Beijing, Apr 7 (IANS): The China Remote Sensing Satellite Ground Station has formally acquired the capability to receive, process and distribute the data transmitted from the Landsat-9 satellite, according to the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The station has also received data from Landsat-5 since 1986. It also provides Landsat-7 and Landsat-8 observation data for users.

There are five branch stations -- four in China and one in the Arctic. The stations in Beijing, Xinjiang and Hainan have completed the international ground station certification of the Landsat-9 satellite, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Landsat-9 satellite was launched last September and started operations in January this year.

The China Remote Sensing Satellite Ground Station will provide Landsat-9 standard data and value-added products to users across the country as soon as possible, to form a continuous update of Landsat satellite observation data and meet the requirements of scientific research and application.

The Ground Station, one of the largest receivers and processors of satellites in the world, is responsible for receiving data from all of the country's civil land observation satellites and space science satellites.