China’s high-resolution optical remote sensing satellites and their mapping applications

Figures & data

Figure 1. P, MS, and WFV images acquired by the GF-6 satellite. (a) P, (b) MS (bands 4, 3, and 2), (c) WFV (bands 3, 2, and 1)

Table 1. Main parameters of China’s high-resolution remote sensing satellites

Series	Satellite name	Launch date	Orbit altitude/km	Revisit period	Main sensor parameters
					Sensor name	Band number	Resolution/m	Swath width/km
ZY	CBERS-02B	19 September 2007	778	3 days	HR	1	2.36	27
					CCD	5	20	113
					WFI	2	258	890
	ZY-1 02 C	22 December 2011	780	3 days	HR	1	2.36	54
					P/MS	4	5/10	60
	CBERS-04	7 December 2014	778	3 days	P/MS	4	5/10	60
				26 days	Infrared MS	4	40/80	120
				26 days	MS	4	20	120
				3 days	WFI	4	73	866
	ZY-1 02D	12 September 2019	778	3 days	P/MS	9	2.5/10	115
					HS	166	30	60
	ZY-3 01	9 January 2012	506	5 days	TLC	1	2.1/3.5	52
					MS	4	6.8	52
	ZY-3 02	30 May 2016	505	3–5 days	TLC	1	2.1/2.5	51
				3 days	MS	4	5.8	51
GF	GF-1	26 April 2013	645	4 days	P/MS	5	2/8	60
				2 days	WFV	4	16	800
	GF-2	19 August 2014	631	5 days	P/MS	5	0.8/3.2	45
	GF-3	10 August 2016	755	3 days	SAR	1	1–500	5–650
	GF-4	29 December 2015	36,000	20 secs	VNIR	5	50	400
					MWIR	1	400	400
	GF-5	9 May 2018	705	5 days	AHSI	330	30	60
					VIMS	12	20/40	60
	GF-6	2 June 2018	645	4 days	P/MS	5	2/8	90
				2 days	WFV	8	16	800
	GF-7	3 November 2019	505	5 days	DLC	1	0.8/0.65	20
					MS	4	3.2	20
	GF-1 02/03/04	31 March 2018	645	2 days	P/MS	5	2/8	66
TiHui (TH)	TH-1 01/02/03	24 August 2010/ 6 May 2012/ 26 October 2015	500	1 days	P/MS	5	2/10	60
					TLC	1	5	60

Note: HR: high resolution; CCD: charge-coupled device; WFI: wide field imager; P: panchromatic; MS: multispectral; WFV: wide-field of view; SAR: synthetic aperture radar; VNIR: visible and near-infrared; MWIR: medium wave infrared; AHSI: advanced hyperspectral imager; VIMS: visual and infrared multispectral sensor; DLC: dual-line array camera.

Table 2. Main parameters of China’s commercial high-resolution satellites

Series	Satellite name	Launch date	Orbit altitude/km	Revisit period	Sensor	Band number	Resolution/m	Swath width/km
TripleSat	01/02/03	11 July 2015	651	1 day	P/MS	5	0.8/3.2	24
Jilin-1	GXA	7 October 2015	650	5–7 times a day	P/MS	4	0.72/2.88	11.6
	SP01/02		656		RGB video	1	1.13	4.6 × 3.4
	LQ		650		P	1	4.7	9.6
	SP03	10 January 2017	535		RGB video	1	0.92	11 × 4.5
	SP04/05/06	21 November 2017	535		RGB video	1	0.92	11 × 4.5
					P/MS	6	1/4	19
	SP07/08	19 January 2018	535		RGB video	1	0.92	11 × 4.5
					P/MS	6	1/4	19
	GP01/02	21 January 2019	528		MS	26	5/100/150	110
	GF03A	5 June 2019	572		P/MS	5	1.06/4.24	18.5
	GF02A	13 November 2019	535		P/MS	5	0.75/3.0	40
	GF02B	7 December 2019	535		P/MS	5	0.75/3.0	40
	KF01	15 January 2020			P/MS	5	0.75/3	136
SuperView-1	01/02	28 December 2016	530	1 day	P/MS	5	0.5/2	12
	03/04	9 January 2018
Zhuhai-1	OVS-1A/1B (1st batch)	15 June 2017	530	1 day	RGB video	1	1.98	8.1 × 6.1
	OVS-2 (2nd batch)	26 April 2018	500		RGB video	1	0.9	22.5
	OVS-3 (3rd batch)	19 September 2019
	OHS-01/02/03/04 (2nd batch)	26 April 2018			HS	256	10	150
	OHS-3A/3B/3 C/3D (3rd batch)	19 September 2019

Figure 2. TLC stereo imaging mode

Figure 3. ZY-3 TLC images covering Shandong Province

Table 3. Mapping accuracy of ZY-3 satellite

		Plane error/m		Elevation error/m
Mapping accuracy without GCPs		RMSE	Max	RMSE	Max
Before BA		5.26	24.3	4.36	15.24
After BA	Without LAD	2.64	5.23	4.25	7.66
	With LAD	2.58	5.16	2.88	6.74

Figure 4. High mountain mapping results by China. (a) High-precision mapping result. (b) Mapping result of Nanga Parbat region

Figure 5. DLC stereo imaging mode

Figure 6. SLC stereo imaging mode

Figure 7. SAC stereo imaging mode

Data availability statement

The raw data used to support the findings of this study have not been made available and shared at this time as the data also form part of an ongoing study. The ZY-3 data used and other China satellite data can be queried and downloaded from the website of China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application (CRESDA) (http://www.cresda.com/CN/).