First joint China-EU satellite to be launched Monday

BEIJING (AFP) Dec 29, 2003
The first ever joint Chinese-European space mission -- a satellite designed to study the earth's magnetic field -- will be launched Monday from a base in southern China, European space officials involved in the project said.

The announcement was made in Paris by the European Space Agency (ESA), which said the launch was scheduled for 1906 GMT.

The program's chief scientist Liu Zhenxing was earlier quoted by the China Daily as saying only that last-minute preparations were underway for the "Double Star" project.

The satellite, known as Explorer 1, will be put into orbit from atop a Chinese-made Long March 2C rocket from Xichang Satellite Launching Center in Sichuan province, southwest China.

It is the first of two elements to be put into orbit for the Double Star project, which will see European experiments being run on Chinese-built satellites.

The two satellites have been jointly designed by Chinese and European scientific research institutions.

SPACE.WIRE