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China Launches New Communications Satellite
By Peter B. de Selding
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 8 December 2006
6:13 p.m. ET
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PARIS --
China's newest geostationary-orbiting meteorological satellite, FengYun 2D, was
successfully launched Dec. 8 aboard a Chinese Long March 3A rocket from the Xichang
Satellite Launch Center in southwest China, Chinese government officials
announced.
The 3,086-pound
(1,400-kilogram) satellite will operate from 86.5 degrees east longitude and
will serve as a backup for the FengYun 2C satellite, which was launched in
October 2004 and is located at 105 degrees east longitude.
China is an
active member of the global World Weather Watch system, coordinated by the
United Nations' World Meteorological Organization, which promotes free global
sharing of weather data worldwide.
The Chinese
Meteorological Administration, in November, announced it would extend the reach
of its FengYun system as far west as Pakistan, and as far east as New Zealand,
by leasing commercial telecommunications satellite capacity to relay the data
to users equipped with small satellite-reception dish antennas.
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