The telescope, which will orbit the earth for three years, will be used to study the solar magnetic field and the surface of the sun, Xinhua news agency reported.

It will have twice the optical resolution strength of the Solar-B, a telescope being built by Japan and the United States and originally planned for launch in 2005 but which has now been delayed, the report said.

The Chinese telescope will orbit about 735 kilometres (miles) from earth, the director of the National Astronomical Observatories Ai Guoxiang told Xinhua.

The cost of building the cutting-edge telescope is estimated to be about 80 million yuan (9.66 million US dollars) but the total cost of project is likely to be about one billion yuan (120 million US dollars).

Scientists hope the telescope will allow them to make gains in research into remote sensing, global positioning and satellite data processing in China, Xinhua added.

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