Status and prospects of China's space programme

This article presents the current status and characteristics of China's space programme before describing the country's future goals and the specific types of research and satellite production that will be undertaken to realize them. China's programme, although small, has achieved much in terms of economic and social benefits for its people (eg through land-surveying, communications, education, water conservation and earthquake prediction). This is a result of the emphasis place on applied-satellites, coordination of production, development and research and intensive ground testing. This emphasis will remain, along with the effort to ensure that new satellites are long-lived and stable in operation. However, a change from the previous policy of independence is signalled by a growing interest in international cooperation, including that with other developing countries like Brazil.