Serving the "Belt and Road" initiative and the Greater Bay Area economy, CAS Xi'an Optoelectronics and Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd. and the Guangzhou University Aerospace Remote Sensing Innovation Research Institute jointly established the "Joint Laboratory for Aerospace Technology and Applications".

Photo of the unveiling ceremony

Reliable remote sensing empowers breakthroughs in constellation technology.

Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics CAS Aerospace Science and Technology Group Co.,LTD is the only domestic commercial aerospace company with a fully independent R&D system for hyperspectral satellites and remote sensing data services, covering the entire industry chain. Its "Xiguang-1" constellation, based on hyperspectral remote sensing technology, is widely used in agriculture, forestry, water bodies, mining, and carbon sequestration. Guangzhou University's Aerospace Remote Sensing Innovation Institute, as an international innovation base for remote sensing technology in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, has leading advantages in areas such as space-air-ground collaborative observation and remote sensing big data processing. The two parties will rely on their joint laboratory to conduct joint research on key technologies such as satellite payload design, constellation network optimization, and hyperspectral data applications, providing core technical support for the constellation's construction.

Deepen the application of technology and accelerate the industrialization of aerospace technology.

Hyperspectral remote sensing technology, with its unique advantages, empowers various industries. Leveraging the hyperspectral satellite data service capabilities of CAS Xi'an Aerospace and the remote sensing intelligent analysis technology of the Guangzhou University Aerospace Remote Sensing Innovation Institute, the two parties will create benchmark demonstration projects in areas such as smart city governance, dynamic monitoring of the ecological environment, and emergency response to major disasters. For example, hyperspectral data can be used to accurately identify the urban heat island effect and the distribution of pollution sources, providing scientific support for government decision-making; in the agricultural and forestry sector, it can enable early warning of pests and diseases and precise assessment of crop growth, contributing to rural revitalization.

Tackling the challenges of low-latitude remote sensing to serve the Belt and Road Initiative.

To address the challenges of cloudy and rainy climates in low-latitude regions, both parties are jointly developing a new generation of high-precision, highly adaptable remote sensing satellite technology. The focus will be on breakthroughs in key technologies such as data inversion algorithms under cloudy conditions and rapid response through satellite-ground collaboration, enhancing the constellation's all-weather service capabilities in Southeast Asia, South America, and other Belt and Road Initiative regions. The joint laboratory will focus on breakthroughs in remote sensing algorithms for cloudy areas, establishing a "spectral toolbox" service model to provide standardized solutions for the industrialization of aerospace technologies in areas such as smart cities and carbon trading. In the future, it will be able to monitor tropical rainforest ecosystems, marine environments, and transboundary disasters in real time, providing public space information products to countries along the Belt and Road and promoting the internationalization of Chinese commercial aerospace technology.

Led by multiple academicians, a collaborative ecosystem of industry, academia, and research is being built.

With Academician Tong Qingxi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the chief scientist, the joint laboratory will establish a cross-disciplinary technical team and regularly hold "technology-industry" two-way docking seminars to attract upstream and downstream enterprises and investment institutions to participate. By establishing a closed-loop mechanism of "demand-oriented - joint research - market verification", it will accelerate the efficiency of technology transformation in satellite design, data services, application development and other links, cultivate aerospace technology industry clusters, and inject new momentum into the low-altitude economy and digital economy of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

A new skyline layout in the Greater Bay Area: drawing a new blueprint for commercial aerospace.

Academician Tong Qingxi stated, "Deep integration of industry, academia, and research is a key path to the industrialization of technology. This collaboration not only focuses on breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies but also emphasizes addressing industry pain points, enabling satellite data to be truly 'used and brought to life,' thus opening up broader market space for commercial aerospace."

Qin Jing, Chairman of Kexi Optoelectronics, delivered a speech in the picture.

Qin Jing, Chairman of Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics CAS Aerospace Science and Technology Group Co.,LTD, said: "This cooperation is a deep integration of commercial aerospace and university scientific research. We will give full play to the advantages of the entire hyperspectral remote sensing industry chain and work with the Guangzhou University Aerospace Remote Sensing Innovation Research Institute to create an internationally leading aerospace technology application platform. We will break through technical bottlenecks with 'orbit change and transcendence' and inject new momentum into the global service capabilities of satellite constellations."