Shijian-13 (Chinasat-16) – CZ-3B – Сичан (XSLC) – 12.04.2017, 11:05 UTC

[che wi]

China to Launch first High-throughput Communications Satellite in April

BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- China plans to launch Shijian-13, its first high-throughput communications satellite, in April, the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) said Friday.

The 4.6-tonne satellite, with a message capacity of more than 20 GB, will be carried into orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket, according to the CAST.

An increase in satellite throughput will provide better access to the Internet on planes and high-speed trains, said Wang Min, deputy head of the CAST's Institute of Telecommunication Satellite.

For the first time, a large number of domestic components have been used on a communications satellite with an orbital life of 15 years, Wang said. It is also the first time electric propulsion has been used on a Chinese satellite.

Shijian-13 has been transported to the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. After completing in-orbit technical tests, it will be designated as Zhongxing-16.

In 2017, China plans to launch six communications satellites, including Shijian-13 and Shijian-18.

[che wi]

Powerful new satellite to be launched in April

China will launch its most advanced communications satellite in April as it builds a large capacity network that will enable passengers on jetliners and high-speed trains to use the internet.

Shijian 13, developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, will be lifted on a Long March 3B carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

The satellite, which weighs 4.6 metric tons, will stay for 15 years in a geostationary orbit about 36,000 kilometers above Earth, the academy said.

The satellite features a Ka-band broadband communications system capable of transmitting 20 gigabytes of data per second, making it the most powerful communications satellite the nation has developed.

Shijian 13 will use electric propulsion after it enters orbit, which will extensively reduce the chemical fuel the satellite carries. Moreover, it will conduct space-to-ground laser communications experiments, the academy said.

[che wi]

ChinaSpaceflight‏ @cnspaceflight · 7 hours ago

【西昌卫星发射中心/XSLC】近期发射。

Translated from Chinese by Bing: "The Xichang satellite launch Center /XSLC" launches in the near future.

[tnt22]

Cosmic Penguin‏ @Cosmic_Penguin 4 ч назад

SJ-13/ChinaSat 16, China's 1st Ka-band wideband GEO comsat w/ 1st Chinese use of ion thrusters in GEO, will launch on April 12 ~11:00 UTC.

[tnt22]

и в догон

ChinaSpaceflight‏ @cnspaceflight 3 ч. назад

【中星16号/实践13】将于2017年4月12日18:57-19:44由长征三号乙火箭从西昌发射升空https://goo.gl/RITP7R 

【Zhongxing 16 / Practice 13】 will be April 12, 2017 18:57-19: 44 by the Long March III B rocket launch from Xichang

18:57-19:44 LT -> 10:57-11:44 UTC

[tnt22]

https://goo.gl/RITP7R ---> https://www.chinaspaceflight.com/satellite/tongxin/Zhongxing-16/Zhongxing16-launch.html

中星十六号/实践十三号(ZX-16/SJ-13)：2017年4月12日19:05由长征三号乙火箭从西昌发射升空

时间: 2017-04-08
分类: 中星16
 
https://www.chinaspaceflight.com/satellite/Shijian/Shijian-13.html

A0767/17 - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED BY: 
272200E1083650-N273125E1074313-N271528E1073948-N270603E1083315.
VERTICAL LIMITS:GND-UNL. GND - UNL, 
12 APR 10:57 2017 UNTIL 12 APR 11:33 2017. 
CREATED:07 APR 11:23 2017

A0768/17 (Issued for ZGZU ZSHA) - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED BY:
N260808E1142921-N261444E1140013-N255858E1135553-N255223E1142456.
VERTICAL LIMITS:GND-UNL. GND - UNL, 
12 APR 10:58 2017 UNTIL 12 APR 11:44 2017.
CREATED: 07 APR 11:28 2017

(ZX-16 / SJ-13): April 12, 2017 19:05 by the Long March III B rocket launch from Xichang

Time: 2017-04-08
Category: Star 16

[tnt22]

http://gbtimes.com/china/china-launch-shijian-13-experimental-sat-wednesday

China to launch Shijian-13 experimental sat on Wednesday

Andrew Jones
 2017/04/10

Спойлер

The Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the hills of Sichuan Province, SW China, in late 2013.

[свернуть]

China is set to launch its first high-throughput satellite, Shijian-13, fr om Xichang on Wednesday, which will utilise ion propulsion and test space-to-ground laser communications.

