China's space scientists have urged the country to create a national emergency response system against natural disasters based on integrated use of space technology resources.
Space installations could play an important role in time of emergency, while ground facilities are vulnerable to damage in natural disasters, Ye Peijian, chief designer of China's first moon probe, said Tuesday.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on Tuesday.
The top political advisory body opened the session Tuesday afternoon.
Space installations can keep unaffected in natural disasters, but ground facilities-supported communication signals could be disturbed in case of mud-rock flow, earthquake or typhoons, the CPPCC National Committee member said.
The May 12 earthquake last year in southwest China has fully demonstrated the function of space technologies, said Ye, citing the use of communication, navigation and remote sensing satellites in quake relief efforts.
Qi Faren, former chief designer of China's Shenzhou spaceships, said the No. 1 Beidou Navigation Satellite terminal made it possible for rescue teams to enter the quake center after the quake cut off roads and communication.
Divided management of the satellites among different departments, however, may hamper the full play of such space resources in natural disasters prevention and relief, said Ye.
For example, weather satellites are managed by the China Meteorological Administration, and oceanic satellites by the State Oceanic Administration, according to Ye.
"Under such divided management, it's impossible to efficiently coordinate all the satellites in a short notice in case of natural disasters, and it would take a long time to collect necessary information from the satellites to do the analysis," he added.
Qi, also a member of the CPPCC National Committee, echoed Ye's view.
"China now has more than 30 satellites in space, and the country should speed up the integration of the resources to serve economic development and help improve people's life," Qi said.
Ye, Qi and some of their colleagues have jointly submitted a proposal to the session, urging the integration.
(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2009)