Gaofen

Gaofen is a series of Chinese high-resolution Earth imaging satellites for the China High-resolution Earth Observation System program. Unlike the Yaogan program of military reconnaissance satellites, CHEOS is a state-sponsored, civilian Earth-observation program used for agricultural, disaster, resource, and environmental monitoring. Proposed in 2006 and approved in 2010, the CHEOS program consists of the Gaofen series of space-based satellites, near-space and airborne systems such as airships and UAVs, ground systems that conduct data receipt, processing, calibration, and taskings, and a system of applications that fuse observation data with other sources to produce usable information and knowledge. In 2003, the China National Space Administration agreed with Roscosomos to share Gaofen data for data from Russia's Earth observation satellites of similar capability.