Gaofen-1
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Gaofen-1 is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a satellite, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 9,120 triangles in a 86 kB glTF file, and is 7.9 m across at full scale.
On Space Radar’s live map it is drawn for 4 catalogued objects, each where its published orbit puts it now. Open it on the map.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Span | 7.93 m |
| Envelope diameter | 2.65 m |
| Envelope height | 2 m |
| Panel | 1.11 × 0.85 m |
| Mass | 1080 kg |
eoPortal, eoportal.org/satellite-missions/gaofen-1, OPENED 2026-10-27: 'a pair of solar panel wings, each with three solar panels', 'Launch mass 1080 kg', 'CAST-2000 (extended version)', 'two 2 m barrel-mounted panchromatic/8 m MS cameras, and a set of 4 WFIs'; no size is given there. SECOND SOURCE, NOT THE AGENCY: a Chinese data vendor's parameter page, glstkj.com/wzz.asp?x=36, OPENED 2026-10-27: '发射状态大包络 Φ2650mm×2000mm' (launch envelope 2.65 m by 2.0 m), '在轨太阳翼展开后的跨度 7930mm' (span of the wings deployed 7.93 m), '太阳翼基板总面积 5.661m2（1110mm×850mm×6块）' (six panels of 1110 x 850 mm), '总重量 1060kg' (it says 1 060 kg where eoPortal says 1 080: neither is drawn). HOW THE SPAN WAS REACHED: the 0.85 m side of a panel lies along the wing and the 1.11 m side across it; three panels with two 0.02 m gaps make 2.59 m; a body 1.70 m across and two yokes of 0.525 m give 1.70 + 2 x (0.525 + 2.59) = 7.93 m (the other way round leaves 1.27 m for body and yokes, too narrow for two 2 m-class barrels). OURS: the body 1.70 x 1.50 x 1.25 m (its diagonal 2.27 m fits the 2.65 m circle), the adapter cone, the overall 2.0 m height, the barrels' size and 6 degree tilt, every antenna, sensor and fitting, the cell counts (read 2026-10-27)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from eoPortal's published dimensions; compared with the operator's pictures, looked at only.
The full record
built by this project in code (release 1.3.0's part library, lib.py and parts.py, kept with the stage's notes in ~/space-radar-handoff/release-1.4/r14-m5/build, one script a craft), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh: NASA's 3D Resources (1 583 paths, read 2026-10-27) has none of this craft, and no operator of it was found to publish a model under a free licence (searched 2026-10-27)
Where the map uses it. NORAD 39150, Gaofen-1, China's first high-resolution civil Earth-observation satellite (CHEOS), launched in April 2013 on the CAST-2000 bus: a gold-blanket body on an adapter cone, two barrel cameras and four wide-field cameras on the Earth face, an X-band dish on a mast, two solar wings of three panels. It wore the class shape of a satellite; public #1147. NOT Gaofen-1 02, 03 and 04 (NORAD 43259, 43260, 43262, launched in 2018): neither source describes their payload or size, and one lists a lower mass, so they are not claimed to be this craft
Licence note. No operator picture or model is in the file: the pictures named `LOOKED AT ONLY` were looked at for the layout and are on no sheet. The shape is this project's, under this repository's licence, built from published numbers (facts). NO LOGO, FLAG OR LETTERING is on the mesh.
References 2
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Artist's view of the deployed GF-1 spacecraft (eoPortal figure 1)CAST, DFHlooked at only; not free
- Photo of the Gaofen-1 spacecraft during AIT (eoPortal figure 3)CAST, DFHlooked at only; not free
Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Gaofen-1 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=gaofen-1" title="Gaofen-1, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
