DongFangHong 3 Communications Satellite

The Chinese Ministry of Aerospace began the develop the second-generation DongFangHong 3 (DFH-3) communications satellite in the early 1980s to meet the growing market demand for larger-capacity communications and broadcasting satellites from both the civilian and military sectors. The project was officially given go-ahead by the State Council in March 1986. The Ministry of Astronautics signed a contract in 1987 to co-develop the DFH-3 satellite with DASA (now the Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG), the first high-profile programme for Chinese co-operation with a foreign company in satellite technology.

The development of the DFH-3 took over eight years to finish. DASA provided overall design guidance, as well as contributed the apogee kick stage and components for the communications antennas and solar array mechanism. Due to its much increased size the DFH-3 required a new launch vehicle with greater payload than the CZ-3 used to launch the DFH-2. The newly developed CZ-3A was first tested on 8 February 1994, successfully placing a DFH-3 mockup satellite (known as KuaFu-1) and a small scientific satellite into GTO.

The DFH-3 satellite is a medium-capacity geostationary communications satellite based on the DFH-3 three-axis-stabilised satellite bus. The satellite bears a resemblance to the GE Astro Space 5000 series spacecraft. The 2,200kg satellite could carry 24 C-band transponders, providing 6 television channels and 18 communications transmission channels. It has a power supply of 2kW and a designed lifespan of eight years.

The DFH-3 No.1 was launched by a CZ-3A launch vehicle from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre (XSLC) on 30 November 1994. The satellite entered GTO precisely as planned. Unfortunately, however, the German-supplied apogee kick stage malfunctioned, causing the Chinese ground control to use the spacecraft's propulsion system to lift the vehicle into a sub-geosynchronous orbit where the spacecraft was declared lost. The failure had forced China to purchase the in-orbit second-hand communications satellites Spacenet 1 from the U.S. to replace the DFH-2A which reached its designed lifespan.

The DFH-3 No.2 (commercial name ChinaSat 6) with some modifications was launched on 12 May 1997 and got to its orbital slot thereafter. The satellite has been operating normally since 1997 and is scheduled to be replaced by the ChinaSat 6B based on the French-designed Spacebus 4000C1 communications satellite platform in 2007.

The DFH-3 No.3 (commercial name SinoSat 3) was launched on 1 June 2007, marking the 100th launch of the ChangZheng series space launch vehicle. The satellite carries 10 36MHz C-band transponders. The satellite has been positioned at 125°E on the GEO.

A number of spacecraft has been developed based on the DFH-3 bus, including the C-band military tactical communications satellite FengHuo 1 (ChinaSat 22), the Ku-band military strategic communications satellite ShenTong 1 (ChinaSat 20), and the L/S-band navigation satellite BeiDou 1. CAST is currently developing a lunar orbitor known as ChangEr-1 also based on the DFH-3 bus.

Last update: 24 September 2008