China, which put its first man in orbit last year, has built a national engineering and research center for small satellites, paving the way for large-scale production, state media said on Wednesday.
The center had a designed production capacity of six to eight small satellites a year, the People's Daily said.
"It is the largest small satellite development and experiment base in the world at present," Xinhua news agency quoted an official with the centre as saying.
Last month, state media said China planned to launch more than 100 satellites before 2020 to watch every corner of the country.
A "large surveying network" would be set up to monitor water reserves, forests, farmland, city construction and "various activities of society", it said.
The new complex, on the northwest outskirts of Beijing, consisted of a design base and an assembly, test and experiment center, Xinhua said.
"It will strengthen the cooperation with foreign and Chinese institutions, promoting the industrialisation of micro-satellites," the People's Daily said.
China regularly sends research satellites into orbit and in October last year became the third nation successfully to put a man in space.
China and the United States held their first space cooperation talks this month, planning a series of exchanges.
The meeting signalled an acknowledgement the United States cannot afford to ignore China's ambitious space plans, after initial reluctance to recognise its achievement in sending former fighter pilot Yang Liwei into space in October last year.
