China and Europe will share the data collected by each other's
satellites in their space exploration programs, a Chinese space
expert Wednesday said of the Probe No. 1 satellite launched
successfully Tuesday.?
Liu Zhenxin, a leading Chinese expert in space physics who
initiated the country's "Geospace Double Star Exploration Program,"
said both sides agreed to share the data under an official
agreement signed in 2001.
Under the geospace exploration program, which will cost the
country US$48 million, China launched a satellite on Tuesday and is
scheduled to put another one in orbit in the middle of 2004 to form
an independent constellation-like system to monitor geospace
storms.
The two satellites will probe areas not covered by the four
satellites in orbit, which were put into space by European Space
Agency in 2001 as part of its Cluster II geospace exploration
program, said the expert.
The six satellites constitute the world's first three
dimensional geospace exploration system for coordinated
multi-satellite observation of solar activities.
The data would help improve the safety of space activities and
protect the near-earth space environment, and give more accurate
weather forecasts, said Liu, who is member of the Chinese
Academy of
Sciences.
The geospace cooperation between China and the European Union
represents the first geospace project using satellites, which is
important for the development of China's geospace physics
research.
(Xinhua News Agency January 1, 2004)