Sinosat
Sino Satellite Communications was formed in 1994 with Chinese participation of China
Aerospace Corp (CASC), Commission of Defence Science & Technology [COSTIND], People's Bank of China and the Government of Shanghai. Sino Satellite was formed in an effort to overturn ChinaSat's domination [along with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications] of the Chinese satellite communications market.
During 1993-1994 DASA and Sinosat formed a new venture named EuraSpace to develop a follow-on DFH-3 spacecraft. China remains heavily dependent on American companies, such as Lockheed Martin, Hughes and Loral, as suppliers of telecommunications satellites. To gain greater access to spacecraft technology, the China Aerospace Corporation is working with Daimler Benz Aerospace's Dornier Satellite Systeme and Aerospatiale's Espace and Defense Branch on Sinosat-1.
The system is 90 percent financed by German banks, and the European partners agreed to assembly and testing of the new Sinosat-1 taking place in China. The preliminary design for Sinosat envisioned as many as 12 C-band and six Ku-band transponders initially with growth up to 30 transponders. The spacecraft was likely to be 50% more massive than DFH-3, but the first launch was not anticipated until 1997 (References 236, 239-243).
Subsequently, Aérospatiale built Sinosat 1 at its facilities in Cannes, with delivery in november 1997 of the satellite to the customer, the Chinese-German company Euraspace, acting on behalf of Sinosatcom, a Chinese company. This was the fifth satellite using the Spacebus 3000 platform.
It is a powerful three-axis satellite with a liftoff weight of 2,820kg. Its solar array, spanning 26 meters, supplies over 5 kW to the payload of twenty-four C-band channels (36 MHz) and fourteen Ku-band channels (54 MHz). Three antennas, including two deployable antennas measuring 1.6 and 1.8 meters in diameter, and a 1m in diameter fixed antenna, cover the targeted zone from an orbital position at 110.5°ree; East on the geostationary orbit, during a life span exceeding 15 years.
The 3B Long March launcher launched the satellite from the Xichang launch site in the People's Republic of China in July 1998 [after a delay from 25 January 1998]. The satellite provides a range of telecommunications services ( including television, telephony, and inter-banking data transmission) covering all China, the Indo-Chinese peninsula, Indonesia and the Philippines. The satellite will transmit data for the Peoples Bank of China, one of Sinosatcom's major customers.
REFERENCES
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236. "Germans Prepare for Chinese Market", Space, September 1994, pp. 33-34.
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237. "German-Chinese Satellite Company", Space, December 1993, p. 26.
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238. P.B. de Seldinq, "Firm Seeks Slice of Chinese Satellite Market", Space News, 29 November - 5 December 1993, p.6.
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239. P.B. de Selding, "DASA, Chinese Create Satellite Joint Venture", Space News, 11 -17 July 1994, pp. 1, 20.
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240. "DASA-CASC Partnership", Aviation Week and Space Technology, 18 July 1994, p. 84.
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241. Xinhua News Agency, 20 September 1994.
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242. "German-Chinese Company", Spaceflight, September 1994, p. 296.
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243. M. Mecham, "China Seeks Expanded Satellite Linkups", Aviation Week and Space Technology, 3 October 1994, pp. 63-66.
Sources and Resources
http://www.fas.org/spp/guide/china/comm/sinosat.htm
Implemented by Christina Lindborg, 1997 Scoville Fellow
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Updated Saturday, June 20, 1998 2:12:35 PM