By: Shen-En Qian

Dr. Shen-En Qian is a senior engineer of spacecraft optical payload at the Canadian Space Agency, where he started as a NSERC post-doctorial visiting fellow in 1994. He received his PhD in 1990 and continued his study in France as a post-doctoral fellow before moving to Canada. Dr. Qian is a Canadian authority and a world lead in optical payloads and space missions. He invented nine breakthrough space technologies in Canadian government laboratories and holds 35 patents worldwide. These technological solutions have helped overcome the challenges encountered in developing Canadian space missions and lower their costs. His inventions have been transferred to industry and built into commercial products. As a technical authority of Government R&D contracts, he provides leadership to Canadian industry in the development of innovative space technology and helps them enhance their competitiveness and open up new markets in the world. He promotes collaborative research with academia and assists universities to train the next generation of engineers. He is an internationally renowned scholar in space science. As a sole author, he published three books on optical satellites and their applications. These books are the first in the fields and have lasting impact on the engineering and scientific communities. He co-authored five other books and published over 130 scientific papers. He demonstrated leadership as a Canadian engineer by leading around 200 space experts in the world in editing a must-have handbook titled Optical Payloads for Space Missions. The Governor General of Canada presented him with the Public Service Award of Excellence in the category Scientific Contribution for his exceptional contributions in advancing the Canadian space programs in 2016. He received the Canadian Government Invention award and the European Union’s Marie Curie Award. He is a fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

By: Shen-En Qian

In recognition to Dr. Shen-En Qian who is continuously showcasing CSA and Canadian space expertise abroad, either by editing or writing books on optical space technology. On the top of a few titles published in the past, his latest book “Hyperspectral Satellites and System Design” was released in April this year. Derived from his 25-year firsthand experience as a technical expert of space missions at CSA, the book offers engineers, scientists, and decision-makers detailed knowledge and guidelines on hyperspectral satellite system design, trade-offs, performance modeling and simulation, optimization from component to system level, subsystem design, and implementation strategies. This book is recognized by peers as a must-have reference for professionals in developing hyperspectral satellites and data applications and is going to be an exceptional source of knowledge for current and future generations of engineers and scientists learning and working in the space optics domain.

Thank you Shen-En for making us shine abroad! The Director Award goes to

Shen-En Qian

Presented by Steeve Montminy, Acting Director, Engineering and Capacity Development, Canadian Space Agency

December 17, 2020

By: Shen-En Qian

Dr. Shen-En Qian Elected SPIE Fellow

BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA – March 21, 2012 – Each year, SPIE promotes members as new Fellows of the Society. SPIE will honor 75 new Fellows of the Society this year. Fellows are members of distinction who have made significant scientific and technical contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics, and imaging. They are honored for their technical achievement, for their service to the general optics community, and to SPIE in particular. More than 900 SPIE members have become Fellows since the Society’s inception in 1955.

"The annual recognition of Fellows provides an opportunity for us to acknowledge Members for their outstanding technical contributions and service to SPIE," says Eustace L. Dereniak, SPIE President.

Dr. Shen-En Qian, Canadian Space Agency, Canada, for achievements in on-board satellite near-lossless data compression, optical remote sensing, and optical spacecraft payloads for satellite missions and space exploration.

Dr. Qian has made significant contributions to numerous areas of optical remote sensing; spacecraft optical payloads and space technologies; onboard satellite data compression, handling, and processing; space data and information systems standards; and satellite sensor data/image processing and analysis. He has led more than 40 wide-ranging programs at the Canadian Space Agency including an advanced miniaturized Dyson hyperspectral imager on Mars rover and small aircrafts, spectrometers to monitor weather and air quality in space, a rover-based Raman sensor for astrobiological research on Mars, and components of a lunar lander that are designed to conduct surface and sub-surface spectroscopic investigations and imaging as a potential payload.

Two out of eight of Dr. Qian’s inventions stand out in particular in the field of near-lossless on-board data compression techniques for satellite hyperspectral imagery: "System and Method for Encoding/Decoding Multi-dimensional Data Using Successive Approximation Multi-Stage Vector Quantization" and "System and Method for Encoding Multi-dimensional Data Using Hierarchical Self-Organizing Cluster Vector Quantization", both of which have received U.S. patents. These techniques compress satellite data at a high compression ratio with excellent fidelity and can preserve signature information of the data for Earth observation applications.

