China opens busy year for space with launch of
China has opened what promises to be a busy year for space with the launch of the TJS-2 experimental communications technology satellite to geostationary orbit on Thursday.
A Long March 3B carrier rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwestern China at 23:18 Beijing time (15:18 UTC).
State media confirmed the launch successful an hour after launch, describing the satellite as part of a new generation of high-capacity communications and broadcasting test satellite.
There is little information about the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology-developed satellite, which is understood to be TJS-2 (Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing Er Hao), making it the second in a series of classified launches.
A similarly secretive Long March 3B launch in September 2015 carried a satellite that Chinese state media stated would be mainly used to test Ka frequency broadband communication.
However, other sources note rumours surrounding the mission, unofficially referred to as TJS-1, that suggested it could be part of an experimental early warning satellite program.
Thursday’s launch was the 245th overall for the Long March rocket series. China’s first satellite, Dong Fang Hong-1, was launched on a Long March 1 rocket on April 24, 1970.
China closes 2016, opens 2017
China’s previous launch, which closed global launch activities for 2016, saw a launch issue with the Long March 2D rocket leave the two 500kg SuperView-1 high-resolution imaging satellites and a cubesat in an orbit with a low perigee of just over 200 km that would likely mean reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere within months.
The SuperView-1 01 and 02 satellites have since performed a number of burns to raise their perigees to near the intended orbits of 483 x 529 km and 518 x 536 km.
On-orbit testing has started, with SuperView, owned by a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the main contractor for the space program, due to release the first images in the near future.
The next Chinese launch is expected to be a solid-fuelled Kuaizhou-1A, scheduled January 9, carrying a Jilin-1 video satellite and a range of other payloads (Chinese).
China plans record year in 2017
Having set a national record 22 launches in a massive year for the Chinese space program, CASC is looking to launch near 30 times in 2017, with China’s CASIC, the main missile maker, also likely to add a number of orbital launches.
Major missions planned include sending the new Tianzhou-1 cargo craft to the Tiangong-2 space lab in April to test refuelling technologies for a future space station, and the Chang’e-5 lunar sample return late in the year – the first such mission for over four decades.
Among other launches expected during the year are the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) space science probe, a mid-year launch of a Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket to test a new, large model of geostationary satellite, and a host of remote sensing, weather and communications satellites, including some to be used by the People’s Liberation Army.
The Chang’e-5 reentry capsule (r) and ascent module (background) undergoing testing (Framegrab/CCTV).
Above: The Chang’e-5 reentry capsule (r) and ascent module (background) undergoing testing (Framegrab/CCTV).
China’s international commercial contract launches in 2017 are set to involve the lofting of satellites for Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela (September).
Much of the Chinese launch schedule has not been announced, due to China running a relatively closed space program, while the global calendar will start with a busy January.
Planned launches for American companies – SpaceX, 31, United Launch Alliance, 14, and Orbital ATK, 4 – coupled with Russia aiming for 29 of their own, mean 2017 will be a year crowded with space launches.
