China Launches Communications Satellite SinoSat-3

DRAGON SPACE

The carrier rocket Long March 3-A blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 1, 2007. China on early Friday morning launched "SinoSat-3", a communications satellite for radio and television broadcasting, aboard a Long March-3A carrier rocket, marking the 100th flight of its Long March series.(Xinhua Photo/Li Gang)

by Staff Writers
Xichang, China (SPX) Jun 01, 2007
China on early Friday morning launched "SinoSat-3", a communications satellite for radio and television broadcasting, aboard a Long March-3A carrier rocket, marking the 100th flight of its Long March series. The satellite, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwest Sichuan province at 0:08 a.m. (Beijing Time), separated from the rocket about 24 minutes after lift-off, before entering the geosynchronous orbit, data from the northwest Xi'an Satellite Control center show.

SinoSat-3 and its carrier rocket, were mainly developed and manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology and the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, both under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Its predecessor SinoSat-2, China's first direct-to-home satellite, was launched on Oct. 29 last year. It was revealed a month later that it failed to deploy its solar panels and communication antennae and was deemed inoperable, the Sino Satellite Communications Co. Ltd. (SinoSat), a Chinese satellite operator and the user of the SinoSat series, has said.

A substitute satellite for the failed SinoSat-2 will take at least three years to develop, with more technical upgrades, according to a SinoSat spokesman last November.

It is not clear whether SinoSat-3 will replace part of the service of SinoSat-2.

China has 12.6 million digital TV subscribers and 400 million television sets, suggesting a huge potential market for satellite TV.

SinoSat-1, launched in July 1998, was bought from France mainly to undertake China's radio and TV broadcast and communications services in the Asia-Pacific Region.

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DRAGON SPACE

China Aims To Launch Moon Probe This Year

Beijing (AFP) May 20, 2007
China aims to launch its first lunar orbiter later this year, part of a three-step plan it hopes will eventually see moon samples brought back to Earth, state media said Sunday. The launch of the Chang'e I, envisaged in the second half of 2007, would be a landmark for China's space programme, China's space agency chief Sun Laiyan was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

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