China suffers DTH satellite “anomaly”
August 21, 2019
By Chris Forrester
China’s latest communications and DTH satellite ChinaSat-18 which was launched on August 19th is reportedly suffering problems.
ChinaSat 18 satellite was launched at 8:03 pm (Beijing Time) on a Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
The rocket launch was said to have gone well and there are confirmed reports of a successful separation of the satellite while informal – and unconfirmed – reports say there could be solar panel problems.
The rationale for this speculation is that two previous China-built satellites of this same design (China’s DFH-4 versions) suffered solar panel problems.
Chinasat-18 is a civilian telecommunications satellite built to provide DTH broadcast services for Chinese television, phone, radio and internet providers. If the satellite can be recovered then it will be operated by China Satellite Communications (China SatCom).
China SatCom was admitted to the Shanghai Stock Exchange in June and had been expected to mount an IPO this year.