Chinese aerospace scientists said they had independently developed the country's Long March series of carrier rockets and they did not need to covet the sensitive space technology of the United States.
Chinese aerospace scientists voiced their complaints Thursday after the Boeing Company's Satellite Systems and the Hughes Electronics Corp. agreed on March 5 to pay a 32-million-US-dollar civil penalty levied by the US State Department for charges of illegally sharing sensitive space technology with Beijing.
The penalty involved two failed launches of the commercial communications satellites -- the Long March 2E rocket carrying the APSTARII Spacecraft in January 1995 and the Long March 3B rocket carrying the INTECSAT 708 Spacecraft in February 1996 -- and the later success which the United States claims resulted from aide by Boeing and Hughes.
Long Lehao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of the series of Long March 3 carrier rockets, said that "As a participator in the projects, I think it's necessary to clarify the facts."
He said less than 10 hours after the INTECSAT 708 Spacecraft exploded early in the morning on Feb. 15, 1996, Chinese scientists made a preliminary judgment on the accident's cause, which was the changes of inertial reference in the rocket's control system.
The changes produced wrong information which was sent to the computer-driven control system, which ordered the spacecraft to change course, with disastrous results.
Three months of laboratory analyses followed, which, after 125 ground tests in 12 categories, have fully repeated the accident phenomenon, he said.
After that, Long said, Chinese scientists spent another three months making a total of 256 improvements on the rockets to improve their reliability.
Currently, the Long March series of carrier rockets have made 27 successful launches in a row. As 91 percent of its past launches have been successful, the China-made carrier rockets are next only to the American Delta rockets and the European Ariane rockets, whose success rates stand at 94 percent and 93 percent respectively.
This high success rate has been questioned by the United States and attributed to the illegal contribution of US sensitive space technology.
Mu Shan, former deputy general engineer of the Xichang Satellite Launching Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province who participated in the launches of 14 American satellites between1990 and 1998, said "No Chinese were allowed to enter the working area of American scientists unless joint cooperation or technical support from the Chinese side was required."
"In both situations, security guards were always present. It was impossible for technicians from either side to share so-called sensitive space technologies," he said.
According to him, after the launch of the APSTARII Spacecraft failed in 1995, Chinese scientists requested no rocket data from its US partners.
"All our analyses are based on satellite remote data. Instead, we provided them live videotape to facilitate their work." he said.
"The research and development of a carrier rocket requires complicated technologies," said Long Lehao. "It is just like a child. Only the mother who gives birth and brings him/her up can well understand his/her temper and merits and demerits."
The situation is similar to the scientists who directly participate in developing a carrier rocket, he said.
"For researchers from any nation, no matter how superior their understanding capabilities are, it is very difficult for them to know clearly every detail of the rocket," Long said.
"Its an extraordinary trek for humans to challenge space," said Long. "It is a job of high technology and high risks."
The two scientists expressed deep sorrow for the Feb. 1 catastrophe of the Columbia Spaceship.
"Developments in this sophisticated field may inevitably cost lives. But lessons will be drawn from the failures, which will help the cause progress in a better way," Long said.
Over the past three decades, China's Long March carrier rocket series evolved from employing storable to cryogenic propellants and from utilizing tandem configuration to cluster configuration. Initially, they each carried one satellite, but now they carry several satellites each, and even carry an unmanned spaceship.
Currently, the Long March series is able to carry different types of satellites into low earth orbit, Sun-synchro orbit and geosynchrous transfer orbit.
To date, China has completed 22 commercial satellite launches for foreign clients with the Long March series. The country plans to carry out a manned space program and develop deep space exploration technology, so as to gradually establish a new- and high-tech industry based on space technology.
"Technology and knowledge, which should go beyond national boundaries, are the common wealth of the human being. Both the United States and Russia have exerted strenuous endeavors in probing high technologies. China would like to participate in international cooperation on an equal footing," Long Lehao said.
(Xinhua News Agengy March 14, 2003)
