Venezuela to build satellite 'Sucre' in 36 months with China's help

 The manufacturing and launching of Venezuela's third satellite will take some 36 months with the help of Chinese technology, said the country's head of planning and information on Monday.
The satellite, which was named after the independence hero Antonio Jose de Sucre, will have remote sensing capacities and support such strategic areas as health, energy, food security, border surveillance and agricultural planning, Ricardo Menendez told a press conference.
Minister of Science and Technology Manuel Fernandez also said the satellite is aimed at expanding the nation's capacity of planning and research.
"The Sucre satellite will have a camera with higher definition images which can be taken up to one meter from the surface. It will have greater transmission capacity, memory storage and new generation batteries that will give more power to the satellite," he said.
Menendez announced part of the satellite's production will be finished inside the country, which will set up a design center in the central region in January 2015.
According to Menendez, over 200 Venezuelan technicians have been trained in China and obtained qualifications in such fields as satellite operation.
In the presence of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday, Venezuela signed an agreement with China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) to manufacture the satellite.
Venezuela's first satellite, a telecom satellite named after independence leader Simon Bolivar, was launched from China in 2008.
Venezuela's second satellite, a remote sensing satellite named after independence hero Francisco de Miranda, was launched into space also from China in 2012.
The second satellite is mainly used for the country's land resource inspections, environmental protection, disaster detection and management, crop yield estimation and city planning.
China has aided Venezuela in building and launching all its satellites with its mature technology.