CHINA'S FIRST three-axis-stabilised, advanced, indigenous, 24 C-band communications satellite, the DFH 3, has finally reached geostationary orbit (GEO).
A navigation malfunction had left it stranded in a lower transfer orbit ever since its launch aboard a Long March 3A on 30 November (Flight International, 7-13 December, 1994).
The 2,200kg spacecraft had reached a 6,400 x 36,000km orbit on its way to GEO, says the Molniya Space Company, (which publishes the Worldwide Satellite Launches table) when its apogee-motor firing was halted.
While the navigation error was corrected, several attitude-control system-thruster firings had to be made to keep the DFH 3 stabilised, so that its projected eight-year lifetime in GEO will be severely reduced.
Source: Flight International
