The China-Chile Joint Astronomical Data Center was inaugurated Tuesday at the Federico Santa Maria Technical University (UTFSM) here.

In ten years, Chile will have gathered close to 70 percent of the world's astronomical observation capacity, making it the uncontested global capital for this discipline, said UTFSM Rector Darcy Fuenzalida at the inauguration ceremony.

Already boasting a storage capacity of 2.5 petabytes, or 45 years of high-definition video footage, Fuenzalida said the data center would greatly contribute to Chile's scientific and technological development and global astronomy research.

The agreement to establish the data center was signed in May during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Chile, said Li Baorong, the Chinese ambassador to Chile.

He said it would be jointly developed by the UTFSM, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese telecommunications giant, Huawei.

Li expressed confidence that the center will boost astronomic studies both in China and Chile. Endi

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