BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhuanet) -- China is planning to launch eight satellites by 2010 to establish a global network for natural disaster prediction and environmental monitoring, a senior Chinese official announced yesterday during a UN meeting in Shanghai.

    Once completed, the system, called Small Satellite Constellation, will become a massive space network for natural disaster reduction. It will have the capacity to report on environmental situations anywhere on the planet every 12 hours.

    "We expect the constellation to become a major platform of reducing natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region," Luan Enjie, administrator of the China National Space Administration, said at yesterday's ongoing 60th Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

    With the total cost of about 2 billion yuan (US$241 million), the project will be conducted in two stages.

    The first three satellites will be launched independently prior to 2007 - which will partially function as environmental monitoring devices. It has not yet been determined whether the remaining five satellites will be launched independently or with international cooperation.

    Depending on their advanced remote-sensing equipment, the constellation satellites, using a solar synchronization orbit, will be able to detect and monitor various types of natural disasters including floods, typhoons, landslides, fires, earthquakes, pests and dust storms.

    "So far, there is no such global satellite system for natural disaster reduction," said Luo Ge, head of the administration's foreign affairs department.

    "The United Nations has established a special task force to coordinate international efforts to reduce natural disasters through space technology."

    A team of Chinese experts will introduce the project in greater detail to the UN this June.

    He also expressed expectations to work with the United States in ferreting out more advanced remote-sensing technology that would predict earthquakes more precisely than existing technology.

    Several countries, including India, Malaysia and South Korea, have shown interests in the project and have already sought cooperation with China, the administration said.

    "Hopefully, we can participate in this useful project since Nepal has many natural disasters particularly landslides, frog infestations and earthquakes," said Yadav Khanal, a delegate representing Nepal at the UNESCAP meeting.

    China suffers from frequent natural disasters, including droughts, floods, landslides and typhoons.

    (Shanghai Daily news)