China appears to be winning the international tech race, and it isn’t particularly close. (Credit: Pla2na on Shutterstock)

In A Nutshell

• China led remote sensing papers in 2021–2023 with ~47%; the U.S. had ~9%.
• Chinese funders were acknowledged in about 54% of papers in 2021–2023; U.S. funders in about 5%.
• Chinese entities held a dominant share of recent “remote sensing” patents among top filers.
• Cheaper sensors, online publishing, national scans, and machine learning helped turbocharge output.

The balance of power in key technologies is tipping, warns a study from NYU. Remote sensing (the foundation for everything from autonomous vehicles to climate satellites) is rapidly consolidating under Chinese control while American influence evaporates.

Remote sensing encompasses technologies that gather information without physical contact, such as satellite imagery, laser scanning, aerial photography, and related tools. This might sound niche, but the study cites market estimates of $452 billion in 2022, projected to reach $1.44 trillion by 2030. More critically, remote sensing provides the data backbone for emerging technologies including self-driving cars, augmented reality systems, digital twins for urban planning, and next-generation defense applications.

Researchers at New York University analyzed 126,479 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1961 and 2023 to document an extraordinary reversal in scientific dominance. Their findings, published in the journal Geomatics, show that during 2021-2023, China produced 47% of all remote sensing research globally while US contributions fell to just 9%.

Patent activity and research publication patterns are often used as proxies for economic competitiveness and tend to correlate with national prosperity. The nation controlling fundamental research typically captures the intellectual property, manufacturing capabilities, and market share that follow.

American Dominance Collapses Within a Generation

Between 1961 and 1970, the United States produced 88% of all remote sensing publications worldwide. American dominance continued through the Cold War era, with NASA and the National Science Foundation funding the majority of global research. As recently as 1991-2000, U.S. researchers still contributed 48% of papers from the top 10 producing countries.

Then the floor dropped out. By 2001-2010, the U.S. share had fallen to 36%. A decade later, it hit 21%. In the 2021-2023 period, Chinese researchers produced more than five times as many remote sensing papers as their American counterparts.

Funding patterns tell an even starker tale. NASA once appeared as an acknowledged funder in roughly half of all remote sensing papers published globally. During 2021-2023, US funding agencies were acknowledged in just 5% of publications. Chinese funding organizations, meanwhile, were acknowledged in 54% of papers during the same period.

The National Natural Science Foundation of China surpassed NASA as the field’s largest acknowledged research funder in 2011-2020 and has continued expanding that lead. China now operates five major funding organizations among the top global supporters of remote sensing research. The US has only two.

Remote sensing includes crucial emerging technologies like augmented reality and satellite imaging. (Credit: MunlikaD on Shutterstock)

How China’s Strategic Funding Created Strategic Results

China’s dominance didn’t happen by accident. Programs like the National Basic Research Program (known as the 973 Program) specifically targeted remote sensing for investment. Multiple government agencies coordinated their funding to build research capacity systematically.

The research team found a strong statistical link: countries with more funding agencies consistently produce more research papers. The relationship is especially tight for China, where the correlation is nearly one-to-one.

Patent filings mirror the academic trends. During 2000-2011, China filed more than a quarter of all patents containing the term “remote sensing” despite filing less than 6% of all patents overall during those years. This targeted approach to intellectual property has only intensified. Among the top 19 patent filers in 2021-2023, Chinese entities filed 62% of all remote sensing patents.

Remote Sensing Merges With Artificial Intelligence

Analysis of paper titles over the past three decades shows shifting research priorities. Through 2010, satellite-related terms dominated. China’s space program received frequent credit for driving this focus.

Since 2015, paper titles lean heavily on machine learning terminology, reflecting a pivot toward AI integration. Remote sensing has effectively merged with AI capabilities, multiplying its applications and strategic value.

This convergence matters because remote sensing data trains the algorithms powering autonomous navigation systems, augmented reality applications, and predictive climate models. Controlling the research means shaping how these technologies develop and who holds the patents governing their commercial deployment.

