The “Jilin University (JLU)-1” satellite and its technology verification satellite “Suzhou-1” passed an expert review in Beijing on Dec 7, marking a breakthrough in China’s remote sensing satellite capabilities.  

The review brought together experts from government agencies, industry institutions, universities and research academies, including Academician TONG Qingxi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academician LIN Jun of Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The twin satellites, developed by Professor ZHANG Liu under Academician LIN Jun’s team from JLU College of Instrumentation and Electrical Engineering, completed 94 days of in-orbit testing. Experts confirmed that the non-rail transit curve imaging technology can capture targets spanning over 1,000 kilometers in a single take, achieving a globally leading performance.  

The two satellites have acquired over 20,000 multispectral high-resolution images, with a total of 14.6 terabytes (TB) of data received. Some data has been shared with national land and environmental agencies for disaster monitoring.

On behalf of the research team, Professor ZHANG stated that their future efforts would focus on enhancing satellite capabilities and accelerating technological transfers to better support national development.