How
profitable is a Transponder? [6/1/98]
vc : CCTV said the average comm satellite can cover
its cost in just two years. Is that true?
Brand
names [6/1/98]
vc : What are the American, Russian and Japanese
counterparts to LM2,3 and 4? (LEO, GTO and SSO rockets)
esp. the Americans, who have so many brand names. Is
Ariane 4 a GTO rocket only? If so, why ESA does not have
other rockets?
AR 4 can theorically launch LEO payload but is optimized
for GTO. ESA has AR 5 now. It can launch satellites into
many orbits.
[6/2/98] vc : Thank you Mr. Chen, you are so knowledgeable
Is
"Yi Jian San Xing" (Multi-sat launch) =>
MIRV? [6/1/98]
vc : Is it so like those US Congressmen claimed? What
are the differences?
[6/2/98] Chen Lan : It is similar in releasing multiple satellites
or warheads from the rocket. So does the orbit maneuver.
But I think it's different after the warhead enter the
atomsphere, which must consider aerodynamic effects and
need more precise maneuver to hit the target.
LM-3E? [6/1/98]
Foxtrot : In the recent edition of Aviation Weekly, there
was a picture of a so called Long March 3E lifting off
from Xichang. Can someone tell me about this LM-3E
launcher? Is it the same as the LM-3C or what?
[6/1/98] Chen Lan : There are no 3E indeed! I think it must be 2E
and misprinted as 3E. The rocket in the photo looks like
2E. As I know, all 3Bs were launched at night expect for
this one.
[6/2/98] vc : The latest LM3B launch is in daylight. CCTV
showed the launch.
Zenit
and Globalstar [6/2/98]
Sage : Globalstar claimed it has chosen the most
reliable rocket to launch its LEO satellites. But Zenit
is not reliable at all. It has failed three times
contineously. I feel Globastar made a silly mistake. They
should choose China's LM instead which had already proven
to be very reliable to launch Iridium.
[6/2/98] Chen Lan : Their original choice is just Long March.
Several Long March 2Es was to launch 12 satellites once,
just like Zenit now. Unfortunately they ended the
contract and switch to Zenit after 1996 Long March 3B
failure. Fairly to say, Zenit is a good and advanced
launch vehicle. Failures are unavoidable in the early
stage of a launcher. Like Long March, Zenit has only few
launches since mid 1980s. Zenit's future depends on
whether Sea Launch will make success. Long March will
meet more competitors in future. It's a challenger.
[6/3/98] Sage : Actually I still feel most U.S companys have
some sort of bias against China's rockets. As you said
the failure is almost unavoidable for a new type of
rocket, Ariane 5 failed twice and Zenit failed three
times. But I didn't here any U.S company has canceled its
contracts with those two launches. Only Loral had
confidence on China's LM rockets and stuck to LM for
better or worse. And they made the right choice since LM
later on did put Loral's satellite into orbit and it's
much cheaper than other launching service. By contrast,
Lockheed Martin canceled its two contracts after LM
failure. The result was they paid 100 million dollars
more for those two launches on Ariane and Delta, plus it
was delayed for half year. What a silly mistake.
20t
rocket for China?? [6/2/98]
vc : I heard (just vaguely) China would like to
develop bigger rockets which can handle 20t+ loads. What
new technologies must China have to do this? I think such
a big rocket will have no loads except space stations or
lunar missions. Is China planning on those?
[6/2/98] Sage : First, I believe that China should use solid
rocket boosters like Ariane 5. Secondly, China should
either develop new engine or introduce from Russia. The
main engine of LM is not powerful and efficient for 20
tons payload. The Russia's R-180 is a good candidate. It
generates about 400ton of thrust using LO2/kerosene. It
is already selected by Lockheed Martin on its Titan
rocket.
[6/2/98] Chen Lan : 1. I believe Chinese 20t class launcher is
mainly for space station and lunar project. But it also
could be used for launching commercial satellites, like
Ariane 5.
2. China is developing LO2/kerosene engine with the help
from Russia and Ukriane (just a rumor).
3. China is developing large engine. There is a report
says China has a 59x41x22m large engine testbed. Not sure
whether it is LO2/kerosene fueled.
[6/3/98] Sage : I heard that President is prepared to offer
China's LM rocket as a supply tool to international space
station in exchange for China's signing on the missle
exports treaty. Then the 20t LM is an ideal vehicle. But
the House just passes the bill to put sanction on
exporting satellite to China and thus might jepodize that
proposal. Those congressmem just sucked. They knew
nothing about rockets except those distortion created by
some anti-Chinese Republican.
[6/3/98] Chen Lan : US Congressmen are short sight. Space activities
will bwcome more and more commercail. So does ISS. China
could play a role in it, which will also benefits
American.
Frequency
and capability [6/3/98]
vc : Well I believe prejudice does play a part, the
main reason why foreign companies balked at LM rockets is
China cannot achieve the same frequency and capability as
(say) Russia, Sea Launch, Aussie (soon launch a
recyclable rocket) etc. Comments?
[6/3/98] Chen Lan : Long March launched 6 times last year, and this
year, at least 7 times. Ariane is about 10 times a year.
I think Long March's low frequency is not due to the
capacity of Chinese space industry. Instead, It is
because there are few payloads. I believe it will reach
10 times per year in near future. The fact is, the more
the commercial launch contracts, the more the launches,
and the more the success, then the more the reliability,
and finally the more the contracts again. It's not a
technical issues. At least, there are nothing so far to
prove Long March is a poorly designed and manufactured
rocket.
[6/4/98] vc : Well actually I do not know the real capability
of LM, I just think Chinese space industry is not as big
as (say) ESA or Russia, let alone the US. For one thing,
I strayed into the Boeing homepage and they said they can
make 18 Delta-2 alone in a year.
[6/5/98] Chen Lan : I believe 12-14 Long Marches one year is no
problem. China has two factories, one in Beijing(CALT)
and one in Shanghai. Last year CALT built 6 Long Marches
and this year, at least the same.
SS-18's
engine [6/4/98]
vc : I saw a short article some time ago. It said
China tries to buy SS-18 (the king of ICBM) engines from
Ukraine or Russia. Just want to know the specs of this
engine and will it help?
Winning
more customers [6/4/98]
vc : Are there any plans to launch a few locally-made
comm satellites (DFH) or other science sats.? It probably
can boost the reputation of LM rockets.
[6/5/98] Chen Lan : China has announced to make another 50 Long
March launches in 7-8 years. That means about 7 launches
per year. Domestic satellites will occupy half of this
figure, I estimated. I also believe there are will be
more DFH-3 launches in next 2-3 years before the new
DFH-4 put into service. Other satellite programs are
underway too. Please see my 'Q&A' section.
A
Shuttle which takes off from a runway [6/4/98]
vc : From another piece of article: China may like to
have a shuttle that takes off from the ground. (US
Shuttle launched from a pad) So I guess China is going to
do something different, but what are the difficulties and
the technologies required to do so? Say, why NASA is not
doing it?
[6/5/98] Chen Lan : There are two kind of such vehicles:
1. Use plane as the 1st stage and a rocket powered
shuttle on top of it. German Sanger proposal is an
example. British/Russian once considered an An-225/Hotal
design. China is also reportly studing on this design. It
needs less high tech and is with low risks. NASA's choice
is vertical take off but one stage to orbit
X-33/VentureStar that is really more advanced and cheaper
than the former. I believe they would adopt the 2 stage
desin only if X-33 fails.
2. One stage to orbit horizantal take off vehicle.
Use air-breathing engine. Cancelled X-30/NASP(Oriental
Express) is such a design. There are too many technical
dificulties. I don't believe it will come true within 10
years, although some breakthrough could be made. There
are some projects underway: NASA Hyper-X and similar
plans in Russia and Japan.
Good
job! but.. [6/4/98]
li xin : most people in china can NOT see your web site,
most of them don't use a proxy .while proxy make
inconvience to surfer.So,I hope you move you site to
www.nease.com or some other mainland chinese server. You
are sure to find a lot of audience there.
[6/5/98] Chen Lan : You mean mysite is accessible only via proxy?
It's hard to understand. My experience is some sites can
not be accessed via proxy if your ISP blocked them. If
so, it is also hard to understand why China bloks the
Geocities site. Anyway, your suggestion is good. Thanks a
lot. I'm considering build a Chinese version and host it
in a server in China. But it will take me more time to
maintain two versions at same time. So the final decision
has not been made yet.
Is
moon landing faked? [6/5/98]
Asker : I heard that Apollo moon landing is faked. Is it
true?
Which
launcher is this? [6/7/98]
Foxtrot : CZ-4A ? CZ-4B? (picture lost)
[6/7/98] Chen Lan : CZ-2C or CZ-2D is possible
China's
space programs [6/7/98]
anthony liew fui khong : I must congratulate you on a job well done. I
have never imagined that china has reach such
technological feat. It is my greatest aspiration to see
china attaining a leading nation in fields of science and
technology. Thank you.
p.s. you have a great looking site but try to brush up
your english a bit.
[6/9/98] Chen Lan : Thanks for your kind words. For English, it's
true. I will try my best to improve it.
CZ4B [6/7/98]
vc : So, what's special about CZ4B??
[6/9/98] Chen Lan : Wait its first launch patiently
Brian
Harvey's new book [6/9/98]
Mnine : For Chan Lan: Have you read Brian Harvey's new
book "The Chinese Space Program" Praxis pub? It
appears to be a comprehensive overview of the development
of the space program with some scant predictions for
future directions. Do you plan to review the book on your
page? Your assessment would be valued by the author as
well as your web viewers. Thanks.
[6/9/98] Chen Lan : Haven't read yet. Hard to find it in Singapore.
I'm trying obtain it and will comment after reading.
S-band
transponder question [6/10/98]
Foxtrot : Can someone tell me the difference between
S-band and C-band, and the difference between S-band and
Ku-band?? thanks
Suggestion
for website... [6/11/98]
Foxtrot : Maybe you can add a little section all about
satellites? Maybe have a few pics, and a little
description about it and some technical details about the
satellite? Just a thought...I can help if you want to do
it! contact me at [email protected]
This
site is in the news! [6/19/98]
Poplar : I didn't know this site before yesterday. Then
on New York Times web site, I read news that a U.S.
senator was using information he gathered from here to
demonstrate that china has benefitted from the alleged
technology transfer. He cited the launch log from your
page. After the 1996 failure, ten successful launches in
a row. Two thoughts:
1. Couldn't he get information from CIA or NASA? Or is
your information more accurate than theirs? if they have
any info at all. HA! HA! HA!
2. Is there a connection? i.e., ten consecutive success'
and the "transfer"? Was there a transfer? Maybe
that moron US senator should listen to your opinion on
this, too.
Keep up good work.
[6/20/98] Chen Lan : I'm happy that I can provide some useful
information to public. May you tell me on which day the
article is? And may you send me the whole article if
possible? I can not access NYT site from outside U.S.
Thanks!
About the technology transfer, I don't believe Long March
benefited from that. China has a long history of rocket
development and a good launch record in 70s and 80s. The
failures in mid 90s are quite normal for the new models
of Long March. It's only my personal point of view.
[6/??/98] ?? : The article was in June 18th's NY Times website.
I searched it today and it was no longer there. Since you
have to pay a fee to search the archives, I can't send
the whole article to you. But I printed the article, here
is the excerpt:
Chinese Suddenly Improved Rocket Launches, Expert
Says
by Eric Schmitt
Washington -- A simple, one-page chart presented
Wednesday captured the essence of Congress' inquiry into
whether sensitive U.S. space technology was illicitly
slipped to
Chinese rocket scientists.
............
At Wednesday's hearing, Sokolski, citing information on
Chinese rocket reliability obtained from a
Singapore-based web site, Dragon in
Space, that tracks Chinese commercial
satellite launches, said he had no doubt that U.S. space
technology that helped Beijing's military arsenal had
been transfered to China.
............
[6/24/98] vc : Guess how he get to this site? No, don't look at
me. Certainly I don't know this guy :)
Oh, so this site became famous. Actually the
tele-satellite site also has the launch log, so I do not
understand why the big fuss. He can of course ask NASA
too.
[6/24/98] Chen Lan : Thank you very much!!! I had not expected that
when I open this site. I will do my best to provide more
and accurate information about Chinese space program.
BTW, I have asked a friend to make a photocopy of the
newspaper for me.
Chinastar-1
(GB) [6/26/98]
vc : Found this on Military Forum. Enjoy
A Chinese article "The launch of
Chinasat-1"
Highlights:
- August 18, 1995: Contract signed
- January 6, 1998: Accident in the fuel factory near
Xi'an
- Febrary 6, 1998: Fuel production recovered
- March 9, 1998: The train carrying Long March 3B rocket
departs to Xichang
- March 27, 1998: The An-124 carring Chinasat-1 arrived
in Xichang
- May 15, 1998: The satellite installed on the rocket
- May 22, 1998: May 24 launch delayed bacause of
Echostar-4 malfunction.
- May 28, 1998: Another delay for problem on Long March
second stage.
- May 30, 1998: Successful launch
[6/27/98] Chen Lan : I've read it. There are some intereting points:
1. The accident in fuel factory near Xi'an. It seems
China has no backup fuel suppliers.
2. The satellite was carried by an An-124. I guess there
are no cheap U.S built carrier. It is the same reason why
the satellite was launched in China.
3. Lockheed Martin is the company who built the most
commercial satellites launched in China: 9 satelltes
(including 6 Iridiums) but is the only one not accused by
the Congress.
[6/28/98] vc : An-124: I've seen TV footage of FedEx A300's
carrying satellites. But this one may be larger. (Guess
Boeing is hopping mad they don't have a plane comparable
to An-124 ... they want MD-17 really bad)
Rocsat-1
is now Formosa-1 [6/29/98]
vc : I found another article on the Military Forum:
Messages
Removed [6/30/98]
Chen Lan : All messages posted in May were deleted to speed
up the downloading of the page. I will build an archive
page including these deleted messages.
