Beijing-3

Quick facts

Overview

Summary

Mission Capabilities

The satellites have remote sensing applications in land resources management, agricultural resources surveys, environmental monitoring and urban planning. Beijing-3B is based on Beijing-3A, but carries a larger and higher resolution optical imager.

Performance Specifications

Beijing-3A’s imager features a panchromatic resolution of 0.5 m, and a multispectral resolution of 2 m, with a swath width of 23.5 km at nadir. Beijing-3B’s imager has a spatial resolution of 0.3 m. The satellites feature onboard artificial intelligence (AI) used for autonomous flight path creation, and to maintain stability during rapid observations as the spacecraft moves at up to 10° per second.

Space and Hardware Components

The Beijing-3 satellites are built on the CAST3000E satellite platform, with masses of 1200 kg and design lives of 8 years. The satellites were built by Aerospace Dongfanghong (DFH) Satellite Co., who state they are the most agile satellites in the world.

Overview

Beijing-3 is a commercial optical satellite constellation developed by Aerospace Dongfanghong (DFH) Satellite Co., Ltd of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group for Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd (21AT). Beijing-3 consists of two satellites, Beijing-3A, and the follow-up mission Beijing-3B. The mission succeeds previous Beijing missions, which includes Beijing-1 or China DMC+4, an Earth observation microsatellite launched in 2005, and Beijing-2, a member of the disaster monitoring constellation (DMC) consisting of three identical satellites also known as Triplesat or DMC-3. Beijing-1 was operated by a cooperation between the Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL)  and the Beijing LandView Mapping Information Technology Company Ltd (BLMIT), and Beijing-2 was operated by SSTL and DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii).

Beijing-3 has primary applications in land resources management, agricultural resources surveys, environmental monitoring and urban planning. Beijing-3B is based on Beijing-3A, but it houses a higher resolution imager. The constellation makes use of ultra-high agility, stability and precision as well as intelligent composite control, image processing and independent planning to obtain high-resolution imagery of Earth’s surface. DFH Satellite Co believes the Beijing-3 satellites are the most agile spacecraft ever created. Both satellites feature onboard AI (Artificial Intelligence), which allows the spacecraft to plan their own flight paths and to monitor up to 500 points of interest as it orbits the Earth approximately 100 times per day.

The satellites work in conjunction with the other Beijing satellites in orbit to enhance high spatio-temporal resolution services including data acquisition, intelligent observation and information services. Beijing-3 differs from the previous Beijing satellites due to 21AT owning and operating the pair, instead of only having the capability to lease Beijing satellite data to customers through the agency operating the satellites. 1) 2)

Spacecraft

Both Beijing-3 satellites are based on the CAST3000E satellite bus, and use AI for autonomous mission planning and in-orbit image processing to provide continuous imaging services. Beijing-3A has a mass of 1200 kg and a design life of 8 years. No figure is available for Beijing-3B. 3)

The Beijing-3 satellites are considered by the mission’s lead scientist, Yang Fang, to be ‘the world’s nimblest satellite’, which allows the two to do previously thought to be impossible tasks. Beijing-3A demonstrated its capability by recording the 3915 mile long Yangtze River in one pass, from North to South over China.

The satellites are capable of recognising and relaying target images to the ground, making them 2-3 times faster than that of WorldView-4, a compatible technology-utilising US satellite. Beijing-3 is capable of rotating up to 10 degrees per second, a speed not seen before on a satellite. The satellites’ AI control is utilised to protect the satellite and its observations during rapid movements. The solar array was also designed with a unique structure to prevent them from shaking during movements. 1)

Launch

Beijing-3A

Beijing-3A was launched on 11 June 2021 at 3:03 UTC from LC-9 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in China by CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Company Ltd). The satellite was launched on a Long March 2D rocket along with three other payloads. 4)

Orbit

Beijing-3A was placed into a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 km.

Beijing-3B

Beijing-3B was launched on 24 August 2022 at 3:01 UTC from LC-9 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in China by CASC. The satellite was launched on a Long March 2D rocket.

Orbit

Beijing-3B was placed into a Sun-synchronous orbit with a perigee of 601 km and an apogee of 627 km, a period of 96.8 minutes, inclined at 97.94°. 5) 6) 

Mission Status

• August 31, 2022: Beijing-3B releases its first imagery with 30 cm spatial resolution. One week after launch, the second Beijing-3 satellite captured ultra-high resolution over the National Olympic Stadium in Beijing. 7) 

• June 16, 2021: Beijing-3A scans the San Francisco Bay area in a “unique experiment”, where the satellite performed an in-depth scan of the city in only 42 seconds, covering 3,800 km2. Most imaging satellites require absolute stability during observations due to attitude control devices emitting vibrations, but Beijing-3 is able to cover large regions in short periods due to stabilisation provided by onboard AI. 1)

Sensor Complement

Beijing-3A’s imager features a panchromatic resolution of 0.5 m, and a multispectral resolution of 2 m. Beijing-3B features a spatial resolution of 0.3 m.

Beijing-3A’s imager features a swath width of 23.5 km at nadir, which is capable of distinguishing the shape of the front and rear glass windows of a car on the ground, as well as realise a clear view of Beijing's East and West Fourth Ring Road. Beijing-3 features dynamic imaging modes including arbitrary track, East-West oblique strip splicing, true North and South, and 180° yaw. 8) 9) 10)

Beijing-3 L1 data products are created by the BJ3A1 satellite ground pre-processing system, which receives raw data received by the ground station for processing. The data undergoes image data separation, attitude and orbit parameter analysis, system radiation and sensor geometry correction, band registration, modulation transfer function (MTF) restoration, product packaging and more. 11)

References  

1) Aubrey Clarke, “China’s Nimble Beijing-3 Artificial Satellite Scans San Francisco Bay Area in Just Seconds,” The Science Times, 29 December 2021, URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20230911052625/https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/35270/20211229/china-s-nimble-beijing-3-satellite-scans-san-francisco-bay-area-in-just-seconds.htm

2) “Two consecutive victories in two places in four days! Changerding launched the Beijing No. 3 B satellite with complete success!,” China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, 24 August 2022, URL: http://spacechina.com/n25/n2014789/n2014804/c3607633/content.html

3) Tobias Corbett, “Chinese Chang Zheng 2D launches commercial Earth observation satellite and secondary payloads,” NASA Space Flight, 11 June 2021, URL: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/06/cz2d-earth-observation-launch/

4) Claire Percival, “Beijing-3 | Long March 2D,” Everyday Astronaut, 12 June 2021, URL: https://everydayastronaut.com/beijing-3-long-march-2d-2/

5) Trevor Sesnic, “Beijing-3B | Long March 2D,” Everyday Astronaut, 27 August 2022, URL: https://everydayastronaut.com/beijing-3b-long-march-2d/

6) “Beijing-3B,” N2YO.com, URL: https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=53587

7) “Beijing-3B has captured its first 30cm images,” Geocento, URL: https://geocento.com/beijing3b_has_captured_first_images

8) “Beijing-3,” Latitude Geosystems, URL: https://latitude-geosystems.com/Satellite-3248-Beijing-3.html

9) “Beijing No.3 Satellite A, Haisi No.2 Satellite, and Yangwang No.1 Satellite were successfully launched!,” China Academy of Space Technology, 11 June 2021, URL: https://www.cast.cn/3g/news/7065

10) “Beijing No.3 Satellite A,” Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd, URL: https://www.21at.com.cn/wxyk/bjsh/

11) “Beijing-3,” Catalyst, URL: https://catalyst.earth/catalyst-system-files/help/references/gdb_r/Beijing-3.html