STAR.VISION launches hyperspectral satellites for Indonesia and Uzbekistan

what happened

China Rocket Co.'s Smart Dragon 3 launched two hyperspectral Earth observation satellites, Lampung-1 and Samarkand-2028, from a sea-based platform off Shandong on August 5, per Gazeta.uz and Kompas. Lampung-1 was built by Chinese commercial manufacturer STAR.VISION with Indonesia's Lampung Province for marine economy, environmental, and industry monitoring; Samarkand-2028 was built for Uzbekistan's space agency Uzcosmos, which contributed an onboard AI module that processes hyperspectral data in orbit, under a strategic memorandum the two parties signed in November 2025. Both satellites carry multiband hyperspectral imagers. Xinhua, reporting the same launch under STAR.VISION's own constellation branding as 'Oriental Smart Eye' satellites 01 and 02, states each satellite weighs about 300 kg, carries a 22-band hyperspectral imager with 5-meter resolution and a 300-kilometer imaging swath, and an onboard AI computing module rated at 400 trillion operations per second; STAR.VISION says the pair gives 5-day global revisit and plans a 258-satellite constellation by 2032 offering 5-minute revisit at 50-centimeter resolution.

why it matters

The launch shows a Chinese commercial satellite manufacturer, not a state EO operator, winning sovereign Earth-observation contracts from other countries' national space programs, a competitive channel that Western manufacturers and resellers serving the same government-EO market will now have to account for outside China's own borders.

for who

EO manufacturers and resellers competing for sovereign satellite contracts

signal-to-noise

quick facts

Companies

STAR.VISION, Uzcosmos

Category

constellation

Impact

notable

SNR

4 / 5

Event date

2026-08-05

Published

2026-08-05 05:41 UTC