Giant leap for satellite communication

'Ideal solution'

The project's prime contractor is China Great Wall Industry Corp, the nation's only authorized provider of commercial launch services. It will hand over the satellite to APT Satellite once in-orbit tests end.

By now, Great Wall has launched 41 rockets to sent 47 satellites for 20 foreign clients since 1990 when it performed the first commercial launch that sent a communications satellite atop a Long March-3 rocket.

"We are the only aerospace contractor in the international market that provides satellite service package to clients – we will help them make plans, find manufacturers and conduct tests and launch, and finally deliver in-orbit satellites to them," said Fu Zhiheng, vice-president of Great Wall.

He said the solution is ideal for nations with a comparatively weak space industry but wishing to operate their own satellites.

The nation's next-generation rockets including the heavy-lift Long March-5, which is scheduled to conduct its maiden flight next year, and the "high-speed response" launch vehicle, Long March-6, first used in September, will also be adopted for international commercial launches, Fu revealed.

China first delivered its communications satellite to an oversea buyer in 2007 when the NigcomSat-1 was launched and then handed over to Nigeria. Since then the country has exported communications satellites to Venezuela, Pakistan and Bolivia.

China has also built a communications satellite for Laos and will send it into orbit in November, according to Great Wall.

The Laos-1 is China's first contract of satellite development and launch service for a country from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

In addition, Great Wall will launch a communications satellite developed by Chinese engineers for Belarus in 2016, the first time China has sold a communications satellite to Europe, the company said.