News in Brief

On March 13, Mr. Liu Jiyuan, Administrator of China National Space Administration (CNSA), and US Trade Representative Mickey Kantor signed a new memorandum of agreement on commercial launches, which is an improvement on the previous agreement covering the 1989-94 period. China will launch 11 high orbit satellites and numbers of low orbit satellites for the United States over the next seven years. "The new agreement supplies opportunities and favourable settings for China's commercial launch services," Liu said, "China's participation is expected to promote trade between China and the United States in the commercial launch service market." Under     

China Aerospace Milestones in 2004

In 2004, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) made greater achievements by sending 8 launch vehicles carrying 10 satellites. Some new records were made in 2004, which marks CASC's growth.     

ISY'92 Activities in China

In response to the UnitedNations'call for carrying out theInternational Space Year(ISY)ac-tivities,China ISY PreparatoryCommittee.(CPC)has been estab-lished with state councillor Song     

China's Space Industry in Progress

This article summarizes thegreat progress made by China inspace science and technology overthe past 36 years.In some impor-tant fields,China has reached theadvanced world level,such as thetechnologies of satellite recovery,multiple satellites with one rocket,     

Airshow China'98 in Preparation

ＩｎｓｐｉｒｅｄｂｙｔｈｅｓｕｃｅｓｓｏｆＡｉｒｓｈｏｗＣｈｉｎａ＇９６，ｔｈｅｆｉｒｓｔＣｈｉ－ｎａＡｖｉａｔｉｏｎａｎｄＡｅｒｏｓｐａｃｅＥｘｈｉ－ｂｉｔｉｏｎ，ｔｈｅｓｐｏｎｓｏｒｓａｎｄｏｒｇａｎｉｚ－ｅｒｓｏｆｔｈｅｅｖｅｎｔａｒｅｎｏｗｇ...     

Lockheed Martin Dwells in Beijing

The well-known aerospace giant Lockheed Martin opened an office in Beijing on April 12, 1996, with Thomas J. Dwyer being the Chief Representative. This move suggests that Lockheed is getting aggressive in China, a country with great potential market. Russell T. Mcll, President of Lockheed Martin Astrc Space Commercial, presided over the ceremony, which was attended by Bai     

Ambitious Galileo Project Starts in 2004

Ministry of Science and Tech nology of the People's Repub lic of China released that theGalileo Project, the biggest cooperative program between China and Europe would implement fully in 2004. China will work with Europe in the fields of sat-ellite navigation technology, manufacture, service and marketing, products standard and frequencies. It's expected to improve China's ability to develop its indigenous navigation and positioning system.     

Chinese Firms Participate in Galileo Project

On the afternoon of March 9, 2005, the National Remote Sensing Center of China (NRSCC), subsidiary of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST) signed an agreement on Galileo Project with China Galileo Industries Ltd.     

Center on Spacecraft Launched in Beijing

The ground breaking ceremony for the Beijing Space Technology Development and Test Center, one of the State's key projects was held on 28th, October, 1994. It is another modern space town being built to meet the needs of spacecraft including application satellites for advanced research, developmentand test. Liu Huaqing, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commis-     

Recent Developments in China's Space Programs

In the past years, China's space programs were well developed and fulfilled. A new generation of application satellites like the DFH-3 large capacity communications and broadcasting satellite, Resource-1 multipurpose earth resources satellite and the FY-2 geosynchronous meteorological satellite etc. are under development as scheduled, and will be launched and put into operation soon. Following the principle of integration of space system and ground sys-     

AP MCSTA Workshop Held in Beijing

On Dec.1 to 5,1992,the first Asia-Pacific Workshop on Multilateral Cooperation in Space Technology andApplication(AP MCSTA Workshop)was held in Beijing,China.Over 100 representatives from 23 countriesand regions including the Republic of Korea,Singapore,Mongolia,Russia,Japan,HongKong and Taiwan at-tended the workshop which was co-sponsored by China,Parkistan and Thailand.State Councillor and Minister ofForeign Affairs Qian Qichen made remarks on behalf of the Chinese Government at its opening ceremony.He     

