[July 26, 2000] China Could Help Fund Russian GPS Network Russia and China could be close to signing documents on cooperation in the use
and advancement of Russia's global navigational system Glonass by late October, early
November when Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov plans to visit Beijing. Glonass is a
similar system to the American GPS system. While China has showed interest in having
Glonass terminals installed at airports and on planes, Russia has invited China to
participate in financing a group of Glonass satellites. The entire system should
incorporate 24 satellites. However, there are currently just 14 satellites available, and
only nine are fully operating. The system requires 1.5 billion rubles a year to maintain.
However, equipment is aging due to lack of funding and satellites are starting to fail.
Thus, new satellites must be launched to restore the system. (SpaceDaily)
[July 26, 2000] FY-2B First Infrared and Water Vapour Images Half a month after Fengyun-2B (FY-2B) returned its first image in visible light,
China's newest meteorological satellite successfully transmitted the first infrared and
water vapour images on Thursday (July 20), Wenhui Daily reported. After receiving commands
from the National Satellite Meteorological Center (NSMC) at 10:04 a.m. Beijing Time on
Thursday (0204 UTC), FY-2B activated the infrared and water vapour sensing channels.
Twenty-five minutes later a ground station received the first full disk IR and WV images.
FY-2B will undergo further on-orbit checkout and trial operation until the end of this
year. The metsat is expected to go into full operation on January 1, 2001. (SpaceDaily)
[July 21, 2000] China, Brazil Signs to Assemble ZY-2 in Brazil China and Brazil signed an agreement on July 19 to jointly develop an earth
resources satellite, which is expected to be launched in 2001. The satellite will be
assembled in Brazil by scientists from the two nations, and launched at China's Taiyuan
Satellite Launch Center, according to the agreement. This will be the second earth
resources satellite to be developed by the two nations. The first one was launched by a
Chinese Long March rocket in October last year. The new satellite, which is expected to be
more reliable and advanced, will replace the first one, which has a life span of two
years. (Xinhua)
[July 15, 2000] Satellite Plan Reviewed China is to establish a disaster and environment monitoring system consisting of
8 small earth obersavation satellites in next few years. The plan was reviewed recently by
Chinese government commitees and the China Space Science and Technology Corporation. The
constellation includes four 400 kilogram optical satellites and four 700 kilogram SAR
radar satellites. All these satellites have 3 years of operation life. (SpaceChina)
[July 15, 2000] Tsinghua Develops Nano-Satellite After the successful Tsinghua-1 launch, Tsinghua University has started its next
satellite program that is to develop China's first nano-satellite. Tsinghua signed the
satellite contract with the government recently. The THNS-1 nano-satellite is an earth
observation satellite but weighs less than 10 kilograms. The satellite will be launched as
a piggyback payload by the end of next year. (Sina.com)
[July 10, 2000] Astronaut Visit Shanghai Though he never set foot in China until last Friday, Mike Mullane has seen more
of it than most people. Mullane is in China as the star guest at today's opening of the
Modern World Space Aviation Show, and gave a press conference Saturday to talk about his
experiences in space. Mullane is a NASA astronaut, and has three trips into space aboard
the space shuttles Discovery and Atlantis in 1984, 1988 and 1990. "I'm certain that
China will launch astronauts into space in the next couple of years," he said.
"Some day, there will be Chinese astronauts working aboard the International Space
Station." The Space Show openned today also displayed a mockup of Space Shuttle
Discovery and a Long March 4 rocket. (Shangai Daily)
[July 8, 2000] China to Put 10 Meteorological Satellites into Orbit in Decade China plans to develop and project ten advanced meteorological satellites into
orbit in the coming decade to improve the accuracy of its weather and natural disaster
forecasts, an official said in Beijig Thursday. Yan Hong, deputy director of the China
Meteorological Administration (CMA), told Xinhua the Chinese Government has approved a
plan by the administration to develop and launch the satellites at a cost of several
billion yuan (US$ 700 million). The satellites, together with the five meteorological
satellites still orbiting the earth, will help China form a complete meteorological
satellite system in the near future, the deputy director said. (Xinhua)
[July 6, 2000] FY-2B Sent Back the First Visible Image After successfully located at 105 degree East longitude at 1:30(UTC) July 3,
2000, the FY-2B satellite transmitted its first
visible image at 5:08(UTC) on July 6,2000. China's National
Satellite Meteorological Center (NSMC) released the image on its web site today. NSMC
will broadcast FY-2B real-time images on the web site. The FY-2B satellite will take about
6 months to conduct the in-orbit test and trial operations.
