Since the beginning of the twenty-first century,several countries have made great efforts to develop space remote sensing for building a high-resolution earth observation system.Under the great attention of the government and the guidance of the major scientific and techno-logical project of the high-resolution earth observation system,China has made continuous breakthroughs and progress in high-resolution remote sensing imaging technology.The development of domestic high-resolution remote sensing satellites shows a vigorous trend,and consequently,a relatively stable and perfect high-resolution earth observation system has been formed.The development of high-resolution remote sensing satellites has greatly pro-moted and enriched modern mapping technologies and methods.In this paper,the develop-ment status,along with mapping modes and applications of China's high-resolution remote sensing satellites are reviewed,and the development trend in high-resolution earth observa-tion system for global and ground control-free mapping is discussed,providing a reference for the subsequent development of high-resolution remote sensing satellites in China.