Papers mentioning machine learning or deep learning techniques increased dramatically after 2015, with more than 80,000 publications including these terms by 2023. Annual remote sensing publications have grown from roughly 15 papers per year in the 1960s to more than 13,000 per year in 2021-2023.

The surge stems from cheaper sensors and drone technology, online publishing without page limits, national scanning programs providing new data, and machine learning methods that let teams reuse existing datasets rather than collecting expensive new field data.

Publication counts alone don’t measure research quality or innovation. A single breakthrough paper can matter more than a hundred incremental studies. American researchers and institutions still produce influential work in remote sensing.

However, volume combined with funding and patents tells a more complete story. When one country produces nearly half of all research papers in a three-year window, appears as the acknowledged funder in the majority of publications, and files the dominant share of patents, that country is positioning itself for long-term commercial and strategic advantage.

For three decades, the U.S. maintained overwhelming dominance in remote sensing research, controlled funding, and shaped the field’s direction. That era has definitively ended. Whether the shift matters for American technological competitiveness depends largely on how remote sensing capabilities integrate with the next generation of AI-powered systems and who owns the intellectual property when they do.

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Paper Summary

Methodology

Researchers sourced data from Engineering Village, an online platform hosting two major databases: Compendex and Inspec. They queried for peer-reviewed journal articles containing the controlled vocabulary terms “remote sensing” or “photogrammetry” published between 1961 and 2023. The team identified 72 journals whose primary focus was remote sensing or photogrammetry based on stated aims and scope. Queries were performed by journal title for each year, then manually inspected to remove duplicates and include complete metadata. The original query returned 247,145 records, which after removing duplicates yielded 126,479 unique records for analysis. Attributes examined included publication year, author affiliations by country, and acknowledged funding organizations. Patent data was gathered from Google Patents using the search term “remote sensing” for comparison.

Results

China produced 47% of all remote sensing papers globally in 2021-2023, compared to 9% for the United States. This represents a complete reversal from 1961-1970 when the US produced 88% of papers. Chinese funding agencies were acknowledged in 54% of publications during 2021-2023 compared to 5% for US funders. The National Natural Science Foundation of China surpassed NASA as the largest acknowledged research funder in 2011-2020. Annual publication rates increased exponentially from approximately 15 papers per year in 1961-1970 to more than 13,000 per year in 2021-2023. The average number of authors per paper rose from three in 2000 to five by 2023. Nearly all countries worldwide (191 nations) now contribute to remote sensing scholarship. Patent filings mirror publication trends, with Chinese entities filing 62% of patents from the top 19 patent holders during 2021-2023. Analysis of paper titles showed a shift from satellite-focused research before 2010 to AI-technique-dominated research afterward, with terms like “deep learning” and “neural network” becoming prominent.

Limitations

The study relied on publications indexed in Engineering Village databases, which may not capture all remote sensing research published in non-indexed journals or other languages. Publication counts alone do not measure research quality, innovation, or real-world impact of individual studies. The analysis focused on journal articles and excluded conference proceedings, which may underrepresent certain research communities or geographic regions where conference publication is more common. Funding acknowledgments in papers may be incomplete or inconsistent across different countries and time periods. The relationship between publication volume and commercial dominance, while historically documented, may not hold perfectly for future technological developments. Patent filing numbers do not indicate patent quality, commercial viability, or actual technological breakthroughs.

Funding and Disclosures

The research received no external funding. The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Debra Laefer is affiliated with the Center for Urban Science + Progress and the Department of Civil and Urban Engineering at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering. Jingru Hua is affiliated with the Center for Data Science at New York University.

Publication Details

Laefer, D., & Hua, J. (2025). “Remote Sensing Publications 1961–2023—Analysis of National and Global Trends,” was published September 12, 2025 in Geomatics, 5(3), 47. DOI:10.3390/geomatics5030047

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