the paper :: essays research papers

Chinese Space News 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 undoubtely 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.