Fifteen Asian-Pacific countries are gathering in Beijing to
establish a space cooperation organization in the region.?
They are expected to discuss forming an official group, known as
the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization and sign formal
proceedings.
The organization will help promote the development of space
technologies and their applications, said Luan Enjie, minister of
China National Space
Administration at the opening ceremony held yesterday.
Treating peaceful utilization of space as its purpose, China
will apply space technologies in the field of environmental
protection, remote sensing, meteorology, oceanography, and disaster
prevention and mitigation, the minister said.
At the preliminary meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand in August,
representatives agreed on organization rules and designated Beijing
as the group's headquarters.
The organization is to be officially established later next year
after the approval of the governments of participating countries,
according to Luo Ge, secretary general of Asia Pacific Multilateral
Cooperation in Space Technology and Application.
According to Luo, who also is the director and secretary general
of the Foreign Affairs Department of China National Space
Administration, the world's first constellation consisting of eight
satellites will be in place within the next eight years.
He said China, together with some other countries, will develop
and launch three or four satellites in two to three years and the
rest of the eight satellites in five to eight years for the
constellation.
Circling 700 kilometers above the earth, the satellites will
monitor the natural conditions of the planet and send back images
and data to be used first by Asian-Pacific countries.
Luo said other countries interested in the program would be
welcomed as partners.
(China Daily November 11, 2003)