Advanced network satellite launched

China launched its most technologically advanced commercial communications satellite on Thursday evening from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

The State-owned space giant said in a statement that the APSTAR-6D satellite was carried by a Long March 3B carrier rocket that blasted off at 8:11 pm at the center and will fly toward a geostationary orbit about 36,000 kilometers above the Earth. The launch marked the 339th flight of the

Long March rocket family.

The satellite was developed and manufactured by the company’s China Academy of Space Technology based on the DFH-4E satellite design. It has the largest transmission capacity, strongest power system and most sophisticated design of all commercial communications satellites made in China, representing the top level of such Chinese satellites, the statement said.

With a design life of 15 years, the 5.55-metric ton spacecraft features cutting-edge technology and is the first space-based asset in the country’s global high-throughput broadband satellite communications network.

This type of technology gives a communications satellite a transmission capacity more than 10 times larger than that of previous satellites. The first Chinese satellite built with the technology was the ChinaSat 16, launched in April 2017.

APSTAR-6D is tasked with providing round-the-clock, highquality regional broadband communications services to users in the Asia-Pacific region, especially those in maritime, air and ground transportation as well as internet industries, the statement said.

The satellite’s owner, APT Mobile SatCom in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, said in a statement that the research and development of the satellite started in late 2016 and cost the company about 2 billion yuan ($286 million).

According to the China Academy of Space Technology, APSTAR-6D is the 11th communications satellite it has built for commercial users and overseas buyers.

China first delivered a communications satellite to an overseas buyer in 2007, when the NigcomSat-1 was launched and then handed over to Nigeria. Since then, the country has exported communications satellites to nations including Venezuela, Pakistan, Bolivia and Laos.

Artist’s rendering of China’s APSTAR-6D satellite