China's commercial space telescope completes all-sky optical survey

China's commercial space telescope Yangwang-1 has completed an optical survey of the whole sky, according to its developer.

The telescope, launched into orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province on June 11, 2021, is developed by Shenzhen-based Origin Space Technology Co., Ltd. for asteroid resource exploration and research.

During its stay in orbit, Yangwang-1 carried out sky survey observation, atmospheric luminous observation, night remote monitoring and asteroid observation, according to Su Meng, founder and CEO of Origin Space.

In addition to its astronomical, asteroid and space debris observation capabilities, Yangwang-1 can also perform nighttime remote sensing, and the spatial resolution of the nighttime light satellite images obtained has reached less than 30 meters, according to Su.

Origin Space plans to build a constellation in the future, which will be composed of multiple multi-band space telescopes. The first phase of the network with 10 satellites is expected to be completed in 2023, Su said.