China, France plan to launch first joint oceanic satellite in 2018
By Xinhua
Xinhua
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) and French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian shaking hands. (Xinhua)


BEIJING, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The first satellite jointly developed by the Chinese and French space agencies will be launched from China in the second half of 2018.

The China-French Oceanic Satellite is being tested in a Beijing-based assembly testing center of the China National Space Administration, said the administration Friday.

The 700-kilogram satellite will be primarily used for waves forecast and monitoring, as well as research in floating ice, polar glacier and ocean dynamics.

The satellite will carry a wave-scatterometer spectrometer developed by the French space agency and a wind-measurement scatterometer by Chinese scientists. It will be sent into space by a Chinese Long March carrier rocket.