China Plans to Have Over 100 Eyes in the Sky by 2020

[redsoulja]

China Plans to Have Over 100 Eyes in the Sky by 2020
Tue Nov 16, 2004 01:52 AM ET


BEIJING (Reuters) - China plans to launch more than 100 satellites before 2020 to watch every corner of the country, state-run China Central Television quoted a government official as saying Tuesday.

A "large surveying network" would be set up to monitor water reserves, forests, farmland, city construction and "various activities of society," a government official said without elaborating.

"The aim is that, at any time and any place, we can obtain necessary data on any event through watching the Earth from space," said Shao Liqin, an official with the Ministry of Science and Technology.

China regularly sends research satellites into orbit and in October last year became the third nation successfully to put a man in space when a single astronaut orbited Earth 14 times.

Last month, the retrievable chamber of China's 20th recoverable satellite returned to Earth with a bang, crashing through the roof of a house.

In August, China launched a satellite that carried out land and mapping surveys for several days before returning to Earth.

It was not clear from where the 100 satellites would be launched, but many of China's rockets blast off at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the western province of Gansu.

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

does anyone think china is capable of accomplishing this 'feat'?
i think they will eventually have a surveillance sytem but im not sure of adate

 

[srirangan]

Why have 100 satellites when 2-3 can serve you perfectly? You don't need 2 hammers to screw one nail.

 

[gf0012-aust]

Why have 100 satellites when 2-3 can serve you perfectly? You don't need 2 hammers to screw one nail.

You need a minimum of 27 to get full global coverage on a 24/7/365 basis.

That would seem to indicate that China is putting up 3-4 different satellite systems for specific tasks.

 

[redsoulja]

but didnt the gov official say that the sats were for coverage of their territory/region????
that would mean only about 10-15 are needed at most

 

[srirangan]

You need a minimum of 27 to get full global coverage on a 24/7/365 basis.

Yes, but the article said China plans to have 100 satellites "to watch every corner of the country".

 

[dabrownguy]

Big red China is watching?

 

[gf0012-aust]

You need a minimum of 27 to get full global coverage on a 24/7/365 basis.

Yes, but the article said China plans to have 100 satellites "to watch every corner of the country".

Think about it, if you need 27 satellites to get Gallileo up and with 12% redundancy - and that covers the earth completely - then 100 satellites is up there to do what?

It's not as if there is a bandwidth problem.

 

[redsoulja]

gayr are you saying that china will not use the 100 satellites for merely close surveillance of their country but others, so that they wan to maek their own sat constellation system???

 

[gf0012-aust]

gayr are you saying that china will not use the 100 satellites for merely close surveillance of their country but others, so that they wan to maek their own sat constellation system???

yes, got it in one. 100 satellites just for Chinese surveiilance or comms infrastructure is somewhat excessive, especially when you understand what the normal imaging footprint is of a LEO satellite.