China has made enormous progress in space science and is likely to take a leading role in some areas of space research in the future, said a French scientist.

The Solar Polar Orbit Radio Telescope (SPORT) project is a good example of the changes in China's leadership in space science cooperation, Prof. Roger M. Bonnet, Executive Director of the Switzerland-based International Space Science Institute (ISSI), said in an interview with Xinhua.

The SPORT project was first proposed by Chinese scientists with the Center for Space Science and Applied Research (CSSAR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005.

Bonnet said scientists from the United States, Japan, Russia and Europe had participated in the preliminary research and discussion for the SPORT proposal.

According to Wu Ji, Chief Director of CSSAR, the SPORT project will launch a satellite loaded with remote-sensing equipment to observe solar winds from the polar orbit of the sun.

This could be the world's first exploration to observe solar winds from above, instead of the previous practices to observe amid the ecliptic plane where most of the erupted solar corona materials are distributed.

The remote-sensing equipment could collect information about not only the ecliptic plane, but also the images of and around the coronal mass ejections (CMEs), thus offering researchers a more comprehensive view on the distribution of solar winds, Wu said.

Moreover, the Chinese-designed remote-sensing equipment could offer images with better definitions.

"We are still doing preliminary research for the project, and we expect that the satellite could be launched before 2020," Wu said.

Bonnet said China's successfully holding the 36th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) of the International Council for Science in 2006 was another landmark of China's progress in space science.

Moreover, in 2010 Wu Ji, together with Robert Lin from the United States, were elected as the COSPAR vice-presidents.

Bonnet was recently in Beijing to receive the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award of the People's Republic of China, among this year's five winners of this award, which was presented by China's State Council Friday to foreign scientists for their undertakings in science and technology cooperation with China.

Bonnet was awarded for his outstanding contribution in pushing forward the cooperation in space science between Europe and China.

From the early 1990s, when he was the director of the scientific programme of the European Space Agency (ESA), he actively supported Chinese scientists in joining the ESA's Cluster Mission, which aimed to launch satellites to observe the magnetic fields of the Earth.

Bonnet said that at the very beginning, his European research fellows were quite suspicious about cooperation with China.

However, the two sides had won their mutual trust and respect along the way because Chinese scientists had convinced their European partners with their commitments and serious attitudes about their research, he said.

China's proposal concerned launching two satellites into space as its Double Star Mission, and share the data with the four Cluster satellites to form a six-point measurement of the Earth's magnetic fields.

The Double Star Mission is among the winners of this year's State First Grade Award of Scientific and Technological Progress, which was also presented Friday by the State Council.

"It is a happy thing that both Bonnet and our project won the state's awards, but it is not merely a coincidence," Wu said.

It indicates that the cooperative work of the Cluster and Double Star was proven successful and was recognized, Wu added.

"Now we can see the number of Chinese scientists involved in the international scientific field is continuously increasing. Their level of participation and their competence is improving. And China is becoming increasingly attractive for scientific research," Bonnet said.

"I think in the future, international cooperation in space science can only increase, and each time we need cooperation, China should be involved," he said.

Wu said the ISSI had also made remarkable efforts in supporting the SPORT project by inviting scientists from around the world to the discussion and covered all expenses during the two day's discussion.

Bonnet said he expects more cooperation between Europe and China regarding space economy, observations of Earth, and climate change research.

"Probably what is needed most for China to now develop its space science are more initiatives, just like the initiative in the SPORT project. It will dramatically increase the level and the quantity of our cooperation," Bonnet said.