[May 31, 1998] ChinaStar Marks 10th Consecutive
Successful Launch of Long March Yesterday's ChinaStar-1 launch was the 52nd
launch by Chinese Long March rocket and the fourth by a
Long March 3B, the country's most powerful launch
vehicle. Long March experienced 3 failures in 1995 and
1996. The successful launches in recent two years will
undoubtely strengthen Long March's position in the
competition of global launch market. The Long March 3B
placed the 2984 kg ChinaStar-1 into an orbit of
201x85732km with 24.5 degree inclination. The Lockheed
Martin built satellite has 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band
transponders. It will be finally placed into the
geostationary orbit at 87.5 degrees East longitude by
Lockheed Martin in next few days. Next in line will be
the Sinosat-1 built by the French group, Aerospatiale,
for an official Chinese client. That launch, also by a
Long March 3B, is expected in July.
[May 30, 1998] Long March 3B Successfully
Launched ChinaStar-1 Long March 3B successfully launched ChinaStar-1
today, CCTV, the Chinese official television station
announced today. This is the fourth launch and the third
successful launch of Long March 3B, the most powerful
rocket in China. Chinastar-1 was built by Lockheed Martin
and will be operated by China Oriental
Telecommunications.
[May 29, 1998] APT Satellite Holdings See Revenue
Growth Hong Kong Satellite operator APT Satellite
Holdings sees revenue growth this year despite a
reduction in the satellite transponder services in Asia
due to the economic slowdown. The current leasing rate
for the company's third satellite, Apstar-IIR, was now at
25 per cent. But it was expected to increase more than 50
per cent by the end of the year, APT chairman Xie Gao-Jue
said. The group planned to launch Apstar V or one big
satellite to replace Apstar I and Apstar IA, which run
out in 2004 and 2006 respectively. APT Satellite was also
negotiating with a mainland firm to develop a direct
broadcast satellite system, though no decision has been
reached. The group's current financial status was rated
"healthy" on a gearing ratio of 42 per cent.
Direct effects of the Asian currency crisis were said to
be minimal as the firm's revenue is in US dollars.
[May 24, 1998] AsiaSat 4 Launch Put on Hold Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings
(AsiaSat) yesterday said it was postponing the launch of
AsiaSat 4 due to a decrease in demand for
telecommunication services from satellite transponders.
"We will evaluate the project at the end of this
year and hoped it can be launched in the year 2000,''
chief executive officer Peter Jackson said. AsiaSat is
negotiating with a third party on a joint venture in the
satellite service, Mr Jackson added. He said the current
economic downturn in the region would hamper the
company's growth because of a slowdown in demand for
satellite transponder capacity for data communication.
[May 24, 1998] China Denys Obtaining Sensitive
Space Technology From US Liu Zhixiong, vice president of the China Great
Wall Industry Corp., told a late night news conference
that foreign scientists had merely reviewed results of a
Chinese investigation into a 1996 satellite launch
failure and did not pass on any technology. Liu said the
Chinese had worked out for themselves the cause of the
launch failure. No technology changed hands, he said.
"The foreign scientists had no obligation to give us
any technological advice and they did no such thing,''
Liu said."Neither was there any technological
exchanges,'' he said. China has also denied allegations
that Chinese Lt. Col. Liu Chaoying contributed a large
part of the nearly $100,000 that Taiwanese-American
fund-raiser Johnny Chung gave to the Democrats in 1996.
Liu said the allegations of missile technology transfer
were ridiculous.
