[September 30, 2000] China and Brazil to Develop CBERS 3 and 4 During the official visit, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and his
Brazilian counterpart Luiz Felipe Lampreia signed the agreement to develop two
second-generation China-Brazil Earth Remote Sensing satellites CBERS-3 and -4. The two
second-generation CBERS satellites will include a significant improvement in the imaging
resolution of the High Resolution CCD Camera. The next generation camera will have a
higher resolution of 5 meters than CBERS-1's 20 meters. The two countries will also
explore the feasibility of engaging in the joint development of a geostationary
meteorological satellite and a telecommunications satellite, both of which are based on
the CBERS model. CBERS-2 is under construction at the Brazilian National Institute for
Space Research (INPE), and to be launched in October 2001.(SpaceDaily)
[September 22, 2000] AsiaSat Selects Atlas Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) announced the signing
of a Launch Agreement with International Launch Services (ILS) to launch AsiaSat 4 aboard
an Atlas III rocket in the first half of 2002. AsiaSat 4, AsiaSat's fourth satellite, will
be positioned at the orbital slot of 122 degrees East. It is a Hughes HS601HP satellite,
carrying 28 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders with an operational life of 15 years.
(AsiaSat)
[September 21, 2000] ZY-2 Manoeuvres The ZY-2 remote sensing satellite has been slowly raising its orbit since it was
launched on September 1. The ZY 2 was launched to a 474-493 km orbit and around September
7th-8th it started to raise its orbit. The latest manoeuvre on September 10th has the
satellite in a 94.44 minutes, 484-499 km orbit. This orbit is very close to one which
gives ground track repetition after 61 circuits (period 94.37 minutes, circular altitude
488 km). (Phillip Clack)
[September 21, 2000] FY-1C Listed by WMO Chinese FY-1C polar weather satellite has been listed by the World Meteorological
Organization as an operational satellite. FY-1C is China's first operational polar
meteorological satellite and has been worked perfectly for more than one year. Its
designed life span is two years. (CNS)
[September 21, 2000] Taiwan Congressman Propose Space Cooperation with the
Mainland The Science, Technology and Information Committee under Taiwan's congress
recently proposed space cooperations with the Mainland. One of proposals is to use
Mainland's Long March launch vehicle to put Taiwan's satellites into space, which the
Mainland side has proposed before.
[September 21, 2000] China Reveals the Rocket Plan Chief Designer of Chinese rockets Long Lehao told Hong Kong media that China's
future space launcher development would be in three main areas: Modify existing launchers
to increase their reliability and payload capacity in two to three years; Develop
non-toxic, non-polluting launchers, and increase low-Earth-orbit launch capacity to over
20 tonnes and high-orbit capacity from the current 5.5 tonnes to about 14 tonnes. This is
achieveable within five years; Research and develop a RLV with lower launch costs.
(SpaceDaily)
[September 21, 2000] "2000 China Space Star" Program Update "2000 China Space Star" program is a shuttle student experiment planned
on STS-107, backed by Spacehab Inc. and NASA. Li Taotao, an 11-year-old girl wins the
competition with her "Silkworm Spins Cocoon in Space" proposal. The program has
entered Phase II that is to finalize the design and make ground testing. In early
September, two exports from Spacehab visited the Beijing Jingshan School to instruct
students to optimize the experientment design. The shuttle blast-off and, later, details
of the silk experiment will be broadcast and released on the www.kids-in-space.com.cn web
site. (CAST)
[September 13, 2000] China's RLV Concept China has been doing serious reusable launch vehicle studies since 90s. One of
the RLV proposals appeared on the Missiles and Space Vehicles, a Chinese journal
published by CALT. The
proposed RLV is a two-stage fully reusable launcher similar to Kistler's K-1. With
four 120-ton thrust kerosene/LOX engines, the 35.2m long, 5m diameter vehicle is capable
of sending a 2-ton payload into the 200km circular orbit. Its landing system uses
parachute and airbags. It is designed to fly 50 times while its engines are only to be
used for 10 flights. It is rumored on the Internet that China will select a final design
from six RLV proposals around end of this year. (Picture drawn by Chen Lan based on
M&SV article)
[September 13, 2000] Special Interest on Long March 4B Upper stage With the successful launch of ZY-2, the Long March 4B's third stage becomes a
concern by space specialists all over the world. It is left in space in an orbit only 5 km
lower than ZY-2. The upper stage of the previous Long March 4B launched in last October
exploded on March 11. The explosion is suspected to be caused by residual propellant. The
U.S. Space Command(USSC) detected the explosion immediately. Two weeks later, The
University of Chicago's space dust instrument, SPADUS, aboard the US Air Force
ARGOS(Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite), detected a cloud of tiny debris
particles produced by the explosion. In history, an upper stage of a Long March 4A
launched in 1990 also broke into 100 detectable fragments. USSC is monitoring the upper
stage to see whether it would happen again.
