China on Saturday recovered its 19th recoverable sci-tech
experimental satellite 27 days after the satellite orbited in
space.
The satellite, which was launched on Aug. 29 from the Jiuquan
Satellite Launch Center in Gansu
Province, northwest China, touched the ground at 7:55 a.m.
Saturday.
Compared with the previous recoverable satellites China has
launched, this one has been improved in experimental technology,
which requires higher controlling precision and more complicated
calculating process, according to the Xi'an Satellite Monitor and
Control Center based in the capital city of Shaanxi
Province.
The satellite, atop a Long March 2C carrier rocket, is mainly
for space scientific research, land surveying, mapping and other
scientific experiments, said space officials.
China launched its first recoverable satellite in 1975.
Last October, China became the third nation to send a man in
space when a single astronaut orbited the Earth 14 times. In July
this year, China launched a probe as part of a program with Europe
aimed at improving monitoring of magnetic storms and other space
hazards.?
(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2004)