Chinese president Xi Jinping and Italian president Sergio Mattarella have congratulated each other for the successful launch of the cooperative electromagnetic satellite, Zhang Heng. It's named after a Chinese scholar who pioneered earthquake studies nearly two thousand years ago.

President Xi said this will greatly enhance the two countries' ability to monitor the Earth's electromagnetic environment, and will play a key role in earthquake alert and disaster prevention. The satellite will help scientists monitor the electromagnetic field in the next 5 years, which is helpful in establishing an earthquake forecasting network. It will also record electromagnetic data associated with earthquakes above magnitude six in China and those above magnitude seven around the world.