China's first large direct broadcasting satellite will be launched at the end of the month to meet the needs of China's rapidly developing TV market.
SINOSAT-2, capable of carrying radio and TV signals across the country, is scheduled for launch on Oct. 29 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, SINO Satellite Communications Co. Ltd. (SINOSAT), a Beijing-based state-owned telecommunications satellite operator, confirmed here Monday. The satellite will enable every farming household to receive TV signals using a small dish, thereby bringing educational programs and even remote medical services to farmers, Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration, said earlier this month. SINOSAT-2, designed and developed by China alone, has a 15-year mission life and will provide TV and radio transmissions, digital films, direct TV and digital broadband, according to the company.
China has launched the Zhongxing-22A telecommunications satellite atop a Long March-3A rocket carrier from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, at 00:02 on Wednesday.
The Xi'an Satellite Monitoring and Controlling Centre reported that Zhongxing-22A successfully entered onto the preset orbit twenty-five minutes later. Zhongxing-22A is an earth-synchronous telecommunications satellite designed by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Technology Group Company. The satellite will provide direct television broadcasting services for the China Telecommunication Broadcast Satellite Company under the China Telecommunications Satellite Group Company. The satellite has been designed to work for eight years. The satellite will orbit above the Equator, at 98 degrees east longitude, with a perigee of 207 kilometres and an apogee of 42,000 kilometres.
A Chinese Chang Zheng (Long March) 3B carrier rocket is scheduled to launch the SinoSat 2 (a.k.a. Xinnuo 2), satellite at the end of October, 2006, from Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre.
According to Sun Laiyan, administrator of the China National Space Administration, the Xinnuo 2 large-capacity communications satellite, with an anti-jamming system, will provide direct television broadcasting services to the Chinese mainland, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. On Monday, August 4, the satellite left the production facility after receiving its final checks by the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.
SinoSat 2 is based on the Dongfanghong 4 platform and has been designed to work with the ChinaSat 9 satellite in the same orbit, to provide communications services to the Chinese mainland. The ChinaSat 9 satellite is based on the Spacebus 4000 C1 platform and will be positioned at 92.2 degrees east. The Xinnuo 2 satellite, which has taken China six years to develop, is designed to have a lifespan of 15 years, and operated in geosynchronous orbit at 110.5 deg E. China has managed to launch 70 satellites since the 1970's, of which, currently only 20 are still in working service today.