Chinese graduation photos snapped from 500 km above Earth

Forget drones and tripods. For a group of graduates in Northeast China, this year's graduation photo was taken by a commercial satellite orbiting 500 kilometers above the Earth.

In June, some 100 students and faculty from the School of Journalism and Communication at the Changchun University of Technology gathered on their campus field to participate in a unique "space-ground" joint photography event. The shoot was executed by the Jilin-1 satellite constellation, operated by Changchun-based Changguang Satellite Technology Co.

To make the shot possible, the university coordinated with Changguang's technical team to align with the satellite's transit period, calculating a precise shooting window based on orbital data and local weather conditions to avoid cloud cover.

"I felt shocked and amazed when I learned that a satellite would take our graduation photo," said graduate Yang Yuanming. "I never imagined that a high-speed satellite could precisely lock onto our campus field."

At the shooting site, traditional photography equipment like tripods and drones was not used, and instead the green field was turned into a giant canvas.

Teachers and students held colorful paper boards, repeatedly calibrating their positions and adjusting their formation to spell out the university's English abbreviation, CCUT.

They stood quietly, waiting for their exclusive space photographer, the Jilin-1 satellite, to pass by from an orbit of more than 500 km above Earth. The Jilin-1 satellite family, developed by Changguang, is China's first domestic remote-sensing satellite constellation for commercial purposes.

It produces ultra-high-definition images and provides information on various conditions, including forest fires, desertification, offshore rescue and ocean protection. It can capture artificial light sources on the Earth's surface at night and image low-light areas, providing unique social, economic and environmental data.

In the minds of many students, aerospace remote sensing satellites are typically used for land surveying, agricultural and forestry monitoring and disaster response, making their daily applications seem distant.

However, after participating in the space-ground joint photography, graduate Wang Wen noted that she genuinely felt the integration of advanced aerospace technology into daily life.

For graduate Zhang Minghao, the unique photo from space would be a lifelong cherished graduation gift. The space-ground photography event was completed through collaboration with the entire local commercial aerospace technology chain.

At Changguang Satellite's headquarters, just a kilometer from the campus, the technical team monitored the satellite's operational status in real time, precisely adjusting the satellite's shooting posture.

Upon receiving imaging commands, the Jilin-1 satellite, traveling at 7.6 kilometers per second, accurately locked its optical camera onto the ground formation, capturing the entire campus in one shot with its submeter high-resolution imaging capability.

The exclusive text pattern created by the teachers and students was also clearly preserved, successfully completing the space-ground photography event.

"The entire process, from the initial ground design and formation layout to waiting for the satellite to pass and understanding remote sensing imaging principles, allowed students to closely interact with the achievements of domestic commercial aerospace," said Zheng Mingxin, a teacher from the school. "They gained a direct understanding of satellite orbits and Earth observation, experiencing the strength of the nation's aerospace industry firsthand, and fostering deep-seated confidence in national scientific and technological innovation and aerospace spirit.

"The event achieved an integration of humanities communication and hardcore aerospace technology, providing journalism students with a graduation experience rich in both technological and ceremonial value," she added.

As a key public welfare science project created by Changguang Satellite Technology, the Jilin-1 Satellite Graduation Photography completed the first domestic university satellite space graduation photo shoot in 2021 — in collaboration with Changchun University of Technology, marking the first integration of commercial remote sensing satellites and college graduation scenes.

Since 2022, the project has been officially upgraded to a regular annual public welfare event, open to applications from universities across the country from May to July — the graduation season every year — according to Wang Yazhou, director of Changguang's products and solutions department.

Over the past five years, the company has completed over 60 satellite photography tasks, conducting on-site photography with more than 30 universities, including Beihang University, Jilin University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Harbin Engineering University, Henan University and Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology.

"The photography event broke the limitations of traditional graduation photos by using a unique aerial perspective to enhance graduates' collective sense of belonging, transforming four years of campus life into a unique cosmic emotional symbol," said Wang. "It also transformed complex aerospace remote sensing knowledge into tangible and participatory real-life experiences, inspiring college students to pursue careers in aerospace and remote sensing fields, which can lay a solid foundation for enterprise-industry-academia cooperation and talent reserve."

Han Junhong contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at zhouhuiying@chinadaily.com.cn