A Chinese satellite manufacturer and operator has conducted satellite-to-ground laser tests that will improve the ability to transmit remote sensing data to Earth. Changguang Satellite Technology (CGST) conducted a test on October 5 using the Jilin-1 MF02A04 remote sensing satellite and vehicle-mounted laser ground communications station.

“During the satellite-to-ground laser image transmission test, the communication bandwidth reached 10 Gbps, which is more than 10 times the traditional microwave data transmission bandwidth,” said Wang Xinxing, technical director of the CGST laser communication ground station.

“Changguang Satellite plans to expand this bandwidth to 40Gbps ~ 100Gbps in the future.” The new ground stations will be deployed at multiple locations across China to greatly improve data collection from Jilin-1 remote sensing, the statement said.

CGST is located in Changchun, the capital of northeastern Jilin province, which gives its name to the constellation. The firm is a branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ (CAS) state-owned Changchun Institute of Optics, Precision Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP).

Founded in 2014, CGST has more than 100 satellites in orbit. Several Jilin-1 Gaofen (“high resolution”) satellites return panchromatic images with a resolution of 0.75 meters.

The company announced last year that it planned to expand the Jilin-1 constellation from a planned 138 satellites to 300 by 2025. The expansion of the Jilin-1 array has raised China’s concerns about the use of commercial U.S. satellite arrays in the conflict in Ukraine, including communications via SpaceX’s Starlink satellites as well as imagery from companies such as Maxar.

In June this year, CGST conducted preliminary testing of laser data transmission in collaboration with the CAS Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR). CGST began testing in March 2020, resulting in a miniaturized, high-bandwidth laser communications terminal.

Chinese state media praised the ground station’s vehicle-mounted breakthrough as China’s first successful test of domestic commercial high-speed laser image transmission from a satellite. CGST has already started adding laser terminals to some of the satellites it launched this year. It is also working on inter-satellite communications that would help China overcome its relative lack of global access to ground stations.

Terrestrial satellite providers around the world are evaluating the feasibility of satellite-to-ground optical communications, noting both challenges and opportunities. A recent report by AFP alleged that CGST brokered two 75-centimeter resolution satellites to the Russian private paramilitary group Wagner Group, according to a contract seen by the news agency.

“Satellite imagery was also used to assist Wagner’s operations in Africa and even before his failed uprising in June, which led to the group’s near collapse and the death of Prigozhin and other key figures in a plane crash in August. The report said European security services ” he said, a source told AFP. Earlier this year, the United States sanctioned another CAS subsidiary, Spacety, for allegedly providing synthetic aperture radar images of locations in Ukraine to the Wagner Group.