SAST has long history engineering experience in earth observation satellites. GF-5 is the first comprehensive hyperspectral observation satellite in China. The orbit of GF-5 is 705km SSO, and the local time ascending note is 13:30. The total mass of the satellite is about 2800kg. The satellite was sent into orbit by CZ-4C in 2018. The satellite carried 6 kinds of payloads, including 2 land imagers: AHSI(Advanced HyperSpectral Imager) and VRMS(Visible and infraRed Multi-Spectral Sensor, 4 atmospheric); as well as 4 atmospheric  sounders: EMI(Environment Monitoring Sounder), GMI(Greenhouse gases Monitoring Instrument), DPC(Directional Polarization Camera), AIUS(Atmosphere Infrared Ultra-spectral Spectrometer). The design lifetime of GF-5 is 8 years.

The Advanced hyperspectral imager is a kind of optical remote sensing instrument with a combination of image and spectrum, and it can obtain the image information and spectral information of surface features within the broad band spectrum of 0.4-2.5μm with the swath of 60km, spatial resolution of 30m and spectral resolution of 5/10nm, and the number of spectral coverage is up to 320.

The Visible and infraRed Multi-Spectral Sensor is a multispectral imager with 12 wave bands, cover the spectrum range of 0.4~12.5μm. The swath of the payload is 60km, the spatial resolution is 20/40m in visible short wave/mid-wave and long wave infrared.

The project was funded in 2012 and the envisaged launch date is in 2016. The main user of the satellite is the Ministry of Environmental Protection, so the satellite is also known as “Environmental Sat”, carry out observation for:

• Ecological environment monitoring over inland water and land surface;
• Obtain information for mineral resource survey, rock mapping, ;
• Monitoring the atmospheric concentration of CO2 , CH4 , O3 , NO2, SO2 and aerosol;
• Monitoring service for agriculture, disaster mitigation and urban construction etc.