China to launch space probe satellite later this year

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 20, 2003

China to launch space probe satellite later this year

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China's space agency said on Thursday it will launch a satellite later this year in cooperation with the European Space Agency.

The China National Space Administration said the satellite, or Probe No.1, will be sent into space by a Chinese made carrier rocket, Long March 2C/SM.

With its orbit ranging from 550 km to 66,970 km, Probe No.1 and another satellite scheduled to be launched in the first half of next year, will form an independent Earth space probe system, the administration said in an announcement on the "Double Star Project", which was initiated by Chinese scientists in 1997.

The two satellites will probe important areas of two magnetic fields of Earth space, comprising the Earth's magnetic field, ionosphere and middle to high layers of atmosphere.

The system will be capable of probing in three dimensions the incidence and development of space storms in a bid to find ways to improve safety for space activities.

Probe No.1 will be the highest flying satellite China has ever launched, and it will carry instruments provided by European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Professor Wu Ji, vice-director of the Center for Space Science and Applied Research under CAS, said the two satellites and the four ESA satellites would constitute a probe system capable of exploring Earth space from six points for the first time.

The four European satellites have been launched by ESA under its magnetic field exploration program Cluster II.

Luo Ge, director of Foreign Affairs Department of the China National Space Administration, said the Sino-European space exploration move represents the first cooperation on equal terms in advanced space exploration programs ranging from technology and applications between developing and developed countries.

The China National Space Administration and ESA signed the cooperation agreement on the double satellite project in 2001 in Paris.

The satellite platforms were developed by a satellite company under the China Aerospace Technology Corporation and the launch vehicle was developed by the corporation's China Academy of LaunchVehicle Technology.

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