The State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (hereinafter“the Laboratory”) was established by reorganizing the former State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science. It is supported by the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Beijing Normal University (BNU). The laboratory consolidates resources from both institutions and integrates the core strengths of three additional key laboratories from CAS - Computational Optical Imaging Technology, Electromagnetic Radiation and Detection Technology, and Digital Earth. It also leverages two major national scientific infrastructures, the Airborne Remote Sensing System and the China Remote Sensing Satellite Ground Station, to enhance its capabilities in payload development and calibration, next-generation earth observation satellite validation, and comprehensive digital earth analysis.
Led by Professor HUSI Letu, with Academician GUO Huadong as Chair of the Academic Committee, the laboratory addresses strategic needs in advancing China’s space power and aerospace information research. Its main research areas include new remote sensing mechanisms and methodologies, quantitative remote sensing processing and parameter retrieval, and digital earth applications, all aimed at driving innovation in aerospace information and earth system sciences.
Building on its distinguished legacy, the laboratory has brought together top experts in remote sensing and digital earth, fostering continual progress in fundamental research. Looking ahead, it is committed to integrating its resources and striving to become a world-class center for research, technological development, and talent cultivation in remote sensing and digital earth.
The laboratory has established three major research directions: New Mechanisms and Methods for Remote Sensing Detection, Quantitative Remote Sensing Processing and Parameter Inversion, and Digital Earth and Integrated Applications.
Leveraging recent advances in mathematics and physics and breakthroughs in materials and devices, this direction focuses on investigating novel mechanisms and methods for remote sensing, developing innovative remote sensing payloads, and acquiring new types of observational data.
Using techniques based on electromagnetic waves, magnetism, gravity, and similar approaches for earth observation, this research area aims to develop a full-chain quantitative processing and inversion methodology for remote sensing data.
Based on theoretical foundations in informatics, physics, and mathematics, this direction explores key technologies for intelligent, precise, and broadly applicable analysis of large-scale remote sensing data, and seeks to establish new methods and technologies for integrated remote sensing applications supported by a digital earth framework.
The laboratory was jointly established under the auspices of the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)as the primary supporting institution and Beijing Normal University as the co-supporting institution. In accordance with the three major research directions, the laboratory has formed teams characterized by clearly defined research foci, well-articulated performance targets, and a comprehensive personnel structure, which constitute its core components. A support platform has been built primarily around two major facilities, while a public service system is composed of a big data analysis center, a product production center, and field observation stations.
