# Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST)
*research-institute . companies*

Chinese state-owned spacecraft manufacturer under CASC; bus builder for DQ-1/DQ-2 missions carrying ACDL.

## Specifications
- **country**: China
- **operator domains**: ["sast.cn"]
- **entity type**: company
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-10
- **verified by**: operator
- **claim status**: unclaimed
- **attributes**: {"kind":"research-institute","country":"China","operator_domains":"[\"sast.cn\"]","description":"Chinese state-owned spacecraft manufacturer under CASC; bus builder for DQ-1/DQ-2 missions carrying ACDL."}

## Editorial
The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) is a state-owned spacecraft manufacturer and research institution founded in 1961, headquartered in Shanghai. A subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), SAST employs more than 19,700 staff across 21 affiliates and operates across satellite platforms, launch vehicles, and deep-space systems.[^sast-official-2026]

In Earth observation, SAST serves as satellite prime contractor for the Daqi atmospheric monitoring missions. SAST built both the Daqi-1 (DQ-1, launched April 2022) and Daqi-2 (DQ-2, launched April 2026) satellites on the SAST-5000B bus.[^eoportal-daqi-2026] The Atmospheric Carbon dioxide Detector (ACDL) instrument payload on these missions was developed by the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.[^eoportal-daqi-2026]

Beyond atmospheric EO, SAST develops platform families for a range of civil and defense missions and contributes to Chinese launch vehicle programmes including Long March variants.[^newspaceeconomy-sast-2025]

## Sources
- [sast-official-2026] | About SAST | Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology | https://www.sast.net/about2.html | tier=operator-marketing | accessed=2026-06-10
  Founded 1961, HQ Shanghai, 19700+ employees, 21 affiliates, CASC subsidiary; launch vehicles, satellites, deep-space
- [eoportal-daqi-2026] | Daqi-1/-2 (DQ-1/-2) - eoPortal | https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/daqi-1-2 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-10
  SAST built DQ-1 (2022-04-15) and DQ-2 (2026-04-17) on SAST-5000B bus; ACDL instrument by SIOM/CAS
- [newspaceeconomy-sast-2025] | What is SAST? | New Space Economy | https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2025/09/30/what-is-the-shanghai-academy-of-spaceflight-technology-and-why-is-it-important/ | tier=third-party | accessed=2026-06-10
  CASC subsidiary, EO satellite platforms, Long March launch vehicles overview

---
Source: https://eo-atlas.org/companies/sast
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)