Chinese commercial imaging spacecraft pull ahead of U.S. counterparts
A new study from U.S. think tanks claim that the U.S. is falling behind China in commercial imaging spacecraft.
A new report from four U.S. Department of Defense-linked think tanks, led by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has claimed that the United States is starting to fall behind China in commercial space imaging capabilities. China has taken first place in five imaging areas, the U.S. has taken four first places, and the rest of the world has two.
Before we begin a brief introduction to the four entities behind the report is needed.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, is a U.S., NATO, and U.S. allied government-funded think tank intending to provide ways the U.S. can maintain its prominence (hegemony) in the world.
The Taylor Geospatial Institute, and its partner the Taylor Geospatial Engine, is a research organization with the goal of commercializing emerging technology related to geospatial intelligence in the United States and allied nations.
The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, or USGIF, is an educational foundation with the goal of strengthening the U.S. geospatial intelligence community, including the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
And now for the report, titled Gold Rush: The 2024 Commercial Remote Sensing Global Rankings.
The 37-page report, released on October 1st 2024, has ranked global commercial imaging spacecraft in eleven areas: Electro-optical imaging, Electro-optical revisit, Electro-optical video, Synthetic aperture radar X-band, Synthetic aperture radar revisit, Synthetic aperture radar C-band, Multispectral capabilities, Hyperspectral capabilities, Short-wave infrared, Mid-wave infrared, and Long-wave infrared.
Overall standings
As mentioned previously, China leads in five of the areas. These areas are electro-optical imaging, electro-optical revisit, synthetic aperture radar C-band, long-wave infrared, and multispectral imaging. In long-wave infrared imaging, Chinese satellites occupy every spot.
The United States leads in a close four areas. These are electro-optical video, synthetic aperture radar X-band, short-wave infrared, and hyperspectral imaging. A firm lead in X-band imaging is held by the U.S.
Areas not led by the U.S. or China are mid-wave infrared and synthetic aperture radar revisits, as they are led by the Republic of Korea and Finland respectively. France, Spain, India, Canada, and Uruguay (in partnership with the United States) also have varying positions in each area.
With the ranking by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, China makes the top three in all but two areas, synthetic aperture radar X-band and synthetic aperture radar revisits.
Electro-optical capabilities
The SuperView Neo imaging satellites have been placed in first place due to the spacecraft’s capability to capture 30-centimeter resolution images across a planned constellation of 28 satellites. China Association of Science and Technology manufactures these satellites for China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd. who then commercially operate the spacecraft and sells its imaging services in support of services related to agriculture, urban development, environmental and water monitoring, natural resources, wildlife tracking, 3D modeling, defense, and transportation.
In the area of revisiting for optical imaging, the Jilin-1 constellation has been placed in first due to the approximately 130 satellites currently operating in orbit. Chang Guang Satellite Technology Corporation operates the Jilin-1 satellite fleet and offers a wide variety of imaging and video capture capabilities in resolutions from 5 meters to the sub-meter level. Due to the scale of the fleet, a customer can revisit the same area of the Earth multiple times a day in whatever resolution or spectrum best suits their needs.
While China is rapidly improving its orbital video capability, it has yet to achieve first place in this field. However, companies like Zhuhai Orbita Aerospace and Chang Guang Satellite are closing the gap by deploying more spacecraft.
Electro-optical capabilities were analyzed based on: “ground sample distance in native resolution and daily collection capacity at that resolution.” — “constellation’s ability to rapidly revisit targets, factoring in the number of operating satellites in the constellation and the orbital arrangement of those satellites.” and “spatial resolution, with frames per dwell (frames per second multiplied by dwell time) an additional performance factor”
Synthetic Aperture Radar capabilities
China firmly leads C-band synthetic aperture radar satellite capabilities. This is thanks to the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology’s Gaofen-12 spacecraft group, which is part of the Central Government-supported China High-resolution Earth Observation System. This system serves civilian uses like land surveys, urban planning, road network design, crop yield estimation, and disaster relief. Spacety’s Chaohu-1 satellite was close behind Gaofen-12 thanks to the spacecrafts large imaging area at high quality.
