|
Backgrounder:
China's three major space launch bases
BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- There are
three major space launch bases in China, namely,
the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the Taiyuan
Satellite Launch Center and the Xichang Satellite
Launch Center.
In line with the common international practice,
all the three launch centers are located in scarcely-populated
areas where the terrain is even and the field
of vision is broad. Factoring in are also state
security, transport conditions and the influence
of the axial rotation of the Earth.
Founded in 1958 in Gansu province, Northwest
China, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is
China's earliest space launch base, where most
of the country's space launches and tests have
been conducted. At a mean elevation of 1,000 meters,
the Jiuquan launch center is mainly used to send
experimental and applications satellites that
are on the lower and medium orbits with large
orbital inclination angles. Meanwhile, it is also
capable of testing medium- and long-range missiles.
Over the past four decades and more, the Jiuquan
Satellite Launch Center has made nine successful
history-making launches, including the testing
of China's first short-range missile, the launch
of China's first man-made satellite, the testing
of a long-range launch vehicle to the Pacific
Ocean, as well as a 1981 launch that sent three
satellites into the orbit atop a single rocket.
The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, situated
in Kelan County of north China's Shanxi province,
was founded in March 1966 and put into normal
operation in 1968. At the end of that year, the
center successfully conducted the full-distance
testing of the first-generation medium-range rocket.
Hemmed in by mountains in all directions, the
Taiyuan launch center stands at an elevation of
1,500 meters. With dry weather conditions in the
locality, the center is believed to be the idealist
site for launching solar-synchronous satellites.
In 1988 and 1990, the center successfully blasted
meteorological satellites made by China alone
into space with the Long March CZ-4rockets.
Located in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture
of southwest China's Sichuan Province, the Xichang
Satellite Launch Center is designed mainly to
launch powerful-thrust rockets and geostationary
satellites. At an average elevation of 1,500 meters,
the center is known for its agreeable weather
and picturesque scenes. The sights of the taking
off of rockets often seen in Chinese television
programs were shot there.
The Xichang center has two launch pads: one
for the launch of geostationary communications
satellites and meteorological satellites by Long
March CZ-3 rockets and the other for the lift-off
of Long March CZ-2 strap-on launch vehicle and
the Long March CZ-3 series rockets. On July 16,
1990, China's first Long March CZ-2 strap-on launch
vehicle successfully blasted off from Xichang
and sent a Pakistani scientific experimental satellite
and a Chinese satellite into their orbits.
|
