[February 24, 1999] U.S. Rejects APMT Deal The United States said Tuesday it had rejected a
$450 million Hughes satellite deal with China, blocking
for the first time a satellite license to Beijing over
fears it could compromise U.S. national security. The
decision, which could further strain diplomatic ties
between the two superpowers, puts into doubt future
satellite sales and could strip U.S. companies of their
dominant position in the lucrative billion dollar
satellite market. The APMT satellite, designed to provide
mobile telephone links over much of Asia, is belong to
Asia-Pacific Mobile Telecommunications Company that is 51
percent owned by Chinese interests led by China
Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corporation.
Singapore Technologies Telemedia is another large
shareholder. (Reuters)
[February 22, 1999] Shanghai to Launch Three
Satellites The Shanghai Space Bureau, a major
space-technology developer in China, plans to launch
three satellites this year. These satellites, a Fengyun 1
meteorological satellite, a Sino-Brazilian resource
satellite, and a Practice 5 satellite, will be carried
into orbit by two Long March 4B carrier rockets.
According to Jin Zhuanglong, the bureau director, the new
Fengyun 1 incorporates improvements over the previous
Fengyun 1 satellites, and will be used to collect global
meteorological data. The Long March 4B has been newly
developed by the Shanghai Space Bureau and can carry both
synchronous solar orbit and synchronous earth orbit
satellites. (XINHUA)
[February 12, 1999] China to Test Reusable
Spacecraft Next Year China plans to launch its own re-usable
"space shuttle" with a maiden unmanned mission
at the end of next year, an astronomical engineer who is
in charge of one of dozens of scientific research
projects that will be aboard, said Thursday. "Among
the projects will be many experiments toward future
manned shuttle missions," said the engineer. China
has never formally announced plans to roll out a
re-usable space vehicle like those the United States
alone operates. The engineer said the lift-capacity
problems have already been resolved and he had been
briefed on the cost of the Chinese shuttle but that he
could not reveal it, as the information is classified.
(AFP)
[February 12, 1999] China Unlikely Involved in
Mir Extension Russian Space Agency director Yuri Koptev siad
Mir space station might be discarded as early as August
because investors who were supposedly planning to fund it
have backed out. He denied Russian media reports that
they could be Chinese. "China has been energetically
developing its own space program and promised to put its
first astronaut in orbit by Oct. 1 this year," he
said. "If they had been interested in flying on our
station, they would have done it a long time ago."
Two Chinese pilots have undergone preparation at Russia's
cosmonaut training center, but cooperation stopped there.
"We haven't heard from them since then,'' Koptev
said. (AP)
[February 11, 1999] China and France to Share
Satellite Control Networks China and France are to begin sharing satellite
control networks in hopes of upgrading their satellite
control capacity, the official Xinhua news agency said
Wednesday. The Xian Satellite Control Centre (XSCC) will
begin cooperation this year with France's National Centre
for Space Studies (CNES) to interconnect their networks,
the report said, without specifying by what date the
project would be operational. In addition to the central
station in northern Xian, China has six other control
stations spread across its territorial extremities, and
one station in the Pacific. China has already announced
plans for a similar accord with Brazil in an effort to
"further increase international cooperation in the
area," the Xinhua report said. (AFP)
[February 8, 1999] China Announces CZ-3B(A) During the Pacific Telecommunications Conference
in Hawaii, Zuoyi Huang, chief representative in the U.S.
market for China Great Wall Co., said his company is
developing two larger, more powerful rockets. The Long
March 2E(A) rocket will be ready for launch in 2000,
while the Long March 3B(A) will be available in 2002. The
latter rocket will be launched from the Jiuquan Satellite
Launch Center in the northwest part of China because the
existing launchpad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center
is not able to handle such a large rocket, Huang said.
(ARMED FORCES NEWSWIRE SERVICE)
[February 8, 1999] US Institutions Intend To Join
ROCSAT-3 Project The US National Science Foundation, National
Ocean and Atmosphere Agency, and National Aeronautics and
Space Administration recently discussed joining the
launch project of ROCSAT-3, a science satellite scheduled
to be put into space in December 2002 to conduct
meteorological and ionosphere research. Tsai Ching-yen,
vice chairman of Taiwan's National Science Council, said
after the US institutions issue letters of intention,
they will formally join the project. It is expected that
Taiwan's space project authority and the US institutions
will sign letters of intention in mid-February. (CNA)
[January 29, 1999] RocSat-1 in Perfect Condition Taiwan's first wholly owned satellite is in
"perfect condition," said Tsai Ching-yen, vice
chairman of the Taiwan's National Science Council.
Initial tests showed that ROCSAT-1, which was launched
into orbit by the Athena-1 rocket Tuesday, is functioning
normally. At 10:16 p.m. Tuesday Eastern Standard Time in
the United States, the satellite established first
contact with a ground station in Hsinchu, northern
Taiwan. Within the first 27 hours after launch it had
made contact with two Taiwan ground stations seven times.
Another ground station is in Tainan, southern Taiwan.
Data transmissions have been normal, Tsai added.
[January 29, 1999] Taiwan Plans More Satellites ROCSAT-1 is now in space but it has been
history. "The launch is a step in the right
direction to develop domestic space technology, but
there's still a long way to go before we see any
significant harvest," said Chu Yen-hsyang, a
professor of the Institute of Space Science at the
National Central University. "We need more talent
and more domestic companies to join the industry."
RocSat-1 features five vital components that were made in
Taiwan, including a computer built by Acer, a solar panel
and an antenna, which makes up less than 25% of the
satellite. However, that percentage is slated to increase
in subsequent satellites. The contract for ROCSAT-2 has
been awarded to the German DASA Dornier group. The
proposed ROCSAT-3 will be composed of eight
micro-satellites and about 40% of its components will be
made in Taiwan. (Dow Jones Newswires)
[January 27, 1999] Athena launches Rocsat-1
Successfully Taiwan's first fully owned satellite, RocSat-1
was launched successfully at 7:34:02 p.m. EST (0:34:02
GMT) today from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida. The
satellite has separated from the Athena 1 rocket 1 hour
and 5 minutes after the launch . Upon separation, the
spacecraft is designed to trigger an automatic sequence
to deploy its twin solar arrays, then await contact from
Earth. Over the next several weeks, controllers will test
and check out the satellite and its instruments. If all
goes according to plan, RocSat-1 should begin its
scientific research in mid-March. (Florida Today)
[January 23, 1999] German Company to Build
Rocsat-2 Taiwan's National Space Policy Office (NSPO) has
selected DaimlerChrysler Aerospace of Germany as prime
contractor for its Rocsat 2 technological satellite due
for launch in June 2002. The $61-million Rocsat 1, built
by TRW, is due for launch atop an Athena 1 vehicle on
January 27 (GMT). A Rocsat 3 is planned before 2006.
(LaunchSpace)
[January 22, 1999] FY-2A Works Again ! The National Satellite Meteorological Center of
China Meteorological Administration confirmed that FY-2A,
China's first geostationary meteorological satellite has
been saved successfully. It has restarted to transmit
S-VISSR data since the end of last year, although its
capability is limited to broadcast 6 times everyday. FY-2
real-time data are now can be obtained from NSMC or University
of Hawaii weather satellite server. FY-2A was lost in
last April.
[January 21, 1999] Yuanwang Fleet Upgraded For
New Tasks After one year and four months' hard working,
Yuanwang, China's space tracking
