China: With the latest mystery surrounding the Malaysian Airline MH370’s disappearance, news reports now claim that China is considering massively increasing its network of surveillance and observation satellites so it can monitor the entire planet. According to reports, the government is now considering to build more than 50 orbiting probes, which Chinese researchers said would make the nation's satellite surveillance network on par with, or even larger than, that of the United States.
“A satellite costs about 400 million yuan (HK$503 million) to build, according to estimates from experts in the mainland's space industry, meaning the total budget for the project would be at least 20 billion yuan,” the report claimed.
Source: South China Morning Post