[September 13, 2000] China to Show Shenzhou Mockup in Beijing China plans to celebrate the first World Space Week with the first appearance of
Shenzhou spacecraft within China. The World Space Week, from Oct 4 to 10, is one of the
recommendations made at the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), held last July in Vienna. A space exhibition
will be held at the Military Museum of China, Beijing. The 3500 square meter exhibition
will display the Shenzhou replica and a series of satellites and space launchers. Chinese
media and web sites will have full coverage on the event starting from October 4.
(SpaceChina)
[September 13, 2000] Spacehab Wins Shanghai Science Museum Contract U.S. company Spacehab has signed a $6 million contract with the municipal
government of Shanghai, to build a major exhibit for a new science and technology museum
in Shanghai. The Earth Exploration exhibit that Spacehab is developing will feature static
and dynamic models and interactive multimedia displays. Shanghai officials are in
discussions with Spacehab regarding the possibility of obtaining television and Internet
downlinks from Spacehab's Enterprise(TM) space station habitat. Planned for launch in
early 2003, Enterprise will be the world's first commercial real estate in space.
(SpaceDaily)
[September 9, 2000] AsiaSat 4 Construction Formally Commences Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited announced that the construction
of AsiaSat 4 has formally commenced following the conclusion of a satellite procurement
contract with Hughes Space and Communications International, Inc. AsiaSat 4 is the
Company's fourth satellite, scheduled for launch in the first half of 2002. This new
satellite will be positioned at the orbital slot of 122 degrees East. AsiaSat 4, a Hughes
HS601HP satellite, will carry 28 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders and has an operational
life of 15 years. (AsiaSat)
[September 9, 2000] More Details About ZY-2 ZY-2 is a domestic made remote sensing satellite designed and built by China
Academy of Space Technology(CAST). It is more advanced than the ZY-1 satellite launched
last year. ZY-2 incorporates a sun-synchronous satellite bus that could be used on other
satellites. The deisgn life span of ZY-2 is 2 years. Chinese reports indicate that the
satellite entered the sun-synchronous orbit while tracking data shows it is in a 474 x
493km, 97.4 degree orbit, lower than normal sun-synchronous orbit. (SpaceChina, Jonathan's
Space Report)
[September 1, 2000] China Launches ZY-2 China successfully launched a new satellite called "China Resource 2"
(ZY-2) today. The satellite was launched from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center by a Long
March 4B at 11:25am Beijing Time September 1 (GMT 0325 09/01). According to Xinhua report,
the satellite is a transmission type imaging satellite. (SpaceChina.com)
[August 22, 2000] China Likely to Launch a New Satellite This Month CNSpace.com, a website hosted by Beijing University of Aero.& Astro.(BUAA)
announced that they provide public watch opportunity for an upcoming satellite launch
around the end of August. The tour charges RMB890(US$107) per visitor but only a few seats
left. The cost of the tour and the timing sugguest that the launch is the new generation
recoverable satellite by a Long March 4B from Taiyuan.
