SinoSat-2 Unable to Deploy Solar Panels

China's Sino Satellite Communications Co. Ltd confirmed reports last week that SinoSat-2 had failed in orbit. An article on www.spacemart.com said that while the satellite was successfully placed into orbit, the solar panels failed. The Oct. 29, 2006 launch of SinoSat-2, China's first direct-to-home satellite was cov

Author:: TVTechnology
Publish date:: Dec 7, 2006

China's Sino Satellite Communications Co. Ltd confirmed reports last week that SinoSat-2 had failed in orbit. An article on www.spacemart.com said that while the satellite was successfully placed into orbit, the solar panels failed. The Oct. 29, 2006 launch of SinoSat-2, China's first direct-to-home satellite was covered in a previous RF Report.

Sino Satellite Communications said in an article posted on ChinaDaily.com, that the SinoSat-2 "unfortunately suffered serious technical defects and was unable to deploy its solar panels and communications antennae. It, therefore, cannot provide broadcasting and telecommunications services."

SinoSat-3, the next satellite the company plans to launch, will not include transponders for direct-to-home transmissions. China Satcom plans to launch Chinasat 9 to the same orbital location as SinoSat-2. Chinasat 9 will be able to provide DBS signals to most parts of China.

Damage from the solar flares reported on in last week's RF Report was limited to disruption of two Japanese satellites and a power outage affecting 20,000 people in Malmoe in southern Sweden. Scientists said space weather forecasts and increased experience with solar flares helped minimize damage. The flare that erupte

Solar activity was high over the weekend. Two large (Jupiter size) sunspots of sufficient size to be visible without a telescope (although with suitable eye protection!) are responsible for the increased activity. Two "X-class" solar flares erupted 12 hours apart from the sunspots Sunday. At least one of these eruption

Last Friday, Intelsat reported “a delay in deploying one of the two solar arrays on the Intelsat 19 satellite.”

The eclipse blocked sunlight to the solar cells on the Optus B1 satellite, requiring the cells to be recharged

Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) school of engineering in Lausanne, Switzerland have developed a way to combine antennas with solar panels

The National Oceanic and Aeronautic Administration (NOAA) announced on 4 January that the first sunspot of Solar Cycle 24, identified as sunspot #10,981, had appeared on the sun's northern hemisphere. Earlier predictions had placed the expected start of the cycle in March 2008.

The sunspots that caused the solar flares and coronal mass ejections in late October and early November have rotated around the sun and are again visible from Earth. The NOAA Space Weather Advisories said that all three regions have decreased in size, but they are "bright and show considerable magnetic complexity."

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 Sp