Shijian-13 will be launched to geostationary orbit on a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, southwest China, at around 7pm Beijing time on April 12 (11am UTC), according an airspace restriction notice.

The 4.6-tonne satellite is set to be positioned at 110.5E, from wh ere it will provide Ka-band satellite broadband and multimedia services to mainland China and other areas with a message capacity of more than 20 Gbps.

Shijian-13 will also carry out space-to-ground laser communications experiments, which could pave the way to much greater advances in satellite communications capacity.

The satellite has a design lifetime of 15 years and will mark the first full use of China's LIPS-200 xenon ion engines for propulsion.

Using ion engines instead of heavy conventional chemical fuels can allow a satellite to carry greater payloads or reduce launch costs.

Спойлер

The engines were developed by the Lanzhou Institute of Physics (LIP) and were first tested on Shijian-9A, launched in October 2012.


Above: A Long March 3B launches Belintersat-1 from Xichang in January 2016. 

Following on-orbit testing, the Shijian-13 ('practice-13') satellite will be designated as Zhongxing-16 (Chinasat-16).

The satellite, based on the DFH-3B platform, was manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) and is planned for use in distance learning, medicine, internet access, airborne and maritime communications, and emergency communications.

Launch on Wednesday would be China's fourth orbital mission of 2017, following TJS-2, a Kuaizhou-1A rocket launch, and Tiankun-1.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the main contractor for the Chinese space programme and of which CAST is a subsidiary, is aiming for close to 30 launches in 2017, with further solid-fuelled rocket launches of small satellites also expected for another state-run space actor, CASIC.
 
China's busy April

Launch of Shijian-13 will kick off a very busy month for the Chinese space programme, which will see a major mission, a national space day and the revealing of a name and logo for the country's 2020 Mars mission.

The main business will be Tianzhou-1, the first test of cargo spacecraft that marks a crucial step towards constructing a space station.

Tianzhou-1 will launch from the new coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre on the second Long March 7 carrier rocket, and, once in orbit, dock with Tiangong-2, with the main aim of testing and proving liquid propellant refuelling technologies in microgravity.

Tianzhou spacecraft, much like Russian Progress or American Cygnus resupply craft, will be required to keep the future Chinese Space Station (CSS) fuelled and its astronauts fully sustained and supplied.

Preparations for launch are being finalised on Hainan Island, and the Yuanwang-7 tracking ship has started its maritime space monitoring and communication tasks ready for the mission.

Current rumours and projections suggest a launch for either April 20 or 23 and live streams of the launch will be available.


Above: Tianzhou-1 undergoing testing at the AIT centre in North China.

On April 24, the anniversary of the launch of the country's first satellite (Dongfanghong-1) in 1970, China will host its second national 'Space Day', as part of space and science education outreach, and seeking to secure political rewards for the ruling Communist Party for major achievements.

The occasion will also be used to announce the winners of a public competition to both name and create a logo for China's 2020 Mars mission, which includes an orbiter, lander and rover.

A competition to give a more attractive name to the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), a space science mission which launches in June, will also close.
 
Further telecommunications launches

In June China will launch Shijian-18, the first test of the new DFH-5 satellite bus. With a mass of up to 7 tonnes, the new platform requires the heavy-lift Long March 5 to loft it to nearly 36,000 km above the Earth.

The mission will be the second for the new carrier rocket, with China hoping for a less dramatic launch than its ultimately successful debut in November.

Zhongxing-9A is another planned summer comms sat launch, which will see the DFH-4 bus based Ku-band satellite sent to 92° E in geostationary orbit on a Long March 3B/E from Xichang.
 
China aims to use DFH-4 and -5 satellite platforms to make the internet available in aircraft cabins, high speed trains and even remote mountainous areas by 2025.
 
Other communications satellites planned for launch this year, according to Nasaspaceflight.com, are Zhongxing-6C around September and an international contracted launch, Alcomsat-1, for Algeria.

 
Above: A model DFH-4E satellite bus on display at Zhuhai Air Show in 2012.

[свернуть]

[tnt22]

ChinaSpaceflight‏ @cnspaceflight 3 ч. назад

【中星16/实践13】明天晚上从西昌发射

Спойлер

[свернуть]

[Star 16 / practice 13] tomorrow night from Xichang launch

[tnt22]

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/04/long-march-3b-chinasat-16-launch/

Long March 3B set for experimental ChinaSat-16 launch
April 11, 2017 by Rui C. Barbosa

 

The Chinese are set to return to launch action with the lofting of a new experimental communications satellite fr om the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The launch will be conducted by the Long March 3B G2 'Chang Zheng-3B/G2' (Y43) from the LC2 Launch Complex at the Sichuan province site, with T-0 expected to occur at 11:02 UTC.

