Sino-Brazilian surveillance satellite launched in China

A new Sino-Brazilian surveillance satellite was launched on Friday into orbit from a centre in China, according to the countrys national space agency.

The 11.22 a.m. launch of the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite-4A (CBER-4A) at Taiyuan centre in Shanxi province is the sixth project between the two to orbit the earth and further cements the relationship with the Latin American and Asian giants, reports Efe news.

Brazil's National Institute for Space Research said in a statement that the project guaranteed the continuation of ties with China in terms of university, government and company research.

The CBER project is a joint endeavour the two countries began more than 20 years ago and has allowed Brazil and China to capitalize on the surveillance technology market to render satellite imagery of the earth.

The last one to be launched was the CBER-4, which entered orbit in 2014 and has since become an important surveillance tool for both countries.

The one that took to earth's orbit on Friday is equipped with three defence cameras, two Brazilian and one Chinese.

According to Brazil's research institute, the Chinese-Brazilian satellite technologies are similar to those of the most widely used remote surveillance programs in the world, such as Landsat (United States), Resourcesat (India) and Copernicus (European Union).

Brazil uses the images of its satellites for its programs to control deforestation in the Amazon and to detect forest fires, among others.

The CBER programme, which offers free satellite images to different countries in Latin America and Africa, is considered the largest space cooperation program among developing countries.