The launch of an 
earthquake-monitoring satellite is a key next step to help predict tremors using 
space technology, a senior space official said yesterday. 
"We expect to develop a satellite specially to monitor electromagnetic 
changes on the Earth's surface by the end of 2010 after technological 
breakthroughs were made regarding its payload," Luo Ge, deputy chief of the 
China National Space Administration (CNSA), told China Daily in Beijing. 
By closely monitoring electromagnetic disturbances in the ground and in the 
ionosphere the layer of the atmosphere at an altitude of more than 80 kilometres 
which many scientists believe may herald earthquakes, the experimental satellite 
is expected to detect precursor signals and make more reliable forecasts, Luo 
said. 
The official, however, stressed that the move represents only one effort to 
tap the potential to predict imminent earthquakes, adding other measures should 
be combined with the space technology. 
Earthquakes killed at least 1.5 million people over the past century, with 
one-third of the destructive temblors occurring in China, and claiming 55 per 
cent of the total deaths, according to an official release. 
Compared with ground monitoring facilities, satellite sensors cover far 
larger swathes, and could gather more data faster, Luo said. 
Speaking on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake 
in Hebei Province which killed at least 240,000 people, Luo said his agency had 
long been seeking to apply space technology to help mitigate losses caused by 
natural disasters. 
Qian Xuesen, a founding father of China's space industry, proposed developing 
satellites with magnetic and infrared sensors to help predict earthquakes 
immediately after the Tangshan catastrophe, according to Luo. 
"We never gave up the idea, and now, technically and economically, we are 
ready to start the project," Luo said. 
If launched as planned during the next Five-Year Plan period (2011-15), China 
will join a select club of nations which remotely monitor magnetic changes to 
warn of earthquakes.