Dr. Qian contributes to the greater optics community in many ways. He is a senior member of IEEE and a fellow of the Chinese Electric and Electronic Society, as well as the representative of the Canadian government in the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, which is an international organization that recommends and develops international standards for satellite data and information systems. Specifically, he contributed significantly to the Lossless Data Compression Standard and Image Data Compression Standard.

With SPIE, Dr. Qian has served as co-chair of the Satellite Data Compression, Communications, and Processing conference since its inception in 2005 as well as a two-time program committee member for the High-Performance Computing in Remote Sensing conference. Among many additional roles, he is a long-time reviewer for the SPIE journal Optical Engineering and has been a reviewer for the SPIE Journal of Applied Remote Sensing since its creation in 2007. He delivered many lectures at SPIE Student Chapters as a SPIE selected lecturer

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, was founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. Serving more than 180,000 constituents from 168 countries, the Society advances emerging technologies through interdisciplinary information exchange, continuing education, publications, patent precedent, and career and professional growth. SPIE annually organizes and sponsors approximately 25 major technical forums, exhibitions, and education programs in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific, and supports scholarships, grants, and other education programs around the world. See www.SPIE.org for information.

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Media Contact:

Stacey Crockett Media Relations Coordinator [email protected] Tel: +1 360 685 5458

By: Shen-En Qian

Shen-En Qian, Senior Engineer, Optical Payloads, Canadian Space Agency, was inducted as a fellow into the Canadian Academy of Engineering on June 26, 2014.

Dr. Qian is a top scientist at the Canadian Space Agency with 30 years’ experience. He has provided leadership to Canadian industry and academia in the development of space technologies for Earth observation, Lunar and Mars missions. He holds 16 patents developed in Canadian government laboratory. His inventions provided solutions that have overcome technical challenges to the Canadian optical space missions. He has solved the problem of transmitting huge satellite data to ground by using onboard data compression. He has enhanced satellite performance using signal processing approaches. He has developed three international standards for satellite data systems. He has authored five books and over 100 papers. He is an elected fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).

By: Shen-En Qian

The Public Service Award of Excellence 2016 Recipient

Category: Scientific Contribution

Shen-En Qian, Ph.D.
Canadian Space Agency

An eminent scientist in spacecraft optical payloads and satellite signal processing, Dr. Shen-En Qian has 9 inventions to his name, which have led to 26 patents worldwide. These technology solutions have helped overcome the challenges encountered in developing Canadian optical space missions and have contributed to lowering the cost of space missions. Dr. Qian has been widely published, and his more than 100 publications are internationally recognized. Together with NASA experts and the European space sector, he has developed 3 international standards for spacecraft data systems. These standards have benefited over 50 space missions to date.

By: Shen-En Qian

Shen-En Qian (SMIEEE) is a senior engineer of spacecraft optical payload at the Canadian Space Agency, where he started as a NSERC post-doctoral visiting fellow since 1994. He completed his Ph.D in 1990 and continued his study in France as a post-doctoral fellow before moving to Canada.

Dr. Qian is a Canadian foremost authority and a world lead in optical payloads and space missions. He invented breakthrough space technologies in Canadian government laboratories and holds 35 patents worldwide. These technological solutions have helped overcome the challenges encountered in developing Canadian space missions and lowered their costs. His inventions have been transferred to industry and built into commercial products. As a technical authority of government contracts, he provides leadership to Canadian industry in the development of innovative space technology and helps them enhance their competitiveness and open up new markets in the world. He promotes collaborative R&D with academia and assists universities to train next generation engineers. He is an internationally renowned scholar in space science. As a sole author, he published two books on optical satellites and their signal processing and applications. These books are the first in the fields and have lasting impact to engineers and scientific community. He co-authored four other books and published more than 120 scientific papers. He demonstrated the leadership of a Canadian engineer by leading around 200 space experts in the world in editing a must-have handbook Optical Payloads for Space Missions.

The Governor General of Canada presented him Public Service Award of Excellence, in the category Scientific Contribution, for his exceptional contributions in advancing Canadian space programs in 2016. He received Canadian government invention award and the European Union’s Marie Curie Award. He is a fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE).