China launches communications satellite: Xinhua

Beijing, June 1: China launched its 100th Long March rocket today, lifting a communications satellite for radio and television broadcasting into orbit, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The launch of SinoSat-3 comes after SinoSat-2, China's first direct-to-home satellite, was deemed inoperable when it failed to deploy its solar panels and communications antennae following its launch last October.

China's satellite capabilities aroused international concern earlier this year, when it successfully destroyed one of its own ageing weather satellites with a missile, releasing debris into orbit.

In May, China launched a communications satellite for Nigeria, the first time a foreign buyer has purchased both a Chinese-made satellite and its launching service.

Foreign firms had previously used Chinese rockets to launch satellites, which was cheaper than launching them from the United States or Europe but also carried a higher risk of failure.

A replacement for SinoSat-2 will take three years to be developed, operator Sino Satellite Communications Co. Ltd.

(SinoSat) has said. Xinhua did not say whether the latest satellite would be able to compensate for some of its functions.

SinoSat-3 and its carrier rocket were mainly developed and manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology and the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, both under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

China has 12.6 million digital television subscribers and 400 million television sets, making it potentially a large market for satellite television, Xinhua said.

In 2003, China became only the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to launch a man into space aboard its own rocket. It now plans a space walk by 2008 and a lunar probe.

Reuters>