Fanhui Shi Weixing-0 The beginnings of the FSW-0 (military designation "Jianbing-1") recoverable satellite began in 1965 when
Qian Xuesen conceived and proposed the idea and, after significant and tragic setbacks, finally completed it in 1974. He urged the Chinese Central Planning Committee to invest in the development of recoverable satellite technologies, similar to those the United States and
Soviet Union had been successfully operating since the early 1960s. to head the project. Zhao was killed (though some sources say he committed
suicide under the pressures of persecution), Qian was reduced to the role of a common worker, and Wang was accused of sabotaging an FSW test
parachute for which he fought to prove his innocence. Later in 1971, when
Mao's successor
Lin Biao died in a
plane crash following an abortive coup d'état, Mao initiated
an immense witch-hunt to oust potential supporters of
Lin Biao. As a result, many departments of the
Academy were closed to include the
Shuguang project, China's proposed first crewed spacecraft, which had shared much of its technology with the recoverable satellite program costing the team valuable development money and time. FSW-0 carried a prism-scanning panoramic camera and a stellar camera both designed by the
Changchun Institute of Optics and tested on two
T7A rockets in July 1967. In 1972, several technician teams were dispatched to
Laiyang in
Shandong,
Xinhua in
Hunan,
Lhasa in
Tibet, and
Kashgar in
Xinjiang to establish the nation's first satellite control, tracking, and telemetry stations. Having established four fixed stations and two mobile, technicians tested the control network with
Soviet-made
Il-14 aircraft flying at high-altitudes. On 8 September 1974, FSW-0 No. 1 was transported to the
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) for launch on a
Long March 2 rocket (derived from the
Dongfeng 5 ballistic missile). The first attempt to launch an FSW-0 satellite into orbit on 5 November 1974 failed with the rocket exploding approximately twenty seconds after launch and debris crashing 300 meters from the
launch pad. Analysis of the recovered debris led Chinese scientists to blame
copper wire damage in the rocket during the
second stage.
Maiden launch The first successful FSW-0 launched on 26 November 1975 from
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in
Inner Mongolia Pad 138, Launch Complex 2. Immediately after launch, it became apparent the satellite would be irrecoverable due to a loss of pressure in the gas orientation system. Qian estimated the chances of recovery to be near zero while Yang Jiachi (developer of the FSW-0's
attitude control system) believed the seeming loss of pressure was only the result of the gasses cooling (
Charles's law) as the spacecraft cooled exiting the atmosphere. Despite Yang's adamance that the mission should continue, the decision was made and
Xian Ground Station commanded the satellite to reenter the atmosphere after only three days flight time.
Fanhui Shi Weixing-1 The FSW-1 series of reconnaissance satellites represents the application of lessons learned from the
FSW-0 series, particularly in stabilizing the imagery obtained in-orbit. Launched one month following the last launch of the
FSW-0 series, changes made with the new series included an increased in-orbit time (three days to five days) and precision while imaging was improved from 1° to 0.7°. The
mass of the newer satellite increased from 1,800
kilograms to 2,100 kilograms and the FSW-1 series was launched into a more
circular orbit with a slightly increased
orbital perigee and reduced
orbital apogee. These improvements reportedly improved the accuracy and stability of the collected imagery to improve the quality of
maps produced. Unlike its contemporaries, American and
Soviet (later
Russian) photographic
reconnaissance satellites, and like its predecessor the
FSW-0, FSW-1 series satellites had no
in-orbit maneuvering capabilities to enable prolonged observations over areas of interest. FSW-1 4 carried in an open trunk below the imaging capsule the
Swedish Freja magnetospheric research payload. The nineteen million
USD 214 kilogram
Freja payload was designed by the
Swedish Space Corporation on behalf of the
Swedish National Space Board and carried eight experiments in the subjects of
electric fields for
Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology,
magnetic fields for
Johns Hopkins University in the United States,
cold plasma for the
National Research Council of Canada,
hot plasma and
waves for the
Swedish Institute of Space Physics,
auroral imagery for the
University of Calgary in Canada, and
electron beams and
particle correlators for the
Max-Planck Institute in Germany. FSW-1 5 carried, in addition to its earth-imaging payload and microgravity research equipment, a
diamond-studded
medallion commemorating the 100th anniversary of
Chairman Mao Zedong's birth. After atmospheric reentry, the
reentry capsule deployed a single
drogue at high velocities 10–20 kilometers above the ground followed by a main
parachute deployed at a more arrested speed of 5 kilometers altitude to slow the capsule's descent to around 10 meters per second by the time the
reentry capsule struck the ground. The failure of the attitude control system when the satellite was instructed to return on 16 October 1993 tilted the spacecraft 90° from its intended position causing the
reentry capsule to enter a
highly elliptical orbit of 179 km × 3,031 km instead of returning to Earth. The re-entry capsule entered the atmosphere on 12 March 1996 over the South
Atlantic, in a tumbling fashion which exposed much of the spacecraft unprotected by the
heat shield to extreme heat and friction during
reentry. Although the extent of the destruction is unknown,
U.S. Space Command reported that some fragments had survived the conditions of reentry that had fallen into the
Pacific Ocean near the coast of
Peru. Western news followed the updates and predictions released by
Air Force Major Don Planalp of
U.S. Space Command in
Colorado and was concerned largely with the novel and potential dangers of heavy metal fragments striking residential areas. News on the satellite frequently likened the satellite's decay to that of the
Soviet Salyut-7 and become uniquely enamored with the onboard diamond-studded medallion celebrating the 100th birthday of the late
Mao Zedong. Press organizations were unable to receive a comment from the
Chinese Embassy in Washington on the satellite's fall as the Chinese government was still tight-lipped on the satellite's existence. Although experts stressed the low probability that the decaying satellite would strike of in a place of significance, some governments did issue be-prepared orders to law enforcement in the case of the potential disaster, most prominently the
United Kingdom's Home Office. ==Specifications==