# Gaofen-3 (GF-3)
*missions*

## Specifications
- **operator**: cnsa
- **actual launch**: 2016-08-09
- **current status**: operational
- **orbit type**: Sun-synchronous orbit, 758 km altitude, 06:00 descending equator crossing time
- **swath km**: 650
- **revisit days**: 7
- **tasking supported**: true
- **current geographic priority**: All-weather high-resolution land observation and disaster monitoring; ocean, water, disaster and environmental applications documented in public sources.
- **launch vehicle**: casc-long-march-4c
- **entity type**: mission
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-14
- **verified by**: community
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: cnsa
- **attributes**: {"operator":"cnsa","actual_launch":"2016-08-09","current_status":"operational","orbit_type":"Sun-synchronous orbit, 758 km altitude, 06:00 descending equator crossing time","swath_km":650,"revisit_days":7,"tasking_supported":true,"current_geographic_priority":"All-weather high-resolution land observation and disaster monitoring; ocean, water, disaster and environmental applications documented in public sources.","launch_vehicle":"casc-long-march-4c"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
Gaofen-3 (GF-3) is a C-band synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite in the Gao Fen programme, operated by the China National Space Administration.[^wmo-gf3] Launched on 9 August 2016 into a sun-synchronous orbit at 758 km altitude with a 06:00 descending equator crossing, GF-3 carries the SAR-C instrument, a C-band SAR with 12 imaging modes spanning resolutions from 1 m to hundreds of metres and a 650 km field of regard.[^wmo-sarc-gf3][^journal-radars-gf3] The mission supports all-weather, day-and-night Earth observation for land monitoring, disaster response, ocean surveillance, and environmental applications. Demonstrated uses include SAR backscatter mapping, polarimetric decomposition, and interferometric surface-deformation measurements; the mission is also capable of ocean wind retrieval and ocean wave spectra derivation.[^wmo-sarc-gf3][^journal-radars-gf3] The launch date differs by one day between the WMO OSCAR record (2016-08-09)[^wmo-gf3] and the Journal of Radars public summary (2016-08-10),[^journal-radars-gf3] likely reflecting UTC versus local date handling. As of the WMO OSCAR update on 2026-03-30, GF-3 is listed as operational with an end-of-life date of 2026 or later; no newer CNSA retirement notice was found in this review.

## Compositional position
- Gaofen-3 (GF-3) --[mission_payloads]--> sar-c-gaofen-3 (products)

## Sources
- [wmo-gf3] | GF-3, WMO OSCAR satellite record | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/gf_3 | tier=third-party | accessed=2026-06-14
- [wmo-sarc-gf3] | SAR-C (GF-3), WMO OSCAR instrument record | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/instruments/view/sar_c_gf_3 | tier=third-party | accessed=2026-06-14
- [journal-radars-gf3] | The Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar Images of Gaofen-3 | https://radars.ac.cn/news/JournalNews/2fe7580e-5aaa-42b1-ae01-ecd800e0069f_en.htm | tier=third-party | accessed=2026-06-14
- [cnsa-gaofen-project] | CNSA Gaofen project news item mentioning Gaofen-3 planned launch | https://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english/n6465652/n6465653/c6480538/content.html | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/missions/gaofen-3
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)