China launches commercial communications satellite
Posted: Tue, Apr 12, 2005, 6:22 PM ET (2222 GMT)
A Chinese Long March booster launched a Western-built commercial communications satellite late Tuesday. The Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 8:00 am EDT (1200 GMT, 8 pm Beijing time) Tuesday and successfully placed the APStar 6 communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The 4,600-kg satellite, an Alcatel Spacebus 4000 C1, carries 38 C-band and 12 Ku-band transponders and will be located in GEO at 134 degrees east. The satellite will be used by APT Satellite Holdings to provide communications services to much of the Asia-Pacific region; the company noted that the Ku-band payload, equipped with anti-jamming technologies, will primarily be used for China. The launch was the first to carry a Western-built payload since the United States enacted export control restrictions on satellite technology destined for China. To get around those restrictions, Alcatel replaced components usually supplied by US manufacturers with alternatives from non-US companies.
A Chinese Long March booster launched a Western-built commercial communications satellite late Tuesday. The Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 8:00 am EDT (1200 GMT, 8 pm Beijing time) Tuesday and successfully placed the APStar 6 communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The 4,600-kg satellite, an Alcatel Spacebus 4000 C1, carries 38 C-band and 12 Ku-band transponders and will be located in GEO at 134 degrees east. The satellite will be used by APT Satellite Holdings to provide communications services to much of the Asia-Pacific region; the company noted that the Ku-band payload, equipped with anti-jamming technologies, will primarily be used for China. The launch was the first to carry a Western-built payload since the United States enacted export control restrictions on satellite technology destined for China. To get around those restrictions, Alcatel replaced components usually supplied by US manufacturers with alternatives from non-US companies.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Wednesday, March 17
'Historic' space experiment: Shuttle test rack offers way to compare gravity's effect on melted materials
Huntsville Times — 5:16 am ET (0916 GMT) Space scientist Sir Ian Axford dies
Radio New Zealand — 5:15 am ET (0915 GMT) LRO Camera releases science data from first six months
Arizona State Univ. — 5:14 am ET (0914 GMT) Space tourism entrepreneurs want to bring you to the stars
Metro Toronto — 5:14 am ET (0914 GMT) 'Green' satellite fuel designed to make space safer
ESA — 5:13 am ET (0913 GMT) |