[May 23, 1998] Clinton May Allow China to Access
ISS US President Bill Clinton will visit China and
sign a space cooperation agreement with China. It reports
that among the space technology exchanges and joint
projects being proposed by the White House is allowing
China to join the International Space Station project to
get China to join the Missile Technology Control Regime
(MTCR), a proliferation control protocol.. But the recent
development over political campaign contributions and the
restrictions on selling China any space technology,
passed by the House, seem to doom any renewed Clinton
effort to get China into the U.S. Space Program. China
was suggesting use of the Long March rockets for
logistics support of the station. (Spacer.com)
[May 21, 1998] US House Voted to Ban Satellite
Export to China The House of Representatives of US
voted Wednesday to ban exports of satellites and
missile technology to China amid allegations a US company
helped improve the reliability of Chinese missiles. The
House voted 412-6 against missile technology
exports and 364-54 against satellite exports. The votes
came following reports the administration of
President Bill Clinton overruled the US Defense and
State departments by easing satellite exports to China.
The decision allowed Loral Space and Communications to
export its satellites to China so that they could
be launched from Chinese missiles. Republicans are
investigating whether the change in policy occurred
in exchange for campaign contributions to the Democratic
Party and if Loral helped improve the reliability of
Chinese missiles. (AFP)
[May 19, 1998] Scientists Meet in Beijing to
Discuss Spacecraft Standards The Eighth Plenary Meeting of the ISO's Space
Technology and Application Standardization Subcommittee
opened on May 14 in Beijing. Topics for discussion at the
two-day session cover unmanned spacecraft operability,
flight-to-ground umbilicals and four other draft
proposals. These proposals are to make spacecraft and
launch vehicles to be manufactured and operated on
universally accepted standards in the future to meet the
challenges of increasingly harsh competition in the
sector. The newly appointed director of the China
National Space Administration, Luan Enjie was present at
the opening ceremony. (China Daily)
[May 19, 1998] China and Kazakhstan Sign Space
Cooperation Agreement Kazakh Prime Minister Nurlan Utebovich
Balgimbaev visited Beijing earlier this month and talked
with Chinese leaders. After the talks, the two
governments signed five documents, including an
inter-governmental agreement on the peaceful research and
utilization of outer space. China and Kazakhstan
established diplomatic ties six years ago. (China Daily)
[May 18, 1998] China to Build Earthquake Early
Warning Satellite System Chinese scientists are designing an earthquake
early warning satellite system, including a constellation
of 10 small satellites in low earth orbit. Three of ten
satellites will be equiped with microwave radiometers and
the rest with hot infrared scan radiometers. China has
made remarkable progress in earthquake prediction by
analyzing satellite infrared images and successfully
predicted 41 earthquakes (of all 80 predictions) in
recent years. The current difficulty in collecting
under-cloud data is expected to be solved by the new
satellite system. (Lianhe Zaobao) (see earthquake
prediction report on CAST site)
[May 16, 1998] Hong Kong Newspaer Comments on
Chinese Manned Program Hong Kong Standard said on May 13 that China
must make big breakthroughs in its aerospace technology
and industry in the coming months if it is to send its
first astronauts into space to mark 50 years of communist
rule next year. There are widespread media reports on the
mainland about an astronaut training-base in Beijing and
a research centre in Shanghai for the construction of
manned space craft. However to make this dream come
true the country's space industry needs to tackle certain
difficulties first -- like increasing the carrying
capacity of China-made rockets. The biggest challenge
remains how to guarantee first-time success. China's
record book has been blotted by several failures in
satellite launches rockets. Experts say that before
a real launch China will have to conduct a few test
launches with animals. Whether China will conduct such
testing launches before the 1 October anniversary will
provide strong hints about the feasibility of a manned
flight by next year.
[May 15, 1998] Sino-US Space Cooperation
Agreement China National Science and Technology Committee
and NASA will sign a space cooperation agreement when
President Clinton visit China next month. The agreement
includes cooperation on earth observation, weather
monitoring, environment protection and other fields. US
hopes the cooperation could end missile technology
transferring from China to Pakistan and Iran. (VOA)
[May 13, 1998] Rocsat-1 Status Updates Works on Rocsat-1, the first satellite built by
Taiwan, has entered final stage. The satellite will be
transported to United States in October for launch
onboard a Lockheed Martin Athena 1 launcher. The launch
is now set for the end of this year or first quarter of
next year. CTN, a Hong Kong based Chinese television news
network reported today.
