Dec 29 2003
From The Space Library
The People's Republic of China and ESA launched Double Star 1 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. Double Star 1 was the first of two spacecraft in the Double Star mission to study Earth's magnetic fields~the first joint project between China and ESA. Known in China as Tan Ce 1, Double Star 1 carried eight instruments for investigating Earth's magnetosphere~five from ESA and three from the Chinese National Space Administration. ESA and China had designed the mission to study how magnetized and charged particles streaming off the Sun affect Earth. The space agencies had scheduled the second of the two craft to launch six months after the first. (Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 602, 1 January 2004, http://nssdc.GSFC.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx602.html (accessed 26 March 2009); United Press International, “China-EU Launch Space Project,” 30 December 2003.
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