Overview
The Gaofen (高分, "high resolution") series is the civil core of CHEOS — the China High-resolution Earth Observation System, approved in 2010 and operated under CNSA. Since Gaofen-1 launched in 2013, the programme has grown into a fleet of 35 tracked satellites we monitor, spanning wide-swath agricultural mappers, sub-metre urban imagers, all-weather radar and hyperspectral atmospheric sensors. Its imagery underpins land survey, agriculture, disaster response and environmental enforcement across China — and much of it feeds programmes offered to Belt and Road partner states.
The Gaofen Family
| Series | Type | Orbit | Resolution | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaofen-1 / 6 | Optical (wide swath) | SSO ~645 km | 2 m / 16 m | Land survey, agriculture |
| Gaofen-2 | Optical | SSO ~630 km | 0.8 m | Urban planning, mapping |
| Gaofen-3 series | SAR radar | SSO ~755 km | 1 m | All-weather, maritime |
| Gaofen-4 | Optical staring | GEO 35,786 km | 50 m | Persistent regional watch |
| Gaofen-5 series | Hyperspectral | SSO ~705 km | — | Atmosphere, pollution |
| Gaofen-7 / 14 | Optical stereo | SSO ~500 km | <1 m 3D | Cartography |
| Gaofen-11 series | Optical | SSO ~250–700 km | sub-metre | Highest-resolution civil |
Browse every tracked spacecraft on the live Gaofen constellation page.
How Sharp Is Gaofen?
Civil Eyes, Military Cousins
Gaofen is the published face of Chinese Earth observation. Its military counterpart is the Yaogan reconnaissance fleet — one of the largest imaging constellations in orbit, flying similar sun-synchronous profiles with undisclosed sensors. Alongside them, the commercial Jilin-1 constellation from Chang Guang Satellite Technology (26 satellites we track) sells daily sub-metre imagery worldwide. Together they give China one of the densest Earth-imaging networks ever flown — the wider picture is in our Satellites of China overview.
Applications & Data Access
Gaofen imagery drives China's crop-yield forecasting, disaster mapping (the SAR-equipped Gaofen-3 satellites image through cloud and darkness), pollution enforcement via Gaofen-5's hyperspectral sensors, and the 1:10,000-scale national mapping programme built on Gaofen-7's stereo pairs. Lower-resolution products (16 m class) are freely distributed through the CNSA data portal; sub-metre imagery remains government-controlled — one reason commercial Jilin-1 data dominates Chinese imagery exports. For how Earth observation works more broadly, see our Earth observation guide and check which imaging satellites pass over your location with Satellite Eye.