Just after midnight Sunday morning (Oct. 29) a Long March 3B carrier rocket launched China's first high power DBS satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. SinoSat-2 will be used for satellite TV broadcasting and broadband communications. A Chinaview article quotes Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration, saying, "the satellite would enable every farming household to receive TV signals using a small dish, thereby bringing education programs and even remote medical services to farmers."
SinoSat-2 was designed, developed and built in China mainly by the China Academy of Space Technology. The orbital location of the satellite is 92.2 degrees EL and it has an expected life of 15 years. The payload consists of 18-36 MHz wide transponders and four 54 MHz wide transponders, which will cover China and neighboring regions. The EIRP ranges from 57.5 dBW at the peak of beam to 48 dBW in the western service area. See www.sinosat.cn/english/ for more information on SinoSat satellites.
