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Updated March 2006
Missile Facilities
Xichang Space Launch Center (Songlin)
Xichang Space Launch Center (XSLC)
Location: Xichang, Sichuan Province.
Other Names: Songlin Test Center (for its military activities)
Launch site for ballistic missiles and rockets. China's closest launch site to the equator (28 degrees latitude), and is thus best suited for geostationary orbit (GSO) satellite launches.
Established in the early 1970s. In December 1986, China announced it would open XSLC to offer commercial space-launch services, converting the site from a closed testing facility to an open launch center.
XSLC usually launches during the dry season, from October to May. XSLC has six systems: (1) test and launch; (2) command and control; (3) tracking and telemetry; (4) communications; (5) meteorology support; and (6) technical service.
The test and launch system includes the overall technical preparation area (OTPA) and a launch site.
XSLC has two launch sites:
Long March-3 launch complex (77 m fixed launch tower)
Long March-2E launch complex (97m mobile and 74 m fixed towers)
XSLC's tracking, telemetry, and control (TT&C) system consists of stations at Xichang, Yibin, and Guiyang.
[Sources: Air and Cosmos/Aviation International (Paris ), 25 October 1996, in FBIS-CST-96-020, 25 October 1996; Nuclear Weapons Databook, Volume 5, p. 341; Michael Mecham, “Long March Successful In Crucial Asiasat-2 Launch,” Aviation Week & Space Technology, 4 December 1995, p. 25; Risk Report, May 1995, p. 7; Tong Lianjie, “Xichang Satellite Launch Center,” Aerospace China, Summer 1992, pp. 17-20.]
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