Report Says China’s SinoSat-2 Satellite Fails   

BEIJING, Nov. 21, 2006/Satnews Daily/ ― China's first direct-to-home broadcasting satellite, billed as a broadcaster of digital television signals to China's rural areas with no access to cable, has failed less than 10 days after its launch, the South China Morning Post reported.

According to the Hong Kong newspaper, SinoSat-2, the first domestically made satellite that was to offer services directly to some 100 million households, suffered a serious power failure and appeared beyond repair. The paper identified an engineer surnamed Jia at Sino Satellite Communication, the company that operates SinSat-2, as its source.

The paper, quoting its source, said the satellite went into orbit successfully but the solar power panel failed shortly afterwards, “leaving the satellite without power.” The source said “SinoSat-2 can no longer send any signals” and “it's gone out of operation,” quoting another source from the company.

SinoSat 2 was launched on Oct. 29 to provide wider and more advanced television services across the country. Lofted by a Long March-3B rocket, the satellite blasted off off from the Xichang launching site in western Sichuan province.

The Sinosat-2 satellite was built by the China Academy of Space Technology for the Sino Satellite Communications Co., or Sinosat, a state-run provider of satellite communications.