China’s Civilian On-Orbit Remote Sensing Satellites Remain Second in the World

According to Xinhua News, the China Association for Geographic Information Industry reported that in 2025, China launched more than 120 remote sensing satellites, with over 640 civilian on-orbit remote sensing satellites, continuing to rank second in the world.

These satellites cover optical, hyperspectral, infrared, and microwave types, achieving all-weather, all-time Earth observation. Commercial remote sensing satellites continue to develop rapidly. Remote sensing satellites have made significant progress in technological breakthroughs, constellation networking, and application expansion.

In 2025, China successfully launched its highest spatial resolution commercial remote sensing satellites: the Four-Dimensional Gaijing-1 03 and 04 satellites; the first commercial SAR satellite with full-polarization operational observation capability, AIRSAT-05 / Haishao-2 satellite; the first small hyperspectral remote sensing satellite for the geological industry, Dizhiy-1; and the first remote sensing satellite for the power industry, Dianli Gongcheng-1.