In the past 10 years, the basic research field of remote sensing science in China has been continuously expanding. A number of research achievements have been made, and many excellent talents have been cultivated. The steady improvement of the basic research level of remote sensing science has not only greatly promoted the comprehensive development of geographical science but has also played a significant role in serving the main battlefield and major strategies of the national economy. This study analyzes the application and funding of NSFC projects in remote sensing science from 2013 to 2022, summarizes research hotspots and major achievements, and discusses the development challenges of basic research in remote sensing science in China. The results show that in the past decade, the application codes of fund projects related to remote sensing have been continuously optimized and have gone through four versions. These versions have been updated rapidly and have played an obvious role in driving and promoting the development of the discipline. Moreover, they have better adapted to the development law of remote sensing science in China. During this period, the number of applications for fund projects in the field of remote sensing science continued to increase, the quality of applications increased tremendously, and the number of grants received also increased slightly. The research hotspots of the funded projects mainly focus on four frontier fields: hyperspectral remote sensing, multispectral remote sensing, thermal infrared remote sensing, and visible near-infrared remote sensing. With the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), fruitful research achievements have been made in the field of remote sensing science. The rise and rapid development of remote sensing technology have become the most important source of big data in the current geographical science research. Cross integration with artificial intelligence has led to changes in the research paradigm of geographical science. It has created a data-driven automatic extraction of geographical knowledge and laws in the field of geographical science, promoted the interpretable causal analysis of geographical events and phenomena, and improved the human understanding and prediction ability of geographical problems. It supports the construction of the scientific paradigm and technical system for spatio-temporal big data analysis. In the follow-up research of remote sensing science, the basic research of remote sensing mechanism must be strengthened. Moreover, the ability of sensor research and development must be improved, and national major needs must be supported. In addition, research on domestic high-resolution remote sensing satellites must be improved to promote the healthy and sustainable development of remote sensing science. In this field, comprehensive, exploratory, and forward-looking project applications are encouraged. Cutting-edge cross research is encouraged around national major needs, such as “ecological civilization construction,” “the Belt and Road,” “rural revitalization,” and “land and space planning.” Proceeding from the urgent and long-term needs of the country, NSFC will continue to strengthen the basic research of remote sensing science and promote the development of remote sensing science in China during the “Fourteenth Five Year Plan” period and in the long term.

National Natural Science Foundation of China;remote sensing science;funding situation;research findings;development challenges