The Paper

Chinese Space News

(May 1998)

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 [May 31, 1998] ChinaStar Marks 10th Consecutive Successful Launch of Long March

Yesterday's ChinaStar-1 launch was the 52nd launch by Chinese Long March rocket and the fourth by a Long March 3B, the country's most powerful launch vehicle. Long March experienced 3 failures in 1995 and 1996. The successful launches in recent two years will undoubtedly

strengthen Long March's position in the competition of global launch market. The Long March 3B placed the 2984 kg ChinaStar-1 into an orbit of 201x85732km with 24.5 degree inclination. The Lockheed Martin built satellite has 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders. It will be finally placed into the geostationary orbit at 87.5 degrees East longitude by Lockheed Martin in next few days. Next in line will be the Sinosat-1 built by the French group, Aerospatiale, for an official Chinese client. That launch, also by a Long March 3B, is expected in July.

 [May 30, 1998] Long March 3B Successfully Launched ChinaStar-1

Long March 3B successfully launched ChinaStar-1 today, CCTV, the Chinese official television station announced today. This is the fourth launch and the third successful launch of Long March 3B, the most powerful rocket in China. Chinastar-1 was built by Lockheed Martin and will be operated by China Oriental Telecommunications.

 [May 29, 1998] APT Satellite Holdings See Revenue Growth

Hong Kong Satellite operator APT Satellite Holdings sees revenue growth this year despite a reduction in the satellite transponder services in Asia due to the economic slowdown. The current leasing rate for the company's third satellite, Apstar-IIR, was now at 25 per cent. But it was expected to increase more than 50 per cent by the end of the year, APT chairman Xie Gao-Jue said. The group planned to launch Apstar V or one big satellite to replace Apstar I and Apstar IA, which run out in 2004 and 2006 respectively. APT Satellite was also negotiating with a mainland firm to develop a direct broadcast satellite system, though no decision has been reached. The group's current financial status was rated "healthy" on a gearing ratio of 42 per cent. Direct effects of the Asian currency crisis were said to be minimal as the firm's revenue is in US dollars.

 [May 24, 1998] AsiaSat 4 Launch Put on Hold

Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings (AsiaSat) yesterday said it was postponing the launch of AsiaSat 4 due to a decrease in demand for telecommunication services from satellite transponders. "We will evaluate the project at the end of this year and hoped it can be launched in the year 2000,'' chief executive officer Peter Jackson said. AsiaSat is negotiating with a third party on a joint venture in the satellite service, Mr Jackson added. He said the current economic downturn in the region would hamper the company's growth because of a slowdown in demand for satellite transponder capacity for data communication.

 [May 24, 1998] China Denys Obtaining Sensitive Space Technology From US

Liu Zhixiong, vice president of the China Great Wall Industry Corp., told a late night news conference that foreign scientists had merely reviewed results of a Chinese investigation into a 1996 satellite launch failure and did not pass on any technology. Liu said the Chinese had worked out for themselves the cause of the launch failure. No technology changed hands, he said. "The foreign scientists had no obligation to give us any technological advice and they did no such thing,'' Liu said."Neither was there any technological exchanges,'' he said. China has also denied allegations that Chinese Lt. Col. Liu Chaoying contributed a large part of the nearly $100,000 that Taiwanese-American fund-raiser Johnny Chung gave to the Democrats in 1996. Liu said the allegations of missile technology transfer were ridiculous.

 [May 23, 1998] Clinton May Allow China to Access ISS

US President Bill Clinton will visit China and sign a space cooperation agreement with China. It reports that among the space technology exchanges and joint projects being proposed by the White House is allowing China to join the International Space Station project to get China to join the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a proliferation control protocol.. But the recent development over political campaign contributions and the restrictions on selling China any space technology, passed by the House, seem to doom any renewed Clinton effort to get China into the U.S. Space Program. China was suggesting use of the Long March rockets for logistics support of the station. (Spacer.com)

 [May 21, 1998] US House Voted to Ban Satellite Export to China

The House of Representatives of US voted Wednesday to ban exports of satellites and missile technology to China amid allegations a US company helped improve the reliability of Chinese missiles. The House voted 412-6 against missile technology exports and 364-54 against satellite exports. The votes came following reports the administration of President Bill Clinton overruled the US Defense and State departments by easing satellite exports to China. The decision allowed Loral Space and Communications to export its satellites to China so that they could be launched from Chinese missiles. Republicans are investigating whether the change in policy occurred in exchange for campaign contributions to the Democratic Party and if Loral helped improve the reliability of Chinese missiles. (AFP)

 [May 19, 1998] Scientists Meet in Beijing to Discuss Spacecraft Standards

The Eighth Plenary Meeting of the ISO's Space Technology and Application Standardization Subcommittee opened on May 14 in Beijing. Topics for discussion at the two-day session cover unmanned spacecraft operability, flight-to-ground umbilicals and four other draft proposals. These proposals are to make spacecraft and launch vehicles to be manufactured and operated on universally accepted standards in the future to meet the challenges of increasingly harsh competition in the sector. The newly appointed director of the China National Space Administration, Luan Enjie was present at the opening ceremony. (China Daily)

 [May 19, 1998] China and Kazakhstan Sign Space Cooperation Agreement

Kazakh Prime Minister Nurlan Utebovich