[July 4, 2000] Second Shenzhou Test Probably in October China is busy preparing the second flight of its manned space capsule, the Hong
Kong newspapers Wen Wei Po and Mingpao report. According to Wen Wei Po, the pro-Beijing
newspaper, unidentified sources in the space program revealed that the second manned
capsule would be lighter than the Shenzhou capsule, which was successfully tested in the
unmanned maiden flight last November.
Mingpao reports that the capsule, temporarily named Shenzhou 2, will be launched near the
time of National Day in October this year. Like the Shenzhou capsule, the second capsule
will have the capacity to accommodate three taikonauts. (SpaceDaily, Sina.com)
[July 4, 2000] China Puts New Meteorological Satellite in Position The Fengyun 2B meteorological satellite, launched June 25 by means of a Long
March 3 carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China 's
Sichuan Province, was successfully positioned in a geostationary orbit (105 E) at 21:28
(Beijing time) on Monday. The positioning was monitored and controlled by the Xi'an
Satellite Measuring and Monitoring Center in Xi'an, the provincial capital of northwestern
Shaanxi. The Fengyun 2B, the second of its kind launched by China, can provide
meteorological information and monitor X-rays from the Sun as well as the radiation of
space particles. The satellite, with a designed working life of three years, will be
transferred to the China Meteorological Administration after a period of in-orbit tests.
The satellite was jointly developed by the Shanghai Aerospace Technology Research
Institute under the China Aerospace Corporation, the Chinese Research Institute of Space
Technology and several other research institutes. (People's Daily)
[July 4, 2000] More Details about FY-2B FY-2B is the second Chinese spin-stabilized geo-synchronous orbit Earth
Observation satellite. FY-2B can obtain hourly full disc earth images of 3 channels:
visible (0.55-1.05mm), infrared (10.5-12.5mm) and water vapor (6.2-7.6mm). The geological
resolution at sub-point of the image is 1.25km for visible channel, and 5km for infrared
and water vapor channels. The satellite also broadcast low resolution WEFAX image and
collect data from automatic data collection platforms. When the satellite is positioned,
it takes about 6 months to conduct the in-orbit test and trial operations; then begins the
formal broadcast of S-VISSR data and WEFAX image. During the 6 months period, the S-VISSR
and WEFAX are transmitted irregularly. Free transmission of stretched VISSR data and WEFAX
image are open to all users within the FY-2B transmission coverage. (CMA)
[July 1, 2000] Hong Kong Issues License to AsiaSat 4 Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company (AsiaSat) has been awarded a license by
the Hong Kong government to launch and operate its fourth satellite. The launch of AsiaSat
4 is expected to take place 24 months after the license is issued. "The additional
capacities of AsiaSat 4 will bring about economic benefits to Hong Kong by creating
business and employment opportunities in both the broadcasting and telecommunications
sectors, as well as help to promote Hong Kong as a regional hub in broadcasting and
telecommunications," A spokesperson for the Information Technology and Broadcasting
Bureau said. (telecomasia)
[July 1, 2000] China Aiming Manned Space Launch in 2001 China is aiming for a possible first manned space launch by 2001, the U.S.
Department of defence says in a report to the Congress. The report says that exploitation
of space, to include manned space operations, remains a high priority for China.
"While one of the strongest motivatons for this programme appears to be political
prestige, China's manned space programme could contribute to improved military space
systems in the 2010-2020 time frame. In addition to scientific and technical experiments,
Chinese astronauts, for instance, could investigate the utility of manned reconaissance
from space," the report says. (The Times of India)
