The financial losses of the stricken craft – also known as ChinaSat 6C – are expected to reach 260 million yuan (US$36.4 million) – nearly 30 per cent of the company’s net profit in 2022, according to the statement.
The company said it has kicked off the insurance process with its main underwriter. Meanwhile, the satellite is operating in its normal work mode.
China launches satellite internet that could challenge SpaceX’s Starlink
China launches satellite internet that could challenge SpaceX’s Starlink
The five-tonne satellite has been broadcasting television and radio signals to China and other regions – including Southeast Asia, Australia and the South Pacific – since its launch in 2019.
Chinese space authorities at the time said the satellite was “responsible for ensuring the security of radio and television information broadcasts” and “is of significance to China”.
These days, it is mainly a backup for the ChinaSat 6B and ChinaSat 6D satellites and its situation will not have a major adverse impact on the company’s business operations, the statement said.
The Zhongxing 6C uses the Dongfanghong-4 (DFH-4) satellite platform, which carries more than three tonnes of chemical propellent for orbital station-keeping and attitude control during its designed 15-year lifespan.
DFH-4 was developed by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology in the early 2000s as a general-purpose, high-capacity platform for tracking and data relay, as well as other uses in addition to television and radio transmissions.
The platform – which supports C, Ku, Ka and L band transponders – has a propulsion module, service modules and solar arrays, giving it a lift-off mass of 5.2 tonnes. Its 600kg (1,323lbs) payload capacity provides up to 8 kilowatts of power.
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Alleged satellite debris falls to earth in a village of northern China
Alleged satellite debris falls to earth in a village of northern China
These capacities – which put DFH-4 in the same class as Lockheed Martin’s A2100AX and other major satellite platforms in the US and Europe – have attracted international customers from countries like Nigeria, Venezuela, Pakistan, and Belarus.
DFH-4 has been used by more than two dozen satellites over the past two decades, all with a stable performance, after initial failures in 2006 and 2008, when the first two craft launched failed to deploy solar arrays once in orbit.
In 2017, another communications satellite mounted on the DFH-4 platform – ChinaSat-9A – was left stranded halfway to its designated orbit by a rocket anomaly. Two weeks later, the satellite used more than half of its propellant to reach the correct orbit, reducing its operating life to four years.
