China has strengthened its space diplomacy by launching two artificial intelligence-enabled Earth observation satellites in partnership with Indonesia and Uzbekistan, underscoring Beijing’s growing push to export advanced space technology across Asia.
The satellites, Oriental Smart Eye (OSE)-01 and OSE-02, were launched aboard a Smart Dragon-3 (Jielong-3) rocket from a sea-based platform off Haiyang in China’s Shandong Province. The mission, conducted by the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, marked the 12th flight of the Smart Dragon-3 launch vehicle and highlighted China’s expanding commercial offshore launch capability.
The programme combines hyperspectral imaging with onboard artificial intelligence to deliver faster and more detailed analysis of Earth’s surface for agriculture, environmental monitoring and natural resource management.
OSE-01 was jointly developed by China and Indonesia and will support the Southeast Asian nation’s agricultural and environmental programmes. The satellite is expected to monitor crop health, detect agricultural stress, improve yield assessments and enhance disaster-risk management.
OSE-02 extends China’s space cooperation with Uzbekistan, focusing primarily on monitoring the country’s cotton crop throughout the growing season. The data will support crop management, production forecasting and agricultural planning.
Unlike conventional optical satellites, which primarily capture visible-light images, the new satellites use hyperspectral sensors that analyse hundreds of narrow wavelength bands reflected from Earth’s surface. This enables more accurate detection of vegetation health, soil characteristics, water quality and mineral resources.
Each satellite weighs about 300 kg and carries a hyperspectral payload capable of scanning a 300-km-wide swath at a spatial resolution of five metres. Working together, the satellites can revisit most locations on Earth roughly every five days, providing frequent monitoring for civilian applications.
Artificial intelligence is central to the mission. Equipped with onboard processors capable of performing up to 400 trillion operations per second, the satellites can analyse data in orbit before transmitting it to Earth. This reduces reliance on ground stations while enabling faster anomaly detection, intelligent data compression and quicker delivery of actionable information.
The two satellites will also operate alongside an existing high-resolution Earth observation satellite to create a broader monitoring network supporting precision agriculture, ecosystem management, disaster response and resource mapping.
Beyond the technology, the mission reflects China’s broader strategy of using advanced space capabilities to deepen international partnerships. As Beijing expands the deployment of AI-enabled Earth observation systems, collaborations with countries in Southeast Asia and Central Asia are becoming an increasingly important pillar of its commercial and geopolitical space ambitions.