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Extremely interesting interview of academician Li Deren on the future of Chinese Earth observation: https://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmp.weixin.qq.com%2Fs%2F-x7Du8uW-KOJwjA-0-kGxw
(original:">https://translate.google.fr/translate... https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-x7Du8uW-KOJwjA-0-kGxw)">https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-x7Du8u...
(original:">https://translate.google.fr/translate... https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-x7Du8uW-KOJwjA-0-kGxw)">https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-x7Du8u...
On the dual nature of the Gaofen satellites "a total of 14 satellites after years of research, which are what we now call high-resolution earth observation satellites, of which 1-7 are civilian satellites, and 8-14 are military satellites ...
.. These 14 satellites can be said to be a full military-civilian integration"
He confirms a resolution of 0.1m for GF-11, as expected: https://satelliteobservation.net/2018/08/02/gf-11-how-do-you-say-kennen-in-chinese/">https://satelliteobservation.net/2018/08/0...
He also says the radar satellites reach 0.5m (presumably for the newest, GF-12), and that GF-13 has 15m resolution.
There is a lot of discussion on stereo mapping, and on reducing data latency. On the latter three examples are given:
1) tracking ships in the China Sea from LEO, and using a GEO relay sending it to users in less than one minute.[That makes the ocean surveillance constellation a very lethal system: https://satelliteobservation.net/2016/09/20/the-chinese-maritime-surveillance-system/]">https://satelliteobservation.net/2016/09/2...
2) Detecting fires using a thermal IR payload and distributing the detections directly to firemen& #39;s phones using the Beidu SMS service
3) Adding navigation payloads to EO satellites to improve user& #39;s geolocation accuracy.
He states China is moving to an integrated PNTRC concept (Position, Navigation, TIming, Remote sensing, Communications), in three steps: first, a local coverage of the chinese coasts with 20 LEO sats and three GEO relays,to get a revisit every 15 minutes
Then, a regional coverage of China and the Belt & Road countries with 50 optical, 50 radar and 150 communication satellites.
Finally, a global coverage every 5 minutes, with 200 EO and 300 comms satellites.
This is very similar to the american approach led by the Space Development Agency: https://satelliteobservation.net/2020/06/06/the-american-proliferated-leo-architecture/">https://satelliteobservation.net/2020/06/0...
Thanks @luritie and @HenriKenhmann for pointing out the interview!
