China launched two satellitessintosorbit yesterday and said the country will join with Brazil to launch two more by 2010.

　　Sun Laiyan, deputy director of the China National Space Administration, said both countries will share the costs equally for developing and producing the satellites, citing an agreement the two countries signed late last year.

　　The official made the remarks after a Chinese rocket carried an earth resources satellite developed by the two countries and a Chinese-made small communications satellitesintosseparate orbits yesterday.

　　Sun said that a new type of satellite jointly developed by China and the European Space Agency is to be launched later this year.China was also developing a new generation of carrier rockets, which could send satellites of 20 tonssintoslow orbit, and satellites of 10 tonssintosgeosychronous orbit.

　　Sun said yesterday's launch of the two satellites "marks a milestone in China's exploration of outer space."

　　Space officials said the Earth resources satellite is more reliable than its predecessor, which was developed by the two countries and launched on October 14, 1999.

　　The first satellite has outlived its planned two-year service term and is still in operational orbit.

　　According to an agreement signed by the two countries, Brazil was respon-sible for the development of a CCD imaging system in the satellite, while China was responsible for the appli-cation platform and two other payloads.

　　The second Resources No 1 satellite was designed to monitor changes to the Earth's land, survey arable lands and grasslands, monitor natural and human disasters, offer information on aquatic farming and environmental pollution, and explore mineral resources.

　　The resources satellite, 1,550 kg in weight with a designed service life of two years, was developed by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology in cooperation with the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research.

　　China bore 70 percent of the costs of the resources satellites the two countries developed, while Brazil bore 30 percent, according to an agreement the two countries signed in 1986.The resources satellite launched yesterday was raised by a Long March IV B carrier rocket that blasted off at 11:16 am from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province.