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Xu Wen , director of the China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application, said the high-resolution photos meant tracking stations would have to cope with a large amount of receiving data, according to an interview posted on the website of State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence on Monday.
Unlike that of the United States, which has built a large number of ground stations worldwide, the programme can only download data when the satellite passes over the country.
Gaofen 2 is also China's first "smart satellite", meaning it is able to stop shooting when flying above cloudy areas, thus collecting only the highest quality images, Xu said.
A satellite expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said the earth observation satellite programme had developed slowly, with lower resolutions than the best satellites overseas.
Gaofen 2's camera has a resolution of 80cm - meaning it can see objects that are just 80cm. By comparison, WorldView-3, a commercial satellite launched last month in the US, had a resolution of 31cm.
"The hi-tech embargo imposed by the US and other developed countries has forced Chinese researchers to develop much of this technology from scratch, and it's been a long and painful process," said the expert, declining to be named.
But Beijing places more stringent limits on the commercial use of satellite images than the US, due to national security concerns. While Google Maps can provide a 50cm resolution, Chinese digital map service providers such as Baidu and Sohu are restricted to 20 metres.
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