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China launches satellite in joint space probe program with Europe

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 December 2003, 06:00 CST

China launches satellite in joint space probe program with Europe

XICHANG, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- China launched a high-altitude orbiting satellite into the preset orbit successfully Tuesday morning, using a Long March 2C/SM carrier rocket, according to witnesses at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.

The satellite is the first of its kind launched by China. It is part of a space probe program carried out jointly by China and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Witnesses said the "equatorial orbiting" satellite, named Probe No. 1, was launched at 03:06 a.m. Tuesday from Xichang in Sichuan Province.

Tracking reports from the Xi'an Satellite Monitor and Control Center showed the satellite had entered an orbit with a perigee of 551 kilometers and an apogee of 74,017 kilometers, and at a gradient of 28.2 degrees.

Probe No.1, the first satellite of the Double Star Project, is the highest orbiting satellite China has ever launched, according to Chinese scientists.

Proposed by Chinese scientists in 1997, the Double Star Project is the first China-Europe joint space probe program. This is also the first time that China cooperated with developed countries with its own space exploration programs.

The second satellite in the project, a "polar orbiting" satellite named Probe No. 2, is expected to go up next year.

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