Chinese Space News (June 1999)

• [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.

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