The Chinese company Chang Guang Satellite Technology has published an image taken by one of the satellites belonging to its Jilin-1 constellation. It shows the International Space Station.
The market for photographing objects in near-Earth orbit using specialized satellites is currently experiencing rapid growth. This service is actively used to assess the condition of spacecraft and monitor the situation with space debris. It is also of considerable interest to military and intelligence agencies.
One of the recognized leaders in this market is Vantor (formerly Maxar). It regularly demonstrates its capabilities by publishing images of various objects in orbit, including the ISS.
However, Vantor is far from being the only company with such capabilities. The Chinese company Chang Guang owns the Jilin-1 constellation, which consists of 130 spacecraft. Their priority is to capture high-resolution images of the Earth’s surface, but they can also be used for other purposes, including photographing objects in orbit.
In the past, Chang Guang has already demonstrated the capabilities of its devices by publishing images from the Worldview Legion 2 satellite, which belongs to the aforementioned Vantor. Thus, the Chinese company seems to have publicly declared that its images are no worse than those of its overseas competitor.
Now Chang Guang has published a photo of the ISS. It was taken on October 1, 2025, from a distance of 305 km. The photo clearly shows both the structure of the station and the spacecraft docked to it.
Earlier, we reported on how Vantor photographed the American-Indian satellite NISAR.
