Last Thursday, July 18th, 2024, China launched its fifth Gaofen-11 high-resolution spy satellite to its CHEOS constellation. Optical, multispectral, hyperspectral, and synthetic aperture radar satellites make up CHEOS. The rocket launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, carrying the Gaofen-11 satellite on board. Shortly following the launch it was announced that the launch was successful. The Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has stated that the satellite will be utilized for land surveillance, urban planning, land rights confirmation, road network design, crop yield estimation, and disaster prevention and mitigation. While no photographs of the satellite have been released, it is theorized that the Gaofen-11 satellites are among China’s most capable optical spacecraft. The four previous Gaofen-11 satellites were launched into a 500km near-polar orbit. This Gaofen-11 will likely have the same orbital characteristics. It is also theorized that the optical aperture for this spacecraft is greater than or equal to 1.5m in diameter. In November 2020, an article was published that the Gaofen-11 can return optical imagery at a resolution of 10cm. This launch marks China’s 33rd of the year. CASC plans to prepare for the first launch aboard a Long March 12 rocket. This rocket can send up to 12,00 kilograms to low Earth orbit or 6,000 kg to sun-synchronous orbit.

This article has important space cyber security implications. While it is evident that there is extremely limited public information regarding the capabilities of the Gaofen-11 satellites, this information could be determined by invoking a space cyber-attack. The United States government or another entity with sufficient resources could hack into these satellites to steal the data that the optical payloads are collecting. By capturing the spacecraft data, the threat actor would then have the ability to determine what these payloads are monitoring, the resolution at which optical images are being captured, in addition to the wavelengths over which these payloads are monitoring. With these key critical design details, one could theorize the intentions of these spy satellites in addition to the optical elements that make up the electro-optical payload. It would be important to note that if a data leak was detected, then China would likely follow a similar pursuit with the US government spy satellites.

China launches new Gaofen-11 high resolution spy satellite – SpaceNews