Commercial & export remote sensing satellite policy and market of leading space countries during 2010–2013

The globe export policy and regulation policy in main earth observation countries are investigated. The comparison between the export satellites and the domestic commercial satellites are conducted. The Chinese export situation for earth observation is interpreted based on the analysis of the Venezuelan Remote Sensing Satellite (VRSS-1), five civil satellites launched before and after VRSS-1. The analyses indicate that the specification of export satellite for international client is accordance with satellite for domestic government customer in China. The export satellite specification can be possible to be improved. In addition, the export regulations of the leading countries for earth observation under scrutiny are investigated. The results indicate the satellite with the spatial resolution better than NIIRS 5 is competitive in the international market. Data with more moderate resolutions face competition from low-cost and free datasets. But, value-added services are expected to enhance the competitiveness.