China and Brazil will launch a new satellite in December 2018, Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation announced this week. The CBERS-4A satellite would be the sixth to be developed under the China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite (CBERS) programme, after the fifth is launched in 2016.

The Ministry said in a statement that a team of technical experts from both countries had assessed prototype versions of a new satellite under the CBERS project and concluded it was now time to build operational versions.

The CBERS-4A satellite will carry three cameras: one developed by China and two developed by Brazil, the statement said.

Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research – under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation – has said CBERS-4A would allow the South American country to continue to provide satellite images to monitor issues including deforestation and natural disasters, as well as the expansion of agriculture and urban areas.

China and Brazil have jointly sent four CBERS satellites to orbit since 1999, following a co-operation agreement signed by the two nations in 1988, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua has reported.