PARIS - A
Chinese Long March 3B rocket successfully placed the Chinasat-9
direct-broadcast television satellite into geostationary transfer orbit June 9 -
a launch that caused public-relations discomfort for both Chinese authorities
and satellite builder Thales Alenia Space, for different reasons.
Chinasat 9,
a Spacebus 4000 satellite platform, is expected to operate for 15 years at 92.2
degrees east longitude.
Chinese
government authorities have been upset with the French government in recent
weeks following a demonstration-marred passage of the Olympic flame through
Paris in April and the near-simultaneous decision by the Paris city council to
make the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen - an act that the Chinese Foreign
Ministry termed "a grave provocation." For that reason, industry
officials said, China will not be drawing attention to the fact that Chinasat 9
was made in France.
For Thales
Alenia Space, the launch highlighted the fact that the French-Italian firm is
alone among the world's major commercial satellite builders to be able to
export satellites to China for launch on
the Chinese rockets. The other manufacturers all use U.S.-built components
whose export to China is barred by current U.S. technology-export policy.
Competitors,
particularly Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif., have sought to put
pressure on Thales Alenia Space by stimulating congressional action that would
make it difficult for Thales North America - part of the same Thales Group that
owns a majority share in Thales Alenia Space - to win U.S. Defense Department
business unless it refuses to export satellites to China.
No one has
alleged that Thales Alenia Space has violated any U.S. laws, but Thales
officials nonetheless have elected to apply discretion when talking about the
company's Chinese satellite customers, or non-Chinese customers who have chosen
to use the Chinese launch vehicle.
The
situation was far different in 2004, when the $145 million Chinasat 9 contract
was signed in the presence of China's vice premier and the French prime
minister.
Chinasat 9
carries 18 36-megahertz Ku-band transponders and four 54-megahertz Ku-band
transponders. It will be operated by China Satcom, notably to broadcast
Olympic Games events.
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