中星26号卫星
CASC launched the Zhongxing-26 high-throughput satellite communications satellite on 2023-02-23.
The China Academy of Space Technology equipped Zhongxing-26 with 94 Ka-band user beams.
China launched the Zhongxing-26 communications satellite into orbit on 2023-02-23.
The 94 Ka-band user beams on Zhongxing-26 are 3.5 times more than the 26-beam, 20 Gbps Dongfanghong-3B-based Zhongxing-16 launched in 2017.
A feasibility study put the overall cost of Zhongxing-26 at 2.3 billion yuan ($333,000,000).
Zhongxing-26 will provide broadband access for fixed terminals, aviation, and shipborne users in China and surrounding areas from 125 degrees East in the geostationary belt.
Zhongxing-26 is based on the DFH-4E satellite bus and uses both chemical and electric propulsion.
A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 6:49 a.m. Eastern (1149 UTC) from Xichang, Sichuan, successfully sending Zhongxing-26 into geosynchronous transfer orbit.