China, Europe Launch Satellite to Track Space Storms

Yahoo News ^ | 12/29/03 | Reuters - Beijing

[NormsRevenge]

BEIJING (Reuters) -

Pushing ahead with a space program that has won international acclaim, China launched a satellite on Tuesday as part of its first joint initiative with the European Space Agency to help track storms in space.

Probe No. 1, an equatorial orbiting satellite, blasted off atop a Long March 2C/SM carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan province, the official Xinhua news agency said.

China's highest orbiting satellite ever launched, part of the Sino-European Double Star Project, was expected to remain in orbit for 18 months to track space storms and help improve the safety of space missions, it said.

Probe No. 2, a polar orbiting satellite, was due to be propelled into orbit next year, it said.

China designed and assembled the satellite while eight scientific research institutes from Europe helped develop its probe equipment, it said.

Fast-growing China has sent a handful of research satellites into orbit since becoming the world's third nation to successfully send a man into space in October this year.

A single Chinese astronaut orbited the Earth 14 times on a mission that lasted just under a day.

[NormsRevenge]

Carrying the high-altitude orbiting satellite Probe No. 1 to study the Earth's magnetic fields, a Long March 2C-SM carrier rocket of China is launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province at at 3:06 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2003 (1906GMT Dec.29), Xinhua news agency said. The launch was part of the Double Star Project, a space probe program carried out jointly by China and the European Space Agency (ESA). (AP Photo/Xinhua, Zha Chunming)

[RussianConservative]

Is space storm made by man? Does it cover under Koyoto? Can Chinese mass produce it with slave labor?

[Prodigal Son]

Track space storms or track storms from space?

[SkyRat]

the local radio here says the satelite is used to get a better understanding of the earths magnetic field.


weird

[apillar]

China's seems to be just about the only country that is investing heavily in space exploration (manned and unmanned).

Within the last 15 years their space program has gone from a joke to being almost up to par with the US and Russia.

I think it's very possible that within another 20 years their program could be superior to ours. Maybe, that might be a good thing though, We seem to do our best when we have someone to compete against... When we see China establish a permanant presence on the moon (which they are planning) it will shock us into taking space seriously again.