The decision to build a new joint ocean research satellite project called the China-French Oceanic Satellite (CFOSat) has been agreed by the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) and the French Space Agency CNES. The spacecraft, which will carry scientific instruments from both nations will be launched in 2018. A formal signing between the agencies was made on 27 March 2014. China is supplying the bus/platform of the 700kg spacecraft and the launch itself using a version of its Long March rocket series – probably a Long March 2C. France is providing the telemetry equipment as well as the Surface Waves Investigation and Monitoring (SWIM) instrument and a wave-scatterometer spectrometer. A scatterometer designed to measure wind speeds called SCAT is being built by China.
