of satellite data services in China.