China on early Friday morning launched SinoSat-3, a
communications satellite for radio and television broadcasting,
aboard a Long March-3A carrier rocket, marking the 100th flight of
its Long March series.
The satellite, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center
in the southwest Sichuan Province at 0:08 AM (Beijing Time),
separated from the rocket about 24 minutes after lift-off, before
entering the geosynchronous orbit, data from the northwest Xi'an
Satellite Control center show.
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 Corporation.
Its predecessor SinoSat-2, China's first direct-to-home
satellite, was launched on Oct. 29 last year. It was revealed a
month later that it failed to deploy its solar panels and
communication antennae and was deemed inoperable, the Sino
Satellite Communications Co. Ltd. (SinoSat), a Chinese satellite
operator and the user of the SinoSat series, has said.
A substitute satellite for the failed SinoSat-2 will take at
least three years to develop, with more technical upgrades,
according to a SinoSat spokesman last November.
It is not clear whether SinoSat-3 will replace part of the
service of SinoSat-2.
China has 12.6 million digital TV subscribers and 400 million
television sets, suggesting a huge potential market for satellite
TV.
SinoSat-1, launched in July 1998, was bought from France mainly
to undertake China's radio and TV broadcast and communications
services in the Asia-Pacific Region.
(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2007)