CHINA'S NEW FRONTIER China finds launches lucrative

Orlando Sentinel ^ | December 10, 2001 | Michael Cabbage | Sentinel space editor

[Cincinatus' Wife]

MORE: China's Great Leap Forward: Space

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Something to ponder:

(December 10, 2001)--VENEZUELANS TENSE AS STRIKE LOOMS: Business and labor challenge Chávez--On Sunday, Chávez remained defiant and encouraged supporters to confront the strike with a protest of their own. ``A revolution cannot depend on a single man -- it must depend on a nation,'' Chávez said on the weekly broadcast of his call-in show. ``This stoppage is not against me; it is against the people.''

Jiang Zemin and Hugo Chavez

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Hugo Chavez has been salivating over Guyana. China needs to place tracking stations (and launch ports) in places they don't now have access to.

A description of the area Chavez covets, before Beal pulled out of there.

WHY GUYANA? "A major advantage of the Guyana site for the spaceport is its proximity to the Equator. This makes it easier to launch satellites, as the satellites can use the centrifugal force of the Earth to get into orbit. According to the company, a rocket launching a satellite into geosynchronous orbit from a site on the equator uses about 10-20% less fuel than rockets launched from Cape Canaveral.

The country has two other geographical advantages. It has large remote areas suitable for an incredibly noisy activity like launching rockets. The second reason is the expanse of ocean to the east and north, which is important for safety reasons. All rockets carrying satellites into geosynchronous orbits will be launched to the east, and all other satellites will be launched to the north. Beal's rocket, like all current rockets capable of launching satellites, will have multiple stages. As these stages fall off, they can fall into an uninhabited area. Similarly, if a rocket has to be aborted, it is important that it can fall to earth without incurring any safety obstacles.

Other reasons cited by Beal are the site's location in an english-speaking country with a legal system not dissimilar from that of the USA. The country is also politically stable. [End of Excerpt]

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(July 23, 2001)--sohu.com--Venezuela calls for end to Guyana border dispute--[Full text below]

Pro-government Venezuelan lawmakers have called for a peaceful end to a century-old border dispute with neighboring Guyana, under which it claims some three-quarters of the former British colony.

The legislators visited settlements on the border with Guyana on Saturday to sign a declaration supporting President Hugo Chavez' position that a 1899 treaty giving a mineral-rich region called Esequibo to Guyana was "null and provocative."

The declaration also urged both nations to work for a swift solution to the dispute which would be "just, long-lasting and acceptable."

"We held a special session of the parliamentary Defense Committee and then we signed the document," legislator Saul Ortega told Reuters on Sunday.

Over the past two years, Chavez's nationalist administration has revived the border controversy over Esequibo, a sparsely inhabited jungle region of some 63,600 square miles (159,000 square km) in eastern Guyana.

During his weekly radio talk show "Hello President" on Saturday, Chavez pledged cooperation "with Guyana and with all the people which live in that immense territory."

"This cannot remain in limbo for much longer, we have to solve this situation," said Chavez, after talking by telephone with National Assembly President William Lara who headed the delegation.

Lara, a staunch Chavez supporter, insisted that "we do not have a hostile stance. This is not an unfriendly gesture toward Guyana or anyone."

In recent weeks, Chavez has also strongly defended Venezuela's sovereignty over a tiny island, the Isla de Aves, amid criticism from eastern Caribbean nations.

The desert island, which is only inhabited part of the year, lies some 350 miles (565 km) north of Venezuela's coast. [End Text]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

FYI

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Good morning JH2.

[JohnHuang2]

Morning to you, my friend =^)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!!

[ChaseR]

"Here in a sparkling showroom celebrating the achievements of Chinese rocket builders, representatives of the Great Wall Industry Corp. are showing off their wares to an international delegation from Iran, Thailand and Pakistan. The pitch is clear: China has rockets for sale -- cheap.

(KEY ALLEGATIONS FROM LORAL SHAREHOLDERS CASE:

138. On February 15, 1996, a Chinese Long March 3B Rocket carrying a $200 million commercial communications satellite manufactured by Defendant Loral failed in midflight.

139. According to the Cox Report, the satellite on board the failed rocket was an Intelsat 708 satellite manufactured by Defendant Loral for Intelsat, the world’s largest commercial satellite communications services provider. In October 1988, Intelsat had awarded a contract to Loral to manufacture several satellites under a program known as Intelsat VII. That contract had a total value of nearly $1 billion dollars.

140. On information and belief, the failed launch had been undertaken by China Great Wall Industry Corporation, a state-controlled missile, rocket and launch provider, with reported ties to Chinese intelligence services.

141. The satellite on board the Chinese Long March rocket contained an encryption device on a circuit board that controls the satellite’s communications and movements in space.

142. On information and belief, similar encryption devices are used in U.S. defense satellites, and, consequently, the devices are highly classified secrets of the U.S. Government.

143. On information and belief, the circuit board from the highly classified encryption device in the satellite that was destroyed during the February 15, 1996 launch was missing when the Chinese returned debris from the explosion to U.S. authorities, even though a control box containing the circuit board was recovered intact.

144. People’s Liberation Army soldiers and other Chinese agents reportedly sorted through the debris while U.S. officials were kept away
from the crash site for five (5) hours.

145. U.S. officials have publicly stated that they suspect the Chinese authorities took the board.

[ChaseR]

146. After the crash, NSA reportedly changed the encoded algorithms used by U.S. satellites.

147. According to the Cox Report, China Great Wall Industry Corporation created two groups whose members were Chinese nationals to investigate the cause of the Long March 3B launch failure.

