China's Remote-Sensing Satellite Ground Station, based in a Beijing suburb, will receive data sent by a French geo-resource observation satellite that willbe launched in April 2002.

　　The deal was finalized in Beijing Tuesday by the China Remote-Sensing Satellite Ground Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Spot Image Company of France.

　　Spot satellites are a geo-resource observation satellite seriesdeveloped by the State Aerospace Research Center of France. There are currently three such satellites orbiting the earth simultaneously.

　　Satellite Spot 5, set for launch next April, will be equipped with a three-dimensional imaging device and is able to obtain within 180 seconds stereo imaging data about measurable landscape in an area of 72,000 square kilometers.

　　China Remote-Sensing Satellite Ground Station will install a special set of reception terminals, with the technical help from the State Aerospace Research Center of France, designed and developed by China.