China launches first satellite in 2015

[xenomorph555]

The Chinese launched a LM-3C with two BeiDou navigation satellites a few hours ago.

Unfortunately there is no photos right now for some reason.

It also carried a new experimental upper stage designed for GEO and BEO sats, called the Yuanzheng-1. It has a DV of over 3000m/s, can fire multiple times and will be give the Chinese a capability comparable to the Russian Fregat.

Also theres been lot's launch's around the world lately for some reason

[GigaG]

Was this launch not announced in advance?

EDIT - article from NASASpaceFlight, IDK if the picture shown is this particular launch.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/03/long-march-3c-launch-new-upper-stage/

It probably isn't, considering the secrecy.

Edited March 30, 2015 by GigaG

[xenomorph555]

Was this launch not announced in advance?

EDIT - article from NASASpaceFlight, IDK if the picture shown is this particular launch.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/03/long-march-3c-launch-new-upper-stage/

It probably isn't, considering the secrecy.

It was "announced", by that I mean they had a list of launch dates with 30th March tied to BeiDou but you had to go looking for that .

And the NSF photo is just another LM-3C.

[LordFerret]

I'm actually surprised it's taken them this long, as they've had missile technology for quite a while now.

[GreenWolf]

I'm gonna call BS on the thread title. I highly doubt that this is the first satellite the Chinese have launched, since they've been sending taikonauts into space aboard the Shenzou for a while now. They even have a Salyut-esque space station in orbit right now!

[dharak1]

Maybe they mean this is the first satellite launched this year.

[Kryten]

It is indeed, the first Chinese satellite was DFH-1 back in 1970. We now have confirmation that the satellite is in orbit, as well as some official launch photos: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=34122.msg1352886#msg1352886

[Frida Space]

Yes, I'm assuming the title is 'China launches its first satellite of 2015'. My English is very bad, but still, I managed to understand it without any problems. Obiously they have launched satellites before!

[GreenWolf]

Yes, I'm assuming the title is 'China launches its first satellite of 2015'. My English is very bad, but still, I managed to understand it without any problems. Obiously they have launched satellites before!

My assumption was that this person was trying to claim that the Chinese had never launched a satellite before. Maybe it's because I'm a native English speaker, but I assumed that they were using proper syntax and grammar.

[Kryten]

Given his posting history, I'm pretty sure xeno is aware the Chinese have orbited satellites before.

[Kibble]

I parsed it as meaning "China launches the first satellite of the year 2015", which is equally incorrect! lol

[xenomorph555]

Hi I am sorry that everyone is confused with the title, sorry about that. I meant to say China's first launch of 2015.

Not their first launch entirely or the first rocket of 2015.

So yeah sorry about that...

[Frida Space]

My assumption was that this person was trying to claim that the Chinese had never launched a satellite before. Maybe it's because I'm a native English speaker, but I assumed that they were using proper syntax and grammar.

That's actually really interesting, that non-native speakers can sometimes understand improper grammar better than native speakers can (I absolutely don't mean it as an insult, I'm just intrigued by language and how brains process information).

Hi I am sorry that everyone is confused with the title, sorry about that.

So yeah sorry about that...

No problem! And thank you for your constant updates, sometimes it's not exactly easy to follow space programs like the Chinese one etc. I would give you reputation points every time if I could, but it says I have to give them to others before giving them again to you

[micha]

Not a native English speaker inasmuch as it wasn't my first language, but have been speaking it natively for over 30 years and consider myself as having a reasonable grasp of the language by now.

I parsed the title as meaning China launching their first satellite of the year 2015, not as China's first ever satellite, nor as the first global satellite of the year 2015. However that may have been influenced by the fact that I know that neither of the latter statements are true.

I guess that's the problem of natural languages: they are not implicitly logical. The same sentence can usually be parsed several different ways, especially if it is an abbreviated headline. Cue all the funny newspaper headlines over the years..

</end-off-topic, we now return you to your regularly scheduled service>

Congrats to the chinese teams for a successful launch!