Development, application, and prospects for Chinese land observation satellites

The launching of CBERS-01 (China Brazil Earth Resource Satellite) in 1999, China’s first land observation satellite, signifies an unprecedented milestone in Chinese satellite remote sensing history. Since then, a large number of applications have been developed that drew upon solely CBERS-01 and other Chinese land observation satellites. The application development evolves from one satellite to multiple satellites, from one series of satellites to multiple series, from scientific research to industrial applications. Six aspects of the Chinese land observation satellite program are discussed in this paper: development status, data sharing and distribution, satellite calibration, industrial data applications, future prospects, and conclusion.