The American company Maxar, specialized in space imaging, has unveiled rare shots of rare precision showing a satellite … photographed by another.
It was a publication on LinkedIn that quickly attracted the attention of aerospace enthusiasts. On two photographs, the same satellite that revolves around the earth, identified as being Shijian 26. But what strikes is the quality and the finesse of the details. These two shots dated June 3, 2025 have been captured from another satellite, also in orbit.
But it was only a little more than a month later, on July 10, that these images were shared online. It was Susanne Hake, the senior vice-president and general manager at Maxar Intelligence, who published them on her profile, not without pride: ” Maxar Technologies has just captured the clearest non -terrestrial image that we have ever collected ».
Maxar is an American company located in Colorado which designs satellites, provides spatial solutions and geospatial imaging of very high resolution.
A sharpness praised on social networks: ” Delusional images of Chinese satellite Shijian 26, an apparently new generation earth observation satellite from Maxar “, For example, wrote journalist Andrew Jones, specializing in monitoring the Chinese space program, in particular for SpaceNews, a reference site.
He and others have also underlined the extremely fine resolution on these shots, which reaches 1.9 cm. Result ? A ” image cristalline From Shijian 26, wrote Susanne Hake, and a demonstration of what this type of resolution will allow ” For the knowledge of the spatial situation “, In particular in terms of security.
In the shared publication on the professional social network, mention is mentioned ” SSD 1.9 cm ». This has nothing to do with the disk that is used on a daily basis: it refers to an acronym of Space Sample Distance, on the same model as the Ground Sample Distance (GSD), or ground resolution. Another photo shows a 4.9 cm SSD.
According to astronomer Jonathan McDowell, the Shijian 26 satellite was launched on May 29, 2025 from the Jiuquan launch base, located in interior Mongolia (northwest of China). The family of SHIJIAN satellites, sometimes abstaining in SJ, is old. The first representative was launched in the early 1970s. More than forty followed since.
The objectives of each Shijian satellite differ. In the case of model 26, it is presented as a Chinese optical remote sensing satellite to make land observation and environmental monitoring. Faculties which are also likely to meet military needs, to collect visual information on a situation.
« Our ability to imagine it thus clearly demonstrates a new era in satellite satellite observation Susanne Hake said. In short, ” It is as if we had a microscope sparkled on the new space race “She summed up. For the clearest photo, the distance was 29.2 km (74.6 km for the other).
Monitor what’s going on in space
These shots, which rank like Nei photos (Non-Earth Imaging), are not the first of its kind. The company sells commercial and government services thanks to follow -up means on what is happening in low -land orbit (200 to 1,000 km above sea level), in average terrestrial orbit, and until the geosynchronous orbit (35,786 km).
This NEI follow -up makes it possible to monitor satellite operations, detect modifications or threats, provide almost real intelligence, with a considerable degree of precision. A faculty that is not exclusive to Maxar: not surprisingly, France and others have or renew their follow -up capacities.
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