China launches its first custom remote sensing monitoring satellite focused on cultural relic protection

On June 15, the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China announced that “Cultural Relics 01,” jointly developed by the National Cultural Heritage Administration and Changguang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd., was successfully launched that day from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and entered its planned orbit. This is China’s first customized remotesensing monitoring satellite specifically focused on cultural relics protection. According to the report, “Cultural Relics 01” is equipped with a highprecision optical remotesensing payload, with panchromatic resolution better than 0.5 meters, and is also fitted with multispectral imaging channels, which can be used for the spatial information collection, 3D modeling, and dynamic comparison of cultural relic resources. After entering orbit, the satellite will work in coordination with more than 130 satellites in the “Jilin1” satellite constellation to form a network, continuously providing highfrequency, timeseries remotesensing data and enhancing the regular, fullcoverage monitoring capabilities of cultural relic protection units at all levels across the country. The National Cultural Heritage Administration stated that the next step will be to continue promoting the integrated application of technologies such as satellite remote sensing, drone inspections, IoT sensing, and AI analysis, and to improve the supervision system for cultural relic resources.