Beijing and Brussels approved last week a MOU (memorandum of understanding) for joint collaboration on satellite technology that could place both nations “at the forefront” to deliver vital information worldwide, as revealed by Belgian State Secretary of Science Policy Elke Sleurs. The document was signed by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and CNSA to support space sciences, technologies and applications.
The key project would be the Earth Observation program, a satellite mission. Space agencies from both nations plan to design and build a satellite with the full capacity to deliver exclusive agriculture and environmental information to the rest of the world.
“We have been building on the scientific cooperation between Belgium and Chinese scientists over the past few years, especially in the fields of the application of Earth observation data for environmental monitoring,” Sleurs told Xinhua news agency. “The idea grew to also involve technological and industrial partners in the cooperation.”
