Published : 2025-12-28

On 28 December, 2016, China's first science popularisation satellite for middle school students, "8.1 Youth Journey" (八一．少年行) was launched.

At 11:23 a.m. that day, China successfully launched the Gaojing-1 (高景一號) commercial remote sensing satellite using the Long March 2D carrier rocket, which also carried the "8.1 Youth Journey" satellite.

The satellite is the first one fully developed with the participation of middle school students in China.

It meets international standards and possesses completely independent intellectual property rights as a dual-unit cube satellite.

With a mass of 2.2 kilograms, the satellite consists of subsystems such as structure, thermal control, power, satellite management, attitude control, and communication, which encompasses almost all components of large satellites.

The satellite is equipped with a remote sensing camera and a wireless voice relay system, capable of performing tasks such as Earth imaging and voice communication for aerospace science education.

The "8.1 Youth Journey" satellite features a simple platform structure, low-cost short cycles, convenient transport launch, modular design, and allows complete involvement of middle school students.

It enables middle and elementary school students to personally experience the complete process, which includes designing, simulating, programming, testing, assembling, environmental testing, satellite-rocket integration, and on-orbit control of the cube satellite.