Upgraded Chinese Space Tracking Ships In Full Rehearsal For New Mission

DRAGON SPACE

Chinese Tracking Ships In Full Rehearsal For Shenzhou-3 Launch

YW-1 left port for system testing in July after completion of servicing in its home port in Shanghai. (Photo: Wen Wei Po)

by Wei Long
Beijing - Dec 27, 2001
Science and Technology Daily reported last Monday (17th) that the entire fleet of refurbished and upgraded Yuanwang (YW, Yuanwang means "Long View") tracking vessels gathered at an unspecified location to carry out a full scale launch tracking rehearsal in mid-December. The report, however, did not provide any details and the duration of the exercise.

Then on Friday (21st) Xinhua News Agency reported that the fleet successfully completed the 10-day "comprehensive simulation" in the East China Sea and returned home in the afternoon.

According to Xinhua the rehearsal was "a comprehensive assessment of executing the task of maritime tracking of Shenzhou."

The full scale rehearsal of the entire tracking fleet probably signals another milestone in the launch preparation of the third unmanned test flight of Shenzhou ("Magic Vessel" or "Divine Vessel"), the SZ-3 mission.

Chinese space officials have not acknowledged any preparations to launch SZ-3. But various reports in recent months indicate that SZ-3 prelaunch activities are underway. For example, the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) said in October that the CZ-2F launcher which would launch SZ-3 had received certification by authorities in Beijing.

Whether the duration of the tracking rehearsal has any significance remains to be seen. Perhaps it may be a hint on the length of the SZ-3 primary mission. In January this year SZ-2 completed its primary mission of nearly seven days long.

In addition to the anticipated launch of SZ-3 next year, China plans to launch other satellites such as Fengyun ("Wind and Cloud") metsats and the first Haiyang ("Ocean") ocean colour satellite. All these launches would require the support of the Yuanwang tracking fleet.

With forty successful tracking missions in more than two decades of duty, mechanical systems on the Yuanwang fleet have reached their life expectancy and the vessels are due for a much-needed servicing.

Early this year the fleet received the order that all vessels would enter shipyard to receive maintenance and upgrade. According to the Maritime Satellite Tracking, Telemetry and Command department, this is the first time that the entire tracking fleet has undergone parallel servicing in a shipyard.

To ensure the quality of work, four Navy representatives were seconded to assist specialists in the department for acceptance of servicing. The newspaper cited that in an incomplete survey, YW-3 had more than 400 servicing quality problems and over 50 safety concerns. The servicing quality technical group is said to have resolved all of these issues.

The tracking vessels started to return to their home port in Shanghai after they tracked the safe reentry of the SZ-2 Descent Module on January 16. For YW-3 which stationed the furthest during the SZ-2 mission in South Atlantic, it sailed full steam and managed to reach port in a month.

Altogether the servicing crews and crewmembers of the Yuanwang fleet spent 154 days to complete 1,239 servicing contracts. Under the guidance of shipyard technicians, Yuanwang crewmembers laid more than 30,000 meters of cables.

The servicing work not only refurbished the vessel, it also upgraded the fleet to the modern era of navigation. For example the oldest ship of the fleet YW-1, which entered service in 1977, received an upgraded navigation control system. Coupled with electronic ocean maps, navigators can simply enter a planned route and the navigation control system will automatically guide the ship in the proper bearing.

Other improvements include modification and maintenance of various systems to receive meteorological information and tracking communications, focused training on crewmember's professionalism, and extensive technological training on ocean navigation and spaceflight command and tracking.

When the servicing was completed, each vessel left port to test all systems. The on-going testings culminated in the full scale exercise of the entire fleet last week.

In the meantime, SpaceDaily continues to monitor various information sources and will endeavor to bring our readers further details on China's next Shenzhou test flight.

DRAGON SPACE

China Space Chief Vows Manned Flight By 2005

Beijing - Nov 27, 2001
The head of the Chinese space agency declared on the first anniversary of the release of China's long-range space plan that the first manned mission would take place by 2005. In a remark that he gave at the anniversary forum here on Nov. 22, and published the day before in Science and Technology Daily, the Administrator of China National Space Administration (CNSA) Luan Enjie reiterated the different elements of the space plan that China would pursue in the current and 10th five-year economic development period, dubbed "10 5" which ends in 2005. Luan also reviewed achievements in the past year since the government issued the space plan.

Ambitious Space Effort Challenges China

Beijing - Sept. 18, 2001
China could launch 35 or more science and application satellites in the next five years, Xinhua News Agency reported September 6. At the 2001 China Western Forum which was held in Xi'an in the central Shaanxi Province, Deputy General Manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Hu Hongfu said that the company would design, develop and launch different types of satellites, totalling to 35, in this period.

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