Manufacturing

China launched Wednesday a remote-sensing satellite, "Yaogan VII," from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province.

The satellite was successfully launched into the space on a Long March 2D carrier rocket at 4:42 p.m., the center reported.

It will be mainly used for scientific experiment, land resources survey, crop yield estimates and disaster prevention and reduction, according to the center.

The satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. The rocket was designed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, also under the corporation.

The flight was the 120th of the Long March series of carrier rockets.

A Long March 2D rocket carrying the remote-sensing satellite "Yaogan VII" lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province, December 9, 2009.

Geely Holding Group Co, the Chinese carmaker in talks to buy Volvo Car Corp, said the Swedish company would retain ownership of technology following a sale by Ford Motor Co.

Geely, which is offering to buy 100 percent of Volvo, has financing in place for the deal, Yuan Xiaolin, a spokesman for the Chinese automaker, said on Friday in Beijing. Ford named Geely as preferred bidder for Volvo in October.

Intellectual-property protection remains a stumbling block in the takeover because Ford will continue supplying components following a sale. Similar patent concerns derailed Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co's bid to buy General Motors Co's Opel unit, the Chinese carmaker's chairman said in July.

With competitive prices and improved quality, China's steel giant Sinosteel Corporation is exploring the market potential in Turkey's steel industry as an equipment provider and contractor.

The Sinosteel Equipment and Engineering Co., Ltd. (Sinosteel MECC), a subsidiary of Sinosteel, had completed construction of 16 steel-producing or related projects in Turkey in the past decade, with a contracted value of 200 million U.S. dollars, Pan Xiaoyong, Sinosteel MECC representative in Turkey told Xinhua.

The company had another 11 projects under way, with a total investment of 300 million U.S. dollars, said Pan.

Sinosteel MECC provided Turkish steel mills with mining and steel-producing equipment at prices considerably lower than those offered by western companies, which helped the company to win market opportunities, said Pan.

China will launch its second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, in October 2010, a top Chinese space scientist told China Daily on Thursday.

The newspaper quoted Ye Peijian, chief designer of the nation's first moon probe, as saying that the second lunar orbiter will carry different payloads and orbit the moon in a different way.

"It will orbit 100 km closer to the moon and be equipped with better facilities. We expect to acquire more scientific data about the moon with increased accuracy," he was quoted as saying.