148. According to the Cox Report, on February 27, 1996, China Great Wall Industry Corporation reported that the Long March 3B launch failure was caused by a failure in the inertial measurement unit within the control system of the rocket. The inertial measurement unit is a component that provides an attitude reference for the rocket, basically telling it which way is up. This was not the true cause of the failure, however.

149. According to the Cox Report, in early April 1996, China Great Wall Industry Corporation invited both Defendant Loral and Hughes to participate in an Independent Review Committee ("IRC") that would review the Chinese launch failure investigation.

150. According to the Cox Report, Defendant Loral was aware from the start of the IRC meetings that it did not have a license for the IRC activity.

151. On information and belief, Defendant Loral and Hughes participated in at least two (2) rounds of IRC meetings.

152. According to the Cox Report, IRC meetings were not attended by any U.S. government monitors, as almost certainly would have been required had there been an export control license.

153. According to the Cox Report, Defendant Loral and Hughes were well aware that a State Department license was required to provide assistance related to the guidance system of a Chinese rocket. Neither company applied for nor obtained the required license. Defendant Loral was warned of the need for a license at the time it agreed to participate in the investigation, but took no action.

154. According to the Cox Report, Defendant Loral and Hughes also failed to properly brief participants in the failure investigation of U.S. export requirements, failed to monitor the investigation as it progressed, and failed to take adequate steps to ensure that no prohibited information was passed to the Chinese.

155. According to the Cox Report, Defendant Loral and Hughes submitted lengthy written materials analyzing the cause of the guidance system failure to the Chinese and other foreign nationals.

156. As reported by both The New York Times and The Washington Post, Defendant Loral faxed a twenty-five (25) page memorandum to the Chinese summarizing the conclusions of an independent review panel about the causes of the accident. (Elaine Sciolino and Jeff Gerth, "Scientist Who Led Missile Review Promised Help to China," The New York Times, June 6, 1998; John Minz, "Technology Transfer Probe is Widened," The Washington Post, June 24, 1998; John Minz, "Testimony: Export Watchdog Neutered," The Washington Post, June 26, 1998).

157. According to the Cox Report, Defendant Loral and Hughes also engaged in technical discussions, including discussions about the details and causes of the guidance system failure, that were most certainly recorded by the Chinese.

158. According to the Cox Report, neither Defendant Loral nor Hughes disclosed to export control officers of the U.S. Government their unlicensed activities until after they were contacted by U.S. Government licensing officials demanding an explanation for their conduct. The U.S. Government officials became aware of the improper activities through an article in a widely-read industry publication. This article also came to Defendant Loral’s attention prior to its disclosure to the U.S. Government.

159. According to the Cox Report, an aborted third round of IRC was scheduled for June 1996. However, the U.S. Government, upon learning of the IRC’s activities, issued a cease and desist letter to both Defendant Loral and Hughes, ordering the companies to stop all activity in connection with the failure review. The letter also requested each company to disclose the facts related to, and circumstances surrounding, the IRC.

160. According to the Cox Report, in August 1996 the Defense Department prepared a classified assessment of the IRC materials. That assessment reported that the Defense Department would have recommended against issuing a license for the sharing of technical information with the Chinese by Defendant Loral and Hughes.

161. According to the Cox Report, the August 1996 Defense Department assessment cited 18 violations that it believed had occurred during the IRC’s exchange of information with the Chinese.

162. According to the Cox Report, Defendant Loral and Hughes identified for the Chinese the true cause of the failure as a particular element within the Long March 3B’s rocket guidance system. As set forth in the Cox Report, the 1996 Defense Department assessment states: It is likely that the all-Chinese Failure Analysis Team pursued recommendations made by the Independent Review Committee in its draft report . . . and that the pursuit of these recommendations directly resulted in the Chinese team finding the correct cause of failure in the Long March 3B guidance system . . . .

163. As set forth in the Cox Report, the 1996 Defense Department assessment also states with regard to the IRC’s assisting the Chinese to learn the true cause of the failure:

[ChaseR]

Folks, take a few minutes to read the entire Loral case.
This Loral Shareholders case - is EXACTLY what we're reading here in TODAYS article by Cincinatus' Wife!

LORAL SHAREHOLDERS CASE - AMENDED COMPLAINT

[ChaseR]

"Glossy marketing brochures are distributed as the video's
narrator breathlessly gushes in English about the rockets' high reliability."

[ChaseR]

"...about the rockets' high reliability."
"...about the rockets' high reliability."
"...about the rockets' high reliability."

Thanks Bill Clinton and Bernard Schwartz!

[ChaseR]

"...about the rockets' high reliability."
"...about the rockets' high reliability."
"...about the rockets' high reliability."

Thanks Hillary Clinton and John Huang!

[Brett66]

We can definitely attribute the death of the American launch industry to the Klintons. We should consider the building of economical launchers a top priority. The Chinese don't have the know how to build reusable space planes. Hopefully we will get our RLV's up and running just in time to cut the Chi-com's business off at the knees.

[ChaseR]

The Next Strike could Come from China

[ChaseR]

North Korea Says Its Ready for War

[Native American Female Vet]

BUMP

[Native American Female Vet]

"The pitch is clear: China has rockets for sale -- cheap BUMP

[MeekOneGOP]

Scary, but BIG Texas BUMP! !

[TwoStep]

Thanks for the ping!

[ChaseR]

"It will allow Long March to go head to head for the heaviest payloads
with the new Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets being built for the Air Force..."

Vet, I phoned a friend about this article (here at FR.com) just 20 minutes ago - he said, "...after Sept. 11th, he really couldn't handle anymore bad news..."

Unfortunately, the Head in the Sand Syndrome" had set in -and I understand this - possibly, like the lack of posts in this thread.

(Buck-up fellow posters, now's the time to be strong - - not the time for whimpering!