Oct 28 2006
From The Space Library
CNSA launched the Sino Satellite Communications Company’s (SinoSat’s) satellite on a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 16:20 (UT). The communications satellite, SinoSat-2, represented a major technological advance for the Chinese space program. The domestically developed satellite, capable of providing both analog and digital television broadcasts, was China’s first satellite based on the Direct-From-Home-4 system, or DFH-4 bus. The DFU-4 bus enables individual households to receive television signals using their own satellite-dish antennas. SinoSat hoped that the satellite would improve the capacity and reliability of Chinese television broadcasting and help China serve the international spaceflight market. In addition, CNSA officials stated that the satellite’s technology could prompt the Chinese government to eliminate regulations prohibiting Chinese citizens from installing their own satellite-dish antennas.
Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 636; Xinhua News Agency, “5th Ld-Writethru-China Exclusive: China Launches High- Power Communications, Broadcast Satellite,” 29 October 2006.
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