China’s major push into medium- and high-resolution satellite imagery has accomplished its first task in reducing to nearly zero the amount of Earth observation data China purchases from non-Chinese sources, the head of China’s center for Earth imagery applications said Sept. 12. In 2009, 80 percent of China’s Earth imagery data was foreign-sourced, with Chinese organizations paying 120 million Chinese yuan ($19.5 million) that year for the imagery. By 2013, Chinese satellite data accounted for 80 percent of total Chinese domestic use, a figure that is expected to rise to 90 percent or more this year. Read more via Space News
