missions

Gaofen-6 (GF-6)

Gaofen-6 (GF-6) is a Chinese high-resolution optical land-observation satellite operated by the China National Space Administration, launched on 2018-06-02 into a sun-synchronous orbit at approximately 640 to 645 km altitude with a 10:30 local imaging time.^[1]^[2] The mission carries two optical instruments: the Panchromatic Multispectral Sensor (PMS), providing sub-metre to 2 m panchromatic and multispectral resolution over a narrow swath, and the Wide Field View camera (WFV), covering an 800 km swath for wide-area monitoring.^[3]^[4] GF-6 operates with a 41-day repeat cycle and a 4-day revisit through dual-satellite coordination with Gaofen-1.^[1]^[2] Applications include vegetation index mapping for agriculture and forestry, land cover change detection, crop-type and crop-stress monitoring, and disaster damage assessment.^[5]^[1] The WMO OSCAR record lists a satellite mass of 805 kg at 640 km altitude, while the USGS system characterisation report gives a launch mass of 1080 kg at 645 km;^[1]^[2] the altitude range reflects both sources.

Full specification

All fields

current status	Operational
operator	China National Space Administration
launch vehicle	Casc Long March 2d
Launched	2018-06-02
orbit type	Sun-synchronous orbit, about 640-645 km altitude, 10:30 local imaging time
swath km	800
revisit days	41
tasking supported	No
archive depth years	8
current geographic priority	High-resolution land observation, disaster monitoring, agriculture, forestry, and environmental monitoring.

Supply chain position

carries instrument Panchromatic and Multi-spectral CCD Camera

carries instrument Wide Field Camera

operated by China National Space Administration

launched on Casc Long March 2d

related to Land cover change

related to Crop-type mapping

related to Crop stress and yield

related to Forest structure and biomass

related to Disaster damage assessment

Vegetation index mapping → demonstrated Panchromatic and Multi-spectral CCD Camera

Optical time-series change detection → demonstrated Panchromatic and Multi-spectral CCD Camera

Multispectral optical imaging → demonstrated Panchromatic and Multi-spectral CCD Camera

Vegetation index mapping → demonstrated Wide Field Camera

Optical time-series change detection → demonstrated Wide Field Camera

Multispectral optical imaging → demonstrated Wide Field Camera

Sources

[1]WMO OSCAR satellite record: GF-6agency doc-2026-06-14
[2]USGS system characterization report on Gaofen-6agency doc2021-01-012026-06-14
[3]WMO OSCAR instrument record: PMSagency doc-2026-06-14
[4]WMO OSCAR instrument record: WFVagency doc-2026-06-14
[5]CAST GF series satellite overviewoperator engineering-2026-06-14

Cite https://eo-atlas.org/missions/gaofen-6 Markdown twin → Field definitions → Suggest a correction →

How to cite this page

Plain text

Gaofen-6 (GF-6). EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V. https://eo-atlas.org/missions/gaofen-6 (CC BY 4.0)

BibTeX

@misc{eoatlas:missions:gaofen-6,
  title = {Gaofen-6 (GF-6)},
  author = {{EO-Atlas}},
  publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
  url = {https://eo-atlas.org/missions/gaofen-6}
}