A team of Chinese experts from The Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI) and The International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) in china visited Arthur C Clarke to set up a Virtual Ground Station (VGS) facility. With the help of RADI engineers, the system has been installed in the Space Applications division of the institute.

RADI under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) initiated and developed the Virtual Ground Station (SatSee System) which provides users near real-time, full resolution quicklook images of remote sensing satellite data received by RADI in china via high speed internet connection. The SatSee system combines the advantages that RADI has in the field of satellite remote sensing, including the abundant satellites RADI receives, wide coverage area from its ground station network namely Miyun, Kashi, Sanya and Kunming Station, high-speed fiber link between station and processing center, and high computing capacities.

Currently, the data accessible to the SatSee are Chinese HJ-1A, HJ-1B and Landsat-8. With more data available and quicker, easier access, this service mode is expected to contribute to emergency monitoring such as flood, fire, and oil spill disaster, and the ecosystem monitoring.