[August 31, 1999] China and Russia Sign Space Co-operation
Agreement China and Russia signed a new agreement in
Beijing on the co-operation in the peaceful space
exploration as part of the Russia-China economical co-operation.
According to the agreement, the researches will be
conducted in the following fields: satellite
telecommunication systems, Earth surface monitoring,
satellite navigation, etc. Also, the agreement is
achieved on the scientific researches on the Mir space
station by Chinese orders. However, sending Chinese
researchers to Mir is not planned. China is also
interested in Russian assistance in building its own
spacecraft. On the other side, ITAR-TASS reported on
August 28 that Russia could be working with China on a
new space station. (InfoArt News Agency)
[August 27, 1999] ZY-1 in Fianl Launch
Preparation The final tests of ZY-1(CBERS-1) started in July
at Taiyuan Launch Center, which is expected to be
finished in September. The Brazilian mini-sat SACI-1 has
already completed all necessary tests. Both satellites
will be mounted on the CZ-4B rocket for the October
launch. Brazil has a 15-member team in Taiyuan and
another team in Xi'an Control Center. Ronaldo Sardenberg,
Brazilian minister of Science and Technology will visit
China between September 7 and 14. He will visit the
launch base and discuss further cooperation on the CBERS
program with Chinese space officials. (INPE)
[August 23, 1999] FY-1C Put Into Service China has for the first time obtained global
meteorological data directly from its Fengyun-1C(FY-1C)
sun-synchronous polar orbiting satellite, officials
announced. FY-1C was turned over to the China
Meteorological Administration (CMA) after on-orbit tests
between June 24 and July 13. "The results of the
tests indicate that the satellite has done what it was
designed to do without any breakdowns since it was
launched," said Li Huang, deputy director of CMA,
during a ceremony in Beijing. Senior experts engaged in
the satellite programme said the quality of the images
provided are as good as those provided by a US satellite
owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).
(China Daily)
[August 23, 1999] Should China be Involved in ISS? Should China be invited to partcipate the
International Space Station? This is the question on
Florida Today's Space Online website. The result of the
poll is: 40.9% of total 2418 votes are for yes, 57.4% for
no, and 1.7% have no opinion. It is very interesting that
near half people thought China should be invited, while
recent political developments between two countries make
this possibility near zero in next decade.
[August 19, 1999] ChinaSat-8 Launch Blocked by U.S. Loral Space & Communications Ltd., one of
the two top U.S. commercial satellite makers, has
received a State Department letter saying it's sticking
by its decision to bar the company from launching a new
communications satellite in China, a government and a
company official said. Loral stands to forfeit $124
million in advance payments from its Chinese customers
and may incur as much as $12 million in termination fees.
Loral also said it would cost another $38 million to
refurbish and retrofit the satellite so that it can be
sold to another customer, assuming one could be found.(Bloomberg)
[August 19, 1999] Loral Signs Long-Term Lease for
Apstar IIR Transponders Loral Space & Communications announced today
that it has leased the entire available transponder
payload of the Apstar IIR satellite from APT Satellite
Company Limited, Hong Kong. The satellite will provide
transponder capacity across the Asia/Pacific region.
"The addition of Apstar IIR capacity to the Loral
fleet proved to be the most expeditious means to
satisfying the gap that was left after the loss of Orion
3," said Terry Hart, president, Loral Skynet. Apstar
IIR, which was manufactured by Space Systems/Loral, Palo
Alto, Calif., and launched on October 17, 1997 (Business
Wire)
[August 17, 1999] Russian-Chinese Cooperation
Continues An anonymous source reported that at Star City,
in a large room on the second floor of the Hydrolab, 15-20
Chinese staff are working on the manned space program.
Their activities seemed to be associated with flying
experiments on the Russian Zero-G aircraft and not EVA
training. It is known that the experiments being flown
originate from the Oriental Scientific Instruments I&E
Group, Beijing.
