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Galactic Penguin SST
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« Reply #45 on: 05/26/2012 07:23 PM » |
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No videos on the web yet, but it was confirmed that the exact launch time is 15:56:04.241 UTC.
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Phillip Clark
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« Reply #46 on: 05/26/2012 08:37 PM » |
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I am curious about the use of the designators for this satellite.
I have the launch on November 14th, 2003 as being Shentong 1 (Zhongxing 20).
Then we had the launch on November 24th, 2010 as Shentong 2 (Zhongxing 20A).
These were on board the CZ-3A vehicle.
Now we have Shentong 2 (Zhongxing 2A) launched today aboard a CZ-3B/E.
Probably the first two launches should be classified as Shentong-1 1 and 2 (or A and B if you want) and today's launch as Shentong-2 1 (or A).
Normally the "A" after a Zhongxing designator means that there has already been a previous Zhongxing flight with the same numerical designator but I cannot see that the Chinese have used the Zhongxing 2 designator anywhere. The Zhongxing designator refers to the location of the satellite (not the satellite itself), rather like the old Soviet-era Statsionar designators.
Any thoughts, comments (which can be repeated in civilised company, of course!), especially about the MIA Zhongxing 2?
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Skyrocket
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« Reply #47 on: 05/26/2012 09:39 PM » |
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Any thoughts, comments (which can be repeated in civilised company, of course!), especially about the MIA Zhongxing 2?
ZX-2 was a satellite launched on 22.12.1988. It had likely nothing to do with ZX-2A or the ST series. Similar there was a ZX-1 launched on 07.03.1988 with no real connection to ZX-1A or the FH series. Seems like some kind of reuse of older designators for military comsats.
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Liss
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« Reply #48 on: 05/26/2012 10:14 PM » |
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I am curious about the use of the designators for this satellite.
I have the launch on November 14th, 2003 as being Shentong 1 (Zhongxing 20).
Then we had the launch on November 24th, 2010 as Shentong 2 (Zhongxing 20A). The latter is not correct. The Chinese name for it was Shentong 1 #02 (神通一号02星), and the former became retroactively Shentong 1 #01.
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jcm
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« Reply #49 on: 05/26/2012 10:25 PM » |
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Another question - who owns these satellites? Does the Zhongxing name imply that they are operated by China Satcom (Zhongguo weixingtongxin jituangongsi) on behalf
of the military, or that's just a cover and these satellites are owned by some part of the PLA?
And another - "Shen Tong" is presumably an abbreviation for "Shen(something) Tongxin",
where Tongxin means communications.... can our Chinese speakers help here?
"Shen Tong" (roughly) means "to communicate with the divine" (interestingly "Feng Huo" refers to the beacon, showing it's ability in mobile communications)
IIRC, most Chinese military satellites (and even part of the manned spaceflight program) are controlled by the PLA's General Armaments Department.
Thanks
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Phillip Clark
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« Reply #50 on: 05/26/2012 10:35 PM » |
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Thank you Igor, what you say makes sense.
So just Zhongxing 2 to identify now!
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jcm
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« Reply #52 on: 05/27/2012 05:13 AM » |
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Thank you Igor,
So just Zhongxing 2 to identify now!
What was 1988-111A ? I thought it was Zhongxing er hao. = ZX-2
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input~2
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« Reply #53 on: 05/27/2012 01:46 PM » |
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input~2
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« Reply #54 on: 05/27/2012 02:05 PM » |
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Boosters sep.
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input~2
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« Reply #55 on: 05/27/2012 02:09 PM » |
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Fairing
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Artyom.
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« Reply #56 on: 05/27/2012 04:19 PM » |
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Launch video on YouTube  :
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pVLLVVER0hs&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/pVLLVVER0hs&rel=1</a>]]>
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edkyle99
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« Reply #57 on: 05/27/2012 08:19 PM » |
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Why is it that for almost every launch from China, western analysts say that the satellite has a military purpose, even when Xinhua says that, for example in this case, Chinasat 2A "will be used to meet the demands for China's radio and TV broadcasting and broadband multimedia transmissions."?
So in the West, the headline invariably reads that yet another military satellite was launched for China.
They can't all be military! And who exactly are these western analysts?
- Ed Kyle
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Galactic Penguin SST
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« Reply #58 on: 05/27/2012 08:28 PM » |
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Why is it that for almost every launch from China, western analysts say that the satellite has a military purpose, even when Xinhua says that, for example in this case, Chinasat 2A "will be used to meet the demands for China's radio and TV broadcasting and broadband multimedia transmissions."?
So in the West, the headline invariably reads that yet another military satellite was launched for China.
They can't all be military! And who exactly are these western analysts?
- Ed Kyle
Well, luckily we now have a clearer sight of Chinese spaceflight, thanks to the various sources on the net. In this case it's pretty clear: the lack of information of the satellite (heck I can't nail the satellite's NAME down until hours before launch), the information posted by many sources on a Chinese forum, plus that it was confirmed that the satellite was indeed a next-generation strategic mil-com satellite (a la DSCS/WGS) per leaks on blogs, all points to its military nature. You can try to compare with the case of ZX-9 (2010) / 10 (2011): information on both are much easier to obtain. And yup, it "will be used to meet the demands for China's radio and TV broadcasting and broadband multimedia transmissions". They just don't tell you whose those radios, TVs and computers belongs to.  GPS
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Satori
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« Reply #59 on: 05/27/2012 08:35 PM » |
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In fact, this year this is only the third military launch for China (assuming Tianhui-1B as a military bird) and China has already made 8 launches, so not all the launches are military.
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