Tim Furniss/LONDON
THE APSTAR 2 communications satellite was destroyed on 26 January when a Long March 2E rocket exploded 51s after launch from Xichang, China. The spacecraft loss was a record for the local insurance industry - Pacific Insurance of Shanghai had insured Apstar 2 for $160 million.
The Hughes HS-601 model spacecraft, built for Asia Pacific Telecommunications (APT) of Hong Kong, had 26 C-band and eight Ku-band transponders.
The cause of the explosion, which occurred during first-stage firing and before the planned jettison of the 2E's liquid-propellant strap-on motors, is unknown. The Apstar 2 had been switched to a 2E model from a Long March 3, on which it was originally manifested.
Although it is a blow to China's space programme, which has experienced a series of recent failures, the loss of the ApStar was China's first failure in six launches for commercial customers. A Government-owned weather satellite exploded during testing and a new communications satellite was lost in orbit.
One previous commercial satellite, the Australian Optus B2, did not reach orbit in December 1992, but this is commonly believed to have been the result of an explosion on the Hughes-built HS-601 satellite during the launch. The 2E vehicle performed satisfactorily.
China has two more 2E commercial launches, of the Asiasat 2 and Echostar 1 satellites, manifested for July and October 1995 and four other satellites, the Echostar 2 and Intelsats 7-08, 8-01 and 8-05 manifested on the new Long March 3B, which is a 3A model with the four strap-on motors from the 2E.
The 3B has not yet been flown, but is expected to be test flown in 1995, before the planned launch of the Intelsat 7-08 in October.
The ApStar 2 launch failure is the second in four attempts so far this year - Japan's Express micro-gravity research craft failed on 15 January - and brings to $930 million the value of communications satellite losses since January 1994.
In 1994, the Eutelsat 2-F5, Turksat 1 and Panamsat 3 were lost in two Ariane failures and the Engineering Test Satellite 6 and Telstar 4 were stranded in orbit. China's first DFH 3 was also lost in orbit in January. The space insurance industry's deficit is now estimated to be $380 million.
Source: Flight International
