It seems that China is serious about spurring a space race--and why not? It beats to hell and back the rest of the world's current obsession: War. Yes, yes, I know that space exploration and its technology can and probably will have military by-products and applications for the PLA. Again, I ask: Why not? Defense capability is an obligation of government, all governments. On the other hand, unilateral offensive capabilities are choices or options of a government that warrants close scrutiny by all other nations. I believe there is only one nation on earth that is far and away preeminent in that category, and it is not China.
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 launch was successful. The satellite had entered an orbit with a perigee of 555 kilometers and an apogee of 78,051 kilometers, and at a gradient of 28.5 degrees.
Probe No.1, the first satellite of the Double Star Project, is the highest orbiting satellite China has ever launched. The apogee of its orbit is more than twice as high as the geosynchronous orbit.
Weighing 350 kilometers, the satellite is expected to work in space for 18 months.
Proposed by Chinese scientists in 1997, the Double Star Project is the first China-Europe joint satellite probe program.
This is also the first time that China cooperated with developed countries with its own space exploration programs.
The design and manufacture of the platform and the assembly of Probe No. 1 were carried out by the Space Technology Institute of the China Aerospace Technology Corporation. Its probe equipment were developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and eight European scientific research institutions.
