Sino Satellite Communications Co., Ltd. known also as SinoSat is a Chinese company. It provided satellite communications through a pair of

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

s in

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...

. Their two satellites were SinoSat 1 and SinoSat 3. A third satellite, SinoSat 2, failed shortly after launch.

History

Sino Satellite Communications was formed in 1994. It was a subsidiary of

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is a main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has subsidiaries which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, and ground equ ...

(CASC). In 2007, a new joint venture () was formed with another state-owned company China Satellite Communications, which SinoSat 1 and other assets was injected to the joint venture as

share capital A corporation's share capital, commonly referred to as capital stock in the United States, is the portion of a corporation's equity that has been derived by the issue of shares in the corporation to a shareholder, usually for cash. ''Share ...

. However, in 2009 China Satellite Communications was assigned as a subsidiary of CASC by the

State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) is a special commission of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It was founded in 2003 through the consolidation of various other indus ...

(excluding some assets that were assigned to

China Telecommunications Corporation China Telecommunications Corporation (), known as its trading name China Telecom, is a Chinese state-owned telecommunication company. It is the largest fixed-line service and the third largest mobile telecommunication provider in China. The corp ...

). Since then, Sino Satellite Communications became a subsidiary of China Satellite Communications, with all the satellites were under the brand

ChinaSat ChinaSat () is the brand name of communications satellites operated by China Satellite Communications. History In 2007, a joint venture China Direct Broadcast Satellite was formed to run the brand ChinaSat. It was a joint venture of state ...

instead. In 2016 Sino Satellite Communications sold a 15% stake of a company () to Shenglu Telecommunication.

Satellites

SinoSat 1

Sinosat-1 was built by

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

using a

Spacebus 3000 Spacebus is a satellite bus produced at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France by Thales Alenia Space. Spacebuses are typically used for geostationary communications satellites, and seventy-four have been launched since development started ...

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are less customized than specially-produced satelli ...

. It was launched by a

Long March 3B The Long March 3B (), also known as the CZ-3B and LM-3B, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle. Introduced in 1996, it is launched from Launch Area 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. A three-stage rocket with four strap-on ...

carrier rocket A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistag ...

from the

Xichang Satellite Launch Centre The Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC), also known as the Xichang Space Center, is a spaceport in China. It is located in (), Mianning county, approximately northwest of Xichang, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. It is op ...

at 09:20 GMT on 18 July 1998. It was placed into a geostationary orbit, and is currently operating in a slot at 110.5° East of the

Greenwich Meridian The Greenwich meridian is a prime meridian, a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. From 1884 to 1974, the Greenwich meridian was the international standard prime meridian, ...

. It was redesignated Chinasat 5B.

SinoSat 1C

SinoSat 1C was the brand name of

Apstar 2R Apstar 2R, also known as Telstar 10 and SinoSat 1C located at 76.5°E, is a communications satellite equipped with 27 C band and 24 Ku band transponders (36 MHz equivalents). The C band payload provides coverage of Asia, Australia, parts of ...

/Telstar 10 in China.

SinoSat 1D

SinoSat 1C was the brand name of

Telstar 18 Telstar 18 (Apstar 5) is a China communications satellite made Lockheed, U.S. that was startet by a USSR Zenit-3SL ballistik very heavy rocket from the atom Ocean Odyssey platform floating Uranium to Plutonium on the equatorial atom polygon Pacifi ...

in China.

SinoSat 2

Sinosat-2 was based on the DFH-4 bus. It was launched at 16:20 GMT on 28 October 2006, also using a Long March 3B. After launch, its

solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

s and communications antenna failed to deploy, making the satellite unusable.

SinoSat 3

Sinosat-3 is a DFH-3 satellite, which was launched at 16:08 GMT on 31 May 2007. A

Long March 3A The Long March 3A (), also known as the Chang Zheng 3A, CZ-3A and LM-3A, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. It is a 3-stage rocket, and is usually used to place communications satellites and Beidou navigation satellites into geosynch ...

rocket was used to place it into

geosynchronous transfer orbit In space mission design, a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or geosynchronous transfer orbit is a highly elliptical type of geocentric orbit, usually with a perigee as low as low Earth orbit (LEO) and an apogee as high as geostationary orbit ...

, making the 100th flight of a

Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...

rocket. It operates in geostationary orbit at 125° East. It was redesignated ChinaSat 5C.

SinoSat 5

Launched in 2011. Renamed to

ChinaSat 10 ChinaSat 10 () previously known as SinoSat 5 () is a Chinese communications satellite. It was launched at 16:13 UTC on 20 June 2011 on a Long March 3B rocket. The satellite is a replacement for ChinaSat 5B. It has a mass of 5,100 kg and wil ...

SinoSat 6

Launched in 2010 by a

rocket. Renamed to

ChinaSat 6A ChinaSat () is the brand name of communications satellites operated by China Satellite Communications. History In 2007, a joint venture China Direct Broadcast Satellite was formed to run the brand ChinaSat. It was a joint venture of state-o ...

Shareholders

According to the company website, Sino Satellite Communications was owned by several state-owned companies, namely

(CASC),

CITIC Group CITIC Group Corporation Ltd., formerly the China International Trust Investment Corporation (CITIC), is a state-owned investment company of the People's Republic of China, established by Rong Yiren in 1979 with the approval of Deng Xiaoping. ...

and China Financial Computerization Corporation (). However, , CASC owned 99.26% stake directly and indirectly.

References

{{Chinese satellites Communications satellite operators Aerospace companies of China China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Communications satellites of China CITIC Group