The newer FY-3 series is an improved generation of polar-orbiting heliosynchronous weather satellites.

HEAD or Hede are Chinese commercial satellites by HEAD Aerospace for their Skywalker constellation to provide data collection services and to track ships receiving their AIS (Automated Identification System) signals.

The three-axis stabilized satellites are built by SAST (Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology) and feature a high-performance AIS receiver capable of processing 2 million AIS short messages and identifying 60000 ships per day. Future satellites will feature VEDS and ADS-B payloads for global ship detection and airplane monitoring services.

The Skywalker constellation is planned to consist of 48 satellites. 12 of them are to be in Sun-synchronous orbits, while the remaining 36 will form a Walker-δ constellation with 6 different orbital planes in 700 km 50° LEO with an orbit phase difference of 60°.