Latest Gaofen satellite completes trials, enters service

The Gaofen High-resolution Multi-mode Satellite has finished its in-orbit trial run and begun formal operations, according to the China National Space Administration.

On Friday, the administration said that the Earth-observation satellite had worked well during its 18-month trial run and will begin to serve its users, among them the Natural Resources, Emergency Management, Agriculture and Rural Affairs ministries.

The satellite was launched atop a Long March 4B carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China‘s Shanxi province in July 2020.

It carries onboard a domestically developed high-resolution multi-mode imager that can provide remote-sensing images and data to a number of public sectors and businesses including natural resource surveying, disaster relief, agriculture, forestry, environmental protection and urban construction, the administration said.

An optical remote-sensing satellite in the Gaofen series, the spacecraft was designed and made by the China Academy of Space Technology under State-owned contractor, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. It is expected to operate at least eight years in a sun-synchronous orbit.

The imager is China‘s highest-definition civilian camera, capable of taking clear pictures of a car window from an altitude of more than 600 kilometers, the academy said.

It can also identify the growth of different crops, helping farmers better estimate yields.

China launched the Gaofen program in May 2010, which is listed as one of the country’s 16 important national projects in science and technology. Since then, more than 10 Gaofen satellites have been launched and are in service.