China Upgrades Satellite Platform

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 18, 2002

China Upgrades Satellite Platform

China is manufacturing its most sophisticated satellite platform for the development of geo-stationary satellites to be used in the country and the Asia-Pacific region, industry insiders said Thursday in Beijing. The new satellite platform, coded as Dongfanghong-IV, will reach or exceed the level of the advanced foreign systems currently in use.

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Long life and large capacity

"China's new generation geo-stationary satellite platform -- the chassis or framework that carries a satellite's equipment payload -- featuring long life and large capacity, will be put into use around 2004,'' Wang Haibo, an official with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

The platform will be first used to develop a satellite -- Sinosat-II -- for a Beijing-based operator, Sino Satellite Communications Co, to meet the country's mounting demands for communications and broadcasting, company president Cheng Guangren confirmed Thursday.

"The new satellite platform, coded as Dongfanghong-IV, will reach or exceed the level of the advanced foreign systems currently in use,'' Wang said. "It has a designed lifespan of 15 years, and its end-of-life power output is expected to reach 10,000 watts -- parameters ranking the platform among the world's best.''

End-of-life power output is calculated based on the beginning-of-life power of a satellite and a known degradation rate. It is a major indicator measuring the performance of a spacecraft platform.

The end-of-life power output of China's latest Dongfanghong satellite series, Dongfanghong-III -- which was based on a previous platform and launched in May 1997 -- stands at only 2,000 watts and has a designed life of eight years, Wang said.

While the Dongfanghong-III is able to carry a payload of 220 kilograms, the Dongfanghong-IV platform can support a payload of up to 800 kilograms, he said.

Satellite platform helps make more deals

Fueled by economic expansion, China has predicted an immense growth of need for more communications satellites in the years to come.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp has envisioned that China and the Asia-Pacific region may need at least 10 large-capacity communications satellites in the coming 10 years, according to the company sources.

China needs to send more than 30 satellites into space during the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) period, most of them smaller or low-orbit satellites, according to Xu Fuxiang, President of the Chinese Academy of Space Technology.

"Through improving the reliability and capacity of the platform, we are hoping to clinch more deals for the manufacture of satellites for customers at home and abroad,'' Wang said.

Already, CASC has negotiated with some "potential satellite customers'' in the Asia-Pacific region, but Wang declined to specify who they were.

So far, the country has not sold a single made-in-China satellite to a foreign country.

New satellite platform represents change in satellite development

The new satellite platform represents a shift in the mode of satellite development in China, Wang said.

In a break from previous practice, China this time is developing a common platform to be used for a range of different satellites, for communications, broadcasting or meteorological purposes, he said.

The efforts will facilitate the batch production of cost-effective satellites in the future, he said.

China's first man-made satellite, the "Dongfanghong-I'' was launched on April 24, 1970, making China the fifth country in the world with such capability, according to the latest white paper issued by the Information Office of the State Council.

It said that by October 2000, China had developed and launched 47 satellites of various types, with a success rate of over 90 percent.

China Launches Dongfanghong-IV Satellite Project

China has recently launched Dongfanghong-IV project, the large-capacity and long-term static orbiting communications and broadcasting satellite.

The designed life-span of the satellite is 15 years with 50 communication transmitters installed. Virtual load of the satellite will be designed mainly for broadcasting and communication. The whole project is to be finished in four years as planned.

The Project of Dongfanghong-IV Satellite is directed by Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND) and developed by Chinese Academy of Space Technology of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Full Story

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