[August 22, 2000] China Aerospace Exhibition Opens in Hong Kong Focused on the first public display of Shenzhou spacecraft, The Chinese Aerospace
Science and Technology Exhibition opens at Hong Kong Science Museum today. The
exhibition has five parts: outdoor dispalying of LM-2F shrould and escape tower; The
Shenzhou spacecraft, its parachute and part of its payload; China space history; Long
March launch vehicle scaled models; Chinese satellites including a FSW-17 reentry capsule
recovered in 1996. The exhibition is expected to attract more than one hundred visitors
during next two month..
[August 18, 2000] Hong Kong Prepares First Showing of Shenzhou Planned on 22th this month, the mock-ups of Shenzhou spacecraft and part of the
Long March 2F rocket will be displayed in Hong Kong. This is the first time showing the
full size Chinese manned spacecraft and the launcher. Workers are now busy installing
Shenzhou spaceship's 3 modules, the shroud and the escape tower. But Long March 2F stages
are unable to be exhibited due to size limits. (Weweipo)
[August 15, 2000] Solid Rocket with Solid Progress China has completed the overall design of the rocket engine that is to be used on
its first all-solid space launch vehicle. The SLV-1 launcher is a high reliable, low cost,
advanced, partially reusable mobile small launch vehicle. The Space Solid Fuel Rocket
Carrier Co., Ltd. is responsible for the SLV-1 development while the 6th Academy in Inner
Mongolia is responsible for the engine development. It has entered full speed development.
(SpaceChina.com)
[August 13, 2000] China Space Show in Hong Kong The China Space Show will start from August 22 to September 22 in Hong Kong. This
is the third time Hong Kong hosts the China Space Show, after 1991 and 1996. China Space
Science and Technology Corporation and the Hong Kong Government signed the agreement on
August 4. The show will display, for the first time, a Long March 2F rocket and the
Shenzhou spacecraft, after the November 1999 historic launch. (SpaceChina)
[August 13, 2000] CAST to be Involved in the Solar Space Telescope Project China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), under the China Space Science and
Technology Corporation, will participate the Solar Space Telescope (SST) Project, to
develop China's first astronomical satellite. The project started in 1992 by Astronomical
Observation Center under China Academy of Sciences (CAS). The center has completed
research and development of the telescope's key components. SST is a one-meter diameter
solar space telescope that is to be launched during 2004-2005. (SpaceChina)
[August 13, 2000] Tsinghua to Provide Free Satellite Images Tsinghua University announces that it will provide free of charge Tsinghua-1
images under customer's request. Tsinghua-1 is China's first micro-satellite (50kg)
developed by Surrey University of UK and Tsinghua University of China. It was launched
into space by a Russian Cosmos 3M rocket in June 28. During on-orbit testing, Tsinghua-1
has sent back more than one hundred high quality images. Tsinghua-1 image resolution is 40
meters.
[August 3, 2000] CALT Reveals Details of the Manned Launch Site China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CLAT) web site published a
comprehensive Long March 2
user manual. An interesting part in the downloadable 150-page document is details of
the Jiuquan South Launch Center where Shezhou manned spacecraft took off last year.
According to the document, the center consists of two parts, The Technical Center and the
Launch Center. The Launch Center is located at 100°17.4'E, 40°57.4'N with elevation of
1073m. The 75m high umbilical tower is equipped with explosion-proof elevator. The movable
launch pad weighs 75t with size of 24.4x21.7x8.4m. It can move at 28m per minute. The
Technical Center is 1.5km away from the Launch Center. The vertical processing building
has two 26.8x28x81.6m processing halls. All important buildings, including the vertical
processing building and an area of the umbilical tower, are air-conditioned with cleanness
class of 100,000. [Note: the downloadable Word document on
CALT site may contain virus. Please disable macros in the document when reading]
[September 13, 2000] China's RLV Concept
[August 18, 2000] Hong Kong Prepares First Showing of Shenzhou