[May 12, 1998] Hughes Will Build APMT Satellites Hughes Space and Communications and Asia Pacific
Mobile Telecommunications Satellite (APMT) have concluded
a contract for a satellite-based mobile phone system. The
turnkey system includes one satellite, one spare
satellite, five gateways, one network operations center,
one satellite operations center and an initial purchase
of 70,000 user terminals. Each satellite is a HS GEM that
is based on HS 601 and takes advantages from larger, more
powerful HS 702. APMT satellites will generate about 7
kilowatts of power. Using both L-band user links and
Ku-band gateway links, APMT is capable of supporting
16,000 voice circuits simultaneously. The L-band antenna
is 12.25 meters in diameter. The APMT satellite will be
launched onboard a Long March 3B rocket in 2000 and is
designed to provide 12 years of service life from its
orbital location between 95 degrees and 125 degrees East
longitude. (Launchspace)
[May 11, 1998] China Uses Space Technology to
Monitor Earthquakes China has established an earth shell movement
monitoring network using GPS technology. The network
includes more than 1000 monitoring stations and the data
processing system. Chinese scientists also use satellite
remote sensing technology to monitor the earth shell
stress fields. Space technology has found a new and a
very useful way in earthquake studies. China has
successfully predicted a series of earthquakes using the
satellite infrared earth images in recent years.
[May 7, 1998] Hearings of Satellite Technology
Export to China Planned US Congress plan a series of hearings to
investigate whether President Clinton's policy on the
export of commercial satellites to China has allowed the
Chinese to acquire technology to improve the accuracy of
their nuclear missiles. The hearings will focus on
Clinton's decisions to allow two U.S. aerospace
companies, Loral Space and Communications Ltd. and Hughes
Electronic Corp., to export satellites to be launched
atop Chinese rockets. The Justice Department has been
investigating a report that Loral improperly gave China
advice to upgrade the guidance systems on its rockets
after a failed launch in 1996 destroyed a Loral
satellite. But Loral has denied any wrongdoing in
connection with the case.
[May 6, 1998] Singapore Telecom Pull Out of APMT Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel)
announced Tuesday that it was pulling out of a proposed
640-million-US-dollar satellite project for mobile
services with local and Chinese partners. A company
statement said the Asia Pacific Mobile Telecommunications
(APMT) project no longer meets SingTel's business
requirements, given its already extensive investments in
both satellite and submarine cable networks.
[May 5, 1998] FY-2A Lost Earth Lock Since April
10 China's first GEO meteorological satellite FY-2A's
S-band antenna lost earth lock on April 8 then recovered
for about12 hours on April 10 before losing lock again.
Nothing has been received since. FY-2A was launched on
June 10, 1997 and put into service at the end of 1997.
[May 2, 1998] Two More Iridiums Launched
Successfully by Long March A Chinese Long March 2C/SD rocket launched a
pair of Iridium communications satellites into low-Earth
orbit today. The booster lifted off from the Taiyuan
Satellite Launch Center in China at 5:16 a.m. EDT (0916
GMT). Satellite separation occurred approximately 50
minutes after liftoff. The two satellites will be
maneuvered into their respective positions to become part
of the operational constellation.. The launch was delayed
for two days due to poor weather conditions.
[May 2, 1998] China Made Progress in Rocket
Engine Development China has made remarkable progress in research
and experiments on ground testing of carrier rockets,
according to the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle
Technology. The experiments inlcudes simulated ground and
high-altitude tests on rocket motors adoapting
conventional or low-temperature fuel, high-altitude
ignition of attitude control engines and orbit-shifting
engines, as well as integration tests with the rocket and
satellite. A series of advanced experimental equipment
and facilities to produce, store and transport
low-temperature rocket propellants has been installed at
the Beijing Research Institute of Experimental Technology
under the academy. (Xinhua)