[August 17, 1999] China-France Tracking Network
Used for SJ-5 Mission Recently completed SJ-5 mission created two
"First" in Chinese space tracking and control
history: first time to use S-band for space tracking and
control; first time to use the joint Chinese-French space
tracking network. The French tracking station in South
African provided real-time tracking data during SJ-5
launch and on-orbit testing. (CAST)
[August 17, 1999] Flood Hit Xichang Launch Center A spokesman of Xichang Launch Center confirmed
that flood had hit the center recently. He said all
launch facilities were not affected because they are far
from the flood area. Only one office building was damaged
and it will be repaired by mid of September. The center
now still opens to tourists. (sina.com.cn)
[August 17, 1999] China's Space Insurance on
Track With nearly 20 years of experiences and a team
of sophisticated professionals, China's space insurance
has come to the age of maturity and is now on the track
for a even brighter tomorrow. China Space Insurance Pool,
which was chaired by the People's Insurance Company of
China(PICC) and had eight other insurers as members, was
set up in August 1997, just after Intersat-708 Chinasat-7
launch failures. These failures caused difficulties for
Chinese insurers to arrange reinsurance in the
international market. According to the source, since 1990,
Chinese insurers have underwritten 27 commercial
satellites. So far the insurers have paid over 200
million U.S. dollars for liabilities occurred to five
satellites, thus greatly reducing losses caused to the
parties concerned. (Xinhua)
[August 15, 1999] China Upgrades Launch
Facilities There will be a vertical assembly facility in
the Jiuquan Launch Center, said Tang Xianming, director
of the Xichang Launch Center, which confirmed the alleged
VAB building in earlier released manned launch site
photos. Tang denied the rumor that China will abandon the
Xichang Launch Center. Instead, it will be upgraded with
latest equipment and will have more processing capability
to meet future requrements. He reveals that the control
room in Xichang is under upgrading and will be completed
by end of this year. (sina.com.cn)
[August 12, 1999] China Denies Launch Site
Accident Wang Liheng, general manager of China Space
Science and Technology Corporation said he was very
surprised for the reports about an explosion in China's
Jiuquan Launch Center in May. He is very sure that these
reports are not true. When asked about the manned program,
Wang said there are still some technical difficulties to
overcome and no immediate manned launches. (Takungpao)
[August 12, 1999] First Unmanned Test: 1999 or
2000? Prof. Wang Xinqing from China Academy of Launch
Vehicle Technology(CALT) met with Hong Kong reporters on
August 10. He revealed some new information about the
Chinese manned space program. But the reports appeared on
Hong Kong newspapers are inconsistent on the date for the
first unmanned launch: Takungpao said it's this year
while Mingpao said late 2000. Wang suggests that 2005 is
a likely date for the first manned flight
[August 11, 1999] Official: Unmanned Spacecraft
Launch Set for This Year China will launch an unmanned spacecraft this
year, Prof. Wang Xinqing from China Academy of Launch
Vehicle Technology(CALT) told Hong Kong reporters. But he
said the manned launch date is still not decided. He also
reveals that China is studying the shuttle system and a
new family of heavy launch vehicle - 20t class Long March
5. LM-5 program started in mid 80s but postponed due to
lack of applications. (Takungpao)
[August 11, 1999] China Pessimistic for
Commercial Launches China Great Wall Industry Corporation admitted
that the Cox Report and U.S. restrictions on satellite
export has seriously demaged its market share. China
launched two U.S. satellites in June and perhaps one more
later this year but there may be no any commercial launch
next year. China Great Wall has not signed any contract
since last year. However the company believe that the US
government will eventually relax those restrictions. (CNS)
[August 11, 1999] AsiaSat and Satelindo Sign
Mutual Backup Support Agreement Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company
Limited (AsiaSat) and PT. Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo)
reached agreement on providing mutual backup support for
satellite control operations during any emergency events.
Under the agreement, both parties agree to backup each
other’s tracking, monitoring and telemetry
facilities for AsiaSat 3S and Palapa-C2 in the event of
any unavailability, anomaly or failure in the operation
of their respective satellite control centres. (AsiaSat)
[August 11, 1999] AsiaSat-1 Moves to the New
Position Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company
Limited announced the approval from the Office of the
Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) of the Hong Kong SAR
on 4th August to relocate AsiaSat 1 to the orbital
location of 122 degrees East. Relocation has commenced
and is expected to be complete before 20th August.
AsiaSat 1 is AsiaSat’s first satellite, launched on
7th April, 1990 as Asia’s first privately owned
regional satellite. It has been providing broadcasting
and telecommunications services to both public and
private sectors in the region. It will continue to serve
Asia after reaching 122 degrees East. The satellite will
be operating in an inclined orbit until the launch of
AsiaSat 4 in 2001. (AsiaSat)
[August 10, 1999] SJ-5 Mission Accomplished China's "Shijian 5" satellite that was
sent into space from the Taiyuan launch site in Shanxi
Province on May 10 has completed all its scientific
experiments after three months, sources in Beijing said
yesterday. The satellite was produced by the China
Academy of Space Technology to study single particles in
space and to provide a base for other experiments. A
large amount of important data has been obtained and its
major tasks have been completed but it will remain in
orbit for other assignments. (Xinhua)
[August 10, 1999] China Selects Supplier For Its
First DBS Service DiviCom Inc., a C-Cube subsidiary and the world's
leading provider of open solutions for digital television,
announced that it has been selected to implement the
first direct broadcast satellite service in the People's
Republic of China. The China Broadcasting Film Television
Satellite Co. Ltd. (CBSat) system, which is a Beijing-based
subsidiary of China Central Television (CCTV), will offer
satellite service throughout China. DiviCom will provide
CBSat with the head-end technology and will manage the
complete system integration and implementation process.
When completed, the new system will enable CBSat to
broadcast more than 70 channels of digital television
programming to the world's largest consumer market. (Business
Wire)
[August 8, 1999] Manned Program Delayed Again? A rumor is spreading recent days on Japan,
Taiwan and Hong Kong's newspapers. It is said that there
was an accident in Jiuquan Launch Center late May. The
fuel deposit explosoin casued casualty and delayed the
first manned vehicle launch originally scheduled in
October. However there are no evidences show such an
accident really happened.
[August 8, 1999] SinoSat-1 Spent One Year in
Space SinoSat-1 was launched by a Long March 3B in
July 1998. The European built satelite and the Chinese
build ground station have worked for a full year without
any problems. SinoSat-1 provides services for many
important domestic users including Bank of China, Civil
Aviation Administration of China(CAAC), China Education
and Research Network, China Meteorological Administration(CMA),
Shanghai Satellite TV etc. SinoSat is now planning its
second satellite, which will reply on Chinese satellite
industry with international cooperations.
