China preps satellite to help detect quakes

Spacecraft, set for 2016 launch, will find data on electromagnetic signals

China's first test satellite for detecting electromagnetic anomalies from space will launch in 2016 in a move that is aimed at improving the country's earthquake monitoring network and moving its seismological science forward.

Yuan Shigeng, project manager for the satellite, said the polar-orbiting device will carry eight payloads, including a search-oil magnetometer, electric field detector, energetic particle sensors designed by China and Italy, and a Langmiur probe and plasma analyzer.