(SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST) — China is considering massively increasing its network of surveillance and observation satellites so it can monitor the entire planet, scientists working on the project said.
The government is mulling building more than 50 orbiting probes, which Chinese researchers said would make the nation’s satellite surveillance network on par with, or even larger than, that of the United States.
Frustration with the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft over the past three weeks had led the project to win strong backing from decision makers in Beijing, the researchers said.
“If we had a global monitoring network today, we wouldn’t be searching in the dark. We would have a much greater chance to find the plane and trace it to its final position,” said Professor Chi Tianhe, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth.
