From Hearsat mailing list.

I know its not sexy but is anyone think about China for a possible Amateur satellite Payload launcher? Could be they can be less "chilly" about side car payload effects?

They seems to not be bothered too much with principles when times come to blow out their own satellite in space!

Just my 2 Yuan...

"China launched a satellite Wednesday to begin a three-year mission surveying the world's oceans to monitor sea color and temperature, according to state media reports.

The Haiyang 1B satellite is China's second oceanographic satellite, and it replaces an earlier craft that stopped working in 2004, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Liftoff of Haiyang 1B occurred at 0327 GMT (11:27 p.m. EDT Tuesday) from Taiyuan launch center in northeastern China's Shanxi province, Xinhua reported.

A two-stage Long March 2C rocket deployed the payload into orbit a few minutes later, completing China's second space launch of the year. The flight of the 138-foot-tall booster marked the Long March rocket family's 54th consecutive successful mission since 1996.

Haiyang 1B was delivered to a Sun-synchronous orbit circling Earth's poles. This type of orbit allows satellites to fly over much of the planet at set intervals.

The craft is the second ocean surveying satellite fielded by China, and its mission will include pushing Chinese development of ocean resources, aiding the construction of new harbors and ports, and monitoring ocean pollution, according to Xinhua."

Source: Spaceflight Now, "China launches an ocean observer spacecraft" (www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0704/11haiyang1b/)

"-" "It helps at times to not be too fussy and strict on principles" Moqtada Sadr saying...!

P.S. congratulations for the FO-29ers The new fifthy fews as we could be named them now.

Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE