[June 29, 1999] USA Today Reports Chinese Manned
Program China could launch its first manned spacecraft
as early as next spring, USA Today, the most popular
newspaper in America, reported on June 28. It does not
mention the source for the schedule. USA Today made a
detailed report on Chinese space program using three
articles. It is also the first time that the word
"taikonaut" was used by the mainstream media.
[June 28, 1999] CBERS-1 (ZY-1) will be Launched
in October The launch date of ZY-1 has been set for the
second half of October tentatively. The satellite will be
transported from CAST test facility to Taiyuan Launch
Center by the end of July. The piggyback payload,
Brazil's SACI-1 satellite will be placed in the special
container on July 1 to be transported to China. (INPE)
[June 28, 1999] Hainan Commercial Space Port
Proposed A Chinese company has proposed a commercial
project to build a space port in Hainan, China's second
largest island and the south most province in China. The
prososed 4 billion Yuan (US$500 million) project includes
a launch complex, a tourists center and a hi-tech
industrial park. However, there is no information whether
the project has been approved and when it will start.
Hainan is an ideal location for GTO satellite launch. It
has already a sounding rocket launch base.
[June
21, 1999] Space Solar Telescope Details Released Beijing Astronomical Observatory has released
some details of the SST, China's first space telescope.
The spacecraft will consist an optical diffracting
limited telescope with 1 m diameter, 2-D real time
polarizing spectrograph, and four small attached
telescopes of soft X-ray, H &alpha image (full disk)
and wide band spectrometer. The total weight is about 2.0
tons, effective power is about 1000 W. Sun synchronous
polar circular orbit will be adopted with an orbit
altitude of 800 km. Mission life is designed to be 3-5
years. The launch date will be in 2001-2002
approximately, which is just solar maximum period. SST
project was proposed by professor Ai Guoxiang, the
director of the observatory. (BAO)
[June 18, 1999] Manned flight: Different Messages
from Paris Airshow China Great Wall Industry Corporation denied any
awareness about Chinese manned space program in Paris
Airshow. A representative said they are only responsible
for the commercial versions of the Long March. On the
other side, Swedish
Space Corporation's website reported that China will
make the first unmanned test flight in 2000 and the first
manned flight in about 2003, which was confirmed by
officials at China Great Wall. (Jens Lerch, SSC)
[June 15, 1999] FY-1C Starts Infrared Image
Transmission On June 10, the control
station located in Changchun sent signals to the
FY-1C satellite and switched on its three infrared
channels. The first IR image was received 2 minutes
later. FY-1C has a 10-channel scan radiometer onboard, 7
of its channels (visible and near IR) were opened
soon after the launch. FY-1C satellite is now in very
good conditions, which is even better than expected.
China's National Satellite Meteorological Center (NSMC)
is conducting on-orbit testing and plans to put the
satellite into service by end of July. (CAST)
[June 12, 1999] Sixth Long March Iridium Mission
Successful A Chinese Long March 2C/SD rocket carried two
Iridium satellites into orbit successfully on Friday, the
Xinhua news agency reported. The rocket lifted off from
the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's
Shanxi Province at 1:15 a.m. Beijing Time Saturday
(Friday 17:15 GMT). This is the 57th satellite launching,
and the 15th consecutive successful launch since October
1996 for the Long March rocket series, the report said.
(Xinhua, Florida Today)
[June 10, 1999] Manned Launcher Photos Become Hot
Topic The CZ-2F photos become a hot topic in Chinese
Internet community. The credibility of the photos are
still not confirmed. No official conformation or denial.
But more and more people think they contain some kind of
"true information", at least (see my analysis
in article "True or False").
Mark Wade's ENCYCLOPEDIA
ASTRONAUTICA, Florida Today's Space Today
and The Orbital
Report also reported them today.
[June
9, 1999] Chinese Manned Launcher Photo? This photo was posted on the Internet by an
anonymous person. It is said the photo was taken in May,
1998 in Jiuquan by a contruction corporation who was
contracted for the launch facilities. But unfortunately
the photo's credibility could not be confirmed by other
sources. It is probably faked. However, all details shown
in the photo are consistent with previous reports.
[June 1, 1999] Chinese Space Delegation Visits
Brazil A Chinese delegation led by Li Zuhong,
vice-president of China Academy of Space Technology
(CAST) visited INPE, the National Institute of Space
Research of Brazil, in May. They attended the delivery
ceremony of the CBERS-2 flight model for test and
integration, and had meetings with Brazilian scientists
on CBERS program. CBERS-1 and SACI-1 will be launched no
later than October. INPE will send a team to China for
the final checkout of the satellite in early June.
Bresser Pereira, minister of Science and Technology will
also visit China in August during the launch preparation.
CBERS-2 launch is scheduled in 2001.