SpaceWill

SpaceWill (formerly Beijing Space View Technology Co., Ltd.) is a leading provider of Earth Observation (EO) satellite data and geospatial information services. The company commercially operates over the 40 EO satellites in orbit and produces surveying and mapping instruments and equipment, aerial remote sensing, mapping- and geographic information products. Space View, that partners with over 70 EO companies around the world, is the exclusive distributor of Chinese Earth observation satellite data from the Gaofen-2, GaoFen-1, Ziyuan-3, Huanjing-1A and -1B, as well as some other Chinese satellites. 

SpaceWill is a subsidiary of investor China Siwei Surveying & Mapping Technology Company (China Siwei), that operates as a separate entity of state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). China Siwei owns the satellite constellation. The second subsidiary, Siwei WorldView, is a joint venture founded by China Siwei, DigitalGlobe, Inc. (Maxar) from USA, and Navinfo Co. Ltd. from China. Authorized by the Chinese government, WorldView is also the main distributor in China for DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-1, -2, and -3, GeoEye-1, QuickBird and IKONOS Earth Observation satellites, as well as KOMPSAT-2, -3, -3A, and -5 satellites, operated by Satrec Initiative of South Korea, Japan’s ALOS and ALOS-2 satellites, Deimos-1 (GEOSAT-1) and Deimos-2 (GEOSAT-2) Earth Observation satellites from Spain and Kazakhstan’s KazEOSat-1 satellite.

The company is based in Beijing, China, and is developing an advanced SuperView Neo commercial satellite system, which includes at least 28 satellites dividing into 3 series. SuperView Neo-1 aims to provide 20 to 30 cm optical images. SuperView Neo-2 can provide customers SAR images with up to 50cm resolution. SuperView Neo-3 can acquire the wide swath optical images with resolution better than 1 meter. The system will significantly enhance the precision and efficiency of global geospatial information services, helping customers to make decisions with confidence.

Company History

SpaceWill was formerly known as Beijing Space View Technology Co., Ltd. but changed name to SpaceWill Info. Co., Ltd. (SpaceWill) on January 28^th, 2019. Space View was part of China Siwei Surveying & Mapping Technology Company (China Siwei), that was established in 1992 to become a separate entity of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

On December 28^th, 2016 the company already launched SuperView-1 (01/02) satellites aboard Long March 2D rocket operated by CGWIC. The satellites will be part of the SuperView constellation providing 50cm resolution images.

On January 9^th, 2018, SuperView-1 (03/04) satellites were successfully launched into space on CGWIC’s Long March 2D rocket and added to the SuperView constellation that will operate at an altitude of 530km. Both satellites will provide imagery with 50cm panchromatic resolution and 2m multispectral resolution.

In 2019, the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) inaugurated a global public platform aimed at granting access to satellite imagery captured by its Gaofen-1 (GF-1) and Gaofen-6 (GF-6) satellites, equipped with 16m multispectral cameras. These satellites are integral components of the China High-resolution Earth Observation System (CHEOS), a constellation of civilian remote sensing satellites which includes the GaoFen series. Since 2014, the Chinese government has authorized SpaceWill to distribute imagery captured by Chinese satellites, such as GF-2, GF-1, ZY-3, and HJ-1A&B, in the global market.

In October 2019 digital mapping and imagery company Soar from Australia, announced a strategic partnership with the China Siwei. Soar, which already provides its end-users unlimited access to 10m and 30m resolution imagery via the ESA’s Sentinel and NASA’s Landsat feeds, would have access to two additional data streams capable of displaying imagery at an incredibly high resolution of 0.5m and 0.8m per pixel via the SuperView and GaoFen satellites, respectively.

On July 3^rd, 2020 SuperView-2 satellite was launched on a Long March 4B rocket operated by CGWIC from China. The satellite was added to the SuperView constellation and started in January 2022 with the provisioning of imagery for global.

On April 6^th, 2022 GaoFen-3 (03) or GF-3 (03) Earth-observation satellite was successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the north-western part of China. The satellite was carried by a Long March 4C rocket operated by CGWIC, carries an auto-identification system (AIS) for maritime vessels.

On April 29^th, 2022 the first two SuperView Neo EO satellites were successfully launched on a Long March 2C launch vehicle, operated by CGWIC from China, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert in China. The SuperView Neo-1 (01/02) satellites, weighing 540kgs each, will provide a 30cm resolution for Earth Observation purposes.

On July 15^th, 2022 the company orbited the SuperView Neo-2 (01/02) providing a 50cm resolution SAR. The satellites were launched on CGWIC’s Long March 2C rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) in the Shanxi province of China.

On April 15^th, 2024 the SuperView Neo-3 (01) or Gaojing-3 (01) was launched on CGWIC’s Long March 2D rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The satellite is China’s first commercial optical remote sensing satellite with an ultra-large width of more than 130 kilometers. The satellite is designed to provide 50cm resolution and 9-band combined image data products.

All trademarks, logos and images mentioned and showed on this page are property of their respective owners.

Resources

www.spacewillinfo.com
www.chinasiwei.net
www.dgi.wbresearch.com
www.newspace.in
www.bloomberg.com
www.spaceflightnow.com  edition Dec 28^th, 2016
www.cgg.com
www.spacetechasia.com edition January 9^th, 2018
www.nasaspaceflight.com  edition Jan 8^th, 2018
www.businesswire.com  edition October 31^st, 2019
www.spacetechasia.com  edition December 12^th, 2019
www.news.cgtn.com  edition April 7^th, 2022
www.spacenews.com  edition April 29^th, 2022
www.spacenews.com  edition May 5^th, 2022
www.nasaspaceflight.com  edition July 16^th, 2022
www.space.skyrocket.de
www.satimagingcorp.com
www.researchgate.net
www.crunchbase.com
www.innoter.com
www.satpalda.com
www.eoportal.org
www.spacewatchglobal.com