The sixth remote observation satellite developed in partnership between Brazil and China will be launched into space and put into orbit on 17 December, the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said in a statement issued in São José dos Campos.

The CBERS-4A satellite has been assembled in Brazil and since May has been tested at the Chinese Academy of Space Technology Laboratory and is expected to be launched into space by a Chinese rocket from Taiyuan Base, about 500 kilometres north of Beijing, according to INPE.

The China and Brazil Remote Observation Satellite Programme (CBERS or China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite) was started over two decades ago and allowed both countries to master remote observation technology with cameras and sensors for Earth observation.

To date, Brazil and China have successfully developed and launched four satellites (CBERS-1, CBERS-2, CBERS-2B and CBERS-4), to which they intended to add CBERS-3, whose launch ended with a crash and the destruction of the equipment.

The previous satellite launched by the two partner countries was CBERS-4, put into orbit in December 2014, which has become an important remote observation tool as it has four cameras to capture images from space. (Macauhub)