Diurnal and longitudinal variations in the earth’s ionosphere in the period of solstice in conditions of a deep minimum of solar activity

The results of studies of longitudinal and LT variations in parameters of the ionosphere–plasmasphere system, obtained using the Global Self-Consistent Model of the Thermosphere, Ionosphere and Protonosphere (GSM TIP), assimilation ionospheric model IRI Real-Time Assimilation Mapping (IRTAM), and satellite and ground-based observational data are presented in the paper. The study of the main morphological features of longitudinal and LT variations in the critical frequency of the ionospheric F2 layer (foF2) and total electron content (TEC) depending on latitude in the winter solstice during a solar-activity minimum (December 22, 2009) is carried out. It is shown that the variations in foF2 and TEC, on the whole, are identical, and so mutually substitutable, while creating empirical models of these parameters in quiet geomagnetic conditions. The longitudinal and LT variations in both foF2 and TEC are within an order of magnitude everywhere except for the equator anomaly region, where LT variation is larger by an order of magnitude than longitudinal variation. According to the results of the study, in the American longitudinal sector at all latitudes of the Southern (summer) Hemisphere, maxima of foF2 and TEC are formed. The near-equatorial and high-latitudinal maxima are separated out from these. The estimate of the contribution into the longitudinal variation in foF2 and TEC for various local time sectors and at various latitudes has been obtained for the first time. In the Southern (summer) Hemisphere, longitudinal variation in foF2 and TEC is formed in the nighttime.     

The New Launch Complex in Xichang

There are two launch complexes in Xichang Satellite Launch Center. One is the Long March-3 launch complex which is a fixed 77m high launch tower. The other is the Long March- 2E launch complex which is composed of a 98m mobile tower and a 70m fixed tower. The latter is newly constructed, the first use of which was in July, 1990 when the Long March-2E made its maiden demonstration flight. In addition to the LM-2E, the complex (the largest one in China) can also be used to launch even larger Long March boosters to be developed in the future. Technical facilities and equipment of the new complex are described here.     

Top Ten Events of CASC in 2004

NO.1 LM launch vehicles completed eight launches and sent ten satellites into the preset orbits. NO.2 Seven projects of CASC won the State Science & Technology Progress Award. Manned Space Flight Project was awarded the State Special-class Science and Technology Award. NO.3 CASC held the third Working Conference on Accelerating Civilian Industry Development. NO 4. Tang Jianping Team of     

FY-2C Meteorological Satellite in Operation

China Meteorological Administration announced at the beginning of this year that FY-2C, China's first GEO meteorological satellite launched on October 1 9, 2004 has been put into operation and began to supply cloud images to the customers. The satellite got first visible image on October 29, 2004 and received two-month strict in-orbit tests. The satellite has functioned well and all the technical indexes have been normal, which indicates that FY-2C lives up to the mission-designed purpose. After in-orbit technical     

Space Law Conference 2004 Held in Beijing

pace Law Conference 2004jointly organized byInternational Institute of SpaceLaw (IISL) and China Institute ofSpace Law (CISL) was held in Beijing,China on 26-27 April 2004. Thepurpose of this conference is toincrease knowledge and expertiserelating to space law in China and the     

The 5th ISCOPS Held in Shanghai

The Fifth International SpaceConfefence of Pacific-BasinSocieties(ISCOPS),co-spon-sored by American Astronau-tical Society(AAS),ChineseSociety of Astronautics(CSA)and Japanese RocktetSocity(JRS),Was held inShanghai,China on June 8-9,1993.More than 100 repre-sentatives from the People'sRepublie of China,the United     

China to Launch 10 Satellites in 2004

China is expecting to launch 10 satellites this year while prepar ing for the second mannedspace flight.Zhang Qingwei, President of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the country's major rocket and satellite manufacturer, said that 10 satellites would be put into orbit atop nine launch vehicles this year respectively from Jiuquan, Xichang and Taiyuan satellite launch centers.