Спойлер

Chinese Launch:

The 4.6-tonne satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) and is based on the DFH-3B satellite platform. Shijian-13 was the satellite's original designation, before being renamed Zhongxing-16 (ChinaSat-16).

The new satellite will test a new electric propulsion system to be used for orbit raising and station keeping at a geosynchronous altitude. It also carries the first high-throughput satellite payload (HTS) developed by China.



The satellite features a Ka-band broadband communications system capable of transmitting 20 gigabytes of data per second, making it the most powerful communications satellite the nation has developed to date.

According to Wang Min, deputy head of the CAST's Institute of Telecommunication Satellite, ChinaSat-16 will provide better access to the Internet on planes and high-speed trains, with the increase in satellite throughput provided by the new satellite that will be located at 110.5° East.

The satellite is able to provide 26 user beams covering China and offshore areas – allowing it to also cover airborne and maritime communications and emergency communications, using Ka-band satellite broadband and multimedia services.

With a lifetime of 15 years, the satellite will be operated by China Satcom.
The satellite will also conduct space-to-ground laser communications experiments.



The DFH-3 (Dongfanghong-3) platform is a medium-capacity telecommunications satellite platform designed and developed by CAST.

The platform can be used for multiple telecommunications payloads for providing a range of services, including fixed communication, international satellite communication, national and regional communication, wideband data communication, mobile communication and direct broadcast; military communication, spacecraft tracking and data relay.

It comprises six subsystems: control, power, propulsion, measurement & control, structure and thermal control subsystem. The platform configuration features module subdivision, which includes a communication module, propulsion module, service module and solar array.

The platform adopts three-axis stabilized attitude control mode, with solar array output power of 1.7 kw by the end of its design lifetime. Its mass is 2,100kg with payload capacity 220kg.
 
The DFH-3 satellite platform has been successfully applied in the Beidou navigation test satellite, and other satellites, all of which are currently operating normally.

During numerous flight missions, the maturity and reliability of the DFH-3 platform have been proved. Moreover, it has strong expansion capacity and can be upgraded to some space exploration missions, such as meteorological satellite and lunar resource satellite services.

Its onboard Ion thrusters are designed for a wide variety of missions.
These thrusters have high specific impulses, that is, ratio of thrust to the rate of propellant consumption, so they require significantly less propellant for a given mission than would be needed with chemical propulsion.

Ion propulsion is even considered to be mission enabling for some cases wh ere sufficient chemical propellant cannot be carried on the spacecraft to accomplish the desired mission.

[свернуть]

...

[tnt22]

ChinaSpaceflight‏ @cnspaceflight 12 мин. назад

今晚发射的CZ-3B火箭

[tnt22]

ChinaSpaceflight‏ @cnspaceflight 4 мин. назад

https://goo.gl/HkCxHC 

[tnt22]

Andrew Jones‏ @AJ_FI 5 мин. назад

China is set to launch the 4.5 tonne Shijian-13/Zhongxing-16 satellite to GEO from Xichang via a Long March 3B in around 45 minutes.

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 2 мин. назад

Standing by for the Long March 3B launch. Pictures from the Chinese space forum http://9ifly.com 

[Pirat5]

Satori

Looks like launch already took place.
Let's wait for launch success confirmation...

[tnt22]

ChinaSpaceflight‏ @cnspaceflight 2 мин. назад

Ушла... Тяжеловато... Видео форумный двиг не берёт

[tnt22]

Andrew Jones‏ @AJ_FI 3 мин назад

Ignition and liftoff of the long March 3B lofting China's Shijian-13 satellite from Xichang in the last few minutes.

[tnt22]

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 1 мин. назад

LAUNCH! Long March 3B launches experimental ChinaSat-16 satellite - https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/04/long-march-3b-chinasat-16-launch/ ... - by Rui C. Barbosa

[tnt22]

ChinaSpaceflight‏ @cnspaceflight 16 мин. назад

19:04

[tnt22]

ChinaSpaceflight‏ @cnspaceflight 22 мин. назад

实践十三/中星16卫星已经成功进入预定轨道！

Практика тринадцать / 16 Star спутник успешно вышел на орбиту!