 | SSTW?
Credit - via Chen Lan
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Class: Surveillance. Type: Military. Nation: China. Agency: MAI. Mysterious early Chinese satellite, orbited by the cancelled FB-1 launch vehicle. Western opinion was that it was a military photo surveillance satellite, probably using television or radio transmission of scanned film images. Based on American and Soviet experiences with similar systems in the 1960's, the results were probably disappointing.
Typical orbit: 190 x 995 km, 69 deg inclinaton. Mass: 1,100 kg (2,400 lb).
JSSW Chronology - 1973 September 18 - JSSW 1 - Launch Site: Jiuquan. Launch Complex: LA2B. Launch Vehicle: CZ. FAILURE: Failure.
- 1974 July 14 - JSSW 2 - Launch Site: Jiuquan. Launch Complex: LA2B. Launch Vehicle: CZ. FAILURE: Vehicle lost attitude stability and destroyed by range safety.
- 1975 July 26 - JSSW 3 - Launch Site: Jiuquan. Launch Complex: LA2B. Launch Vehicle: CZ. Mass: 1,107 kg (2,440 lb). Perigee: 190 km (110 mi). Apogee: 455 km (282 mi). Inclination: 69.00 deg. Period: 90.90 min.
Photo surveillance; radio transmission.
- 1975 December 16 - JSSW 4 - Launch Site: Jiuquan. Launch Complex: LA2B. Launch Vehicle: CZ. Mass: 1,110 kg (2,440 lb). Perigee: 186 km (115 mi). Apogee: 387 km (240 mi). Inclination: 69.00 deg. Period: 90.30 min.
Photo surveillance; radio transmission.
- 1976 August 30 - JSSW 5 - Launch Site: Jiuquan. Launch Complex: LA2B. Launch Vehicle: CZ. Mass: 1,108 kg (2,442 lb). Perigee: 195 km (121 mi). Apogee: 2,145 km (1,332 mi). Inclination: 69.20 deg. Period: 108.80 min.
- 1976 November 10 - JSSW 6 - Launch Site: Jiuquan. Launch Complex: LA2B. Launch Vehicle: CZ. FAILURE: Failure.
Bibliography:- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page (launch records), Harvard University, 1997-present. Web Address when accessed: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
- JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. Web Address when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html.
- McDowell, Jonathan, Launch Log, October 1998. Web Address when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/launch.html.
- Chen Lan, Dragon in Space, Web Address when accessed: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/1921/.
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© Mark Wade, 1997 - 2008 except where otherwise noted.
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