In the two other synthetic aperture radar areas China did not place in the top three. According to the report, this is due to the obscureness of data when compared to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs benchmark.
Synthetic aperture radar capabilities were analyzed based on: “maximum information density calculated using the Radar Generalized Image Quality Equation, a parameter used by the NOAA Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs, and the number of operating satellites (representing general collection capacity)” — “constellation’s ability to rapidly revisit targets, factoring in the number of operating satellites in the constellation and the orbital arrangement of those satellites; currently only includes X-band SAR” and “maximum information density calculated using the Radar Generalized Image Quality Equation, a parameter used by Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs, with the number of satellites (representing collection capacity) as a secondary metric”
Spectral capabilities
Multispectral satellite capabilities first place was the SuperView Neo-3 satellite from China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd., which is a planned group of 16 spacecraft. SuperView Neo-3 uses its imaging spectrum to provide imaging services for digital agriculture, smart water conservancy, land resources surveys, urban management, environmental protection, disaster prevention and reduction, and maritime security.
For hyperspectral capabilities, Zhuhai Orbita’s OHS satellites were not mentioned beyond coming in third place. These satellites capture images and videos in a 150-kilometer by 2500-kilometer image with a resolution of 10 meters.
Spectral capabilities were analyzed based on: “ground sample distance and number of operating satellites” and “spatial resolution ground sample distance and spectral information density, defined as the number of spectral bands divided by the average width of those bands”
Infrared capabilities
The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology’s Gaofen-5 is a constant across the three infrared areas, and is placed into two second places and one third place. Gaofen-5 is also part of the Central Government-supported China High-resolution Earth Observation System to serve land surveys, urban planning, road network design, crop yield estimation, and disaster relief. Chang Guang Satellite’s Jilin-1 constellation also took two third places in infrared areas too, as the constellation offers a wide variety of imaging capabilities. Neither of these two managed to top short-wave or mid-wave infrared categories.
The China Academy of Space Technology’s Ziyuan-1 02E satellite was placed in first place for long-wave infrared. Ziyuan-1 02E is an earth observation satellite with a long-wave infrared camera to assist in the goal of imagery for land resource surveys, disaster monitoring, forestry, and ecological monitoring.
Infrared capabilities were analyzed based on: “ground sample distance as the dominant factor in determining system quality, with the number of satellites in orbit (representing collection capacity) as a secondary metric”
Why does this matter?
Think tanks placing these satellites into a ranking system is good and all, but why care about it? The United States is growing increasingly worried that its lead in space is slipping, former officials have even begun stating that the nation is falling behind.
Reports like the one covered here highlight the growth of China’s domestically-developed space capabilities, primarily to raise an alarm to policymakers in Congress and the House of Representatives. A similar report a few months ago noted that China has the ability to refuel and service its satellites in orbit, while the U.S. is yet to fly a now-canceled demonstration mission.
The United States’ primary concern is that China could offer a better, and cheaper, commercial imaging solution to developing countries, and nations not firmly on the side of either for the United States’ various trade protectionism and so-called decoupling aims. China’s peaceful economic rise along with the Belt and Road Initiative already puts the country on better footing than the U.S. in trade negotiations, like those related to commercial space systems or satellites.
Rolling back the clock to one of the first instances of U.S. protectionism, after the failed debut launch of the Long March 3B, carrying Intelsat-708, and subsequent accident investigation, the U.S. categorized satellites as a form of arms along with passing the Wolf Amendment to bar working with China in space. Both of these pieces of policy were intended to stifle the growth of China’s space sector until a sufficient change of governance was seen. However, these efforts have failed to achieve their intended goal, as China is now on the verge of becoming a peer competitor in space.
Strong competition from Chinese commercial imaging companies brings another area into China’s corner where the nation begins to lead the U.S. in space.