HKUST-FYBB#1 Satellite

Utilizing HKUST’s new eye in the sky
 

A pioneering addition to the project’s analytical tool kit to help with this is “HKUST-FYBB#1”, a multispectral optical satellite named for the University and the donor supporting the launch and successfully launched in August 2023 in Gansu Province. The first such university satellite mission in Hong Kong, the data provided will initially be used for the digital twin project, and later to build a remote sensing satellite constellation for environmental monitoring to meet China’s carbon goals as well as a disaster forecasting system.

HKUST-FYBB#1 is the most advanced civilian satellite of its kind, collecting remote sensing images with a spatial resolution of 0.5 meters, which is 20 times higher than open access images taken from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 optical satellite, and an image width (horizontal distance) of 150 kilometers. The HKUST satellite started remitting images via its optical camera after just 1.5 hours’ flight time, Prof. Zhang said.

Watching HKUST-FYBB#1 sail into the sky at the launch ceremony along with around 50 HKUST alumni, students, and donors, Prof. Zhang Limin (right photo, second from right) experienced both anxiety over the launch’s success followed by excitement as the satellite rose and then soared into the sky. (Left photo credit: Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. Ltd.)