First CAST DFH-5 Bus To Launch By 2017
By Bradley Perrett perrett@aviationweek.com
Beijing
The first satellite based on the CAST DFH-5 bus should be launched in 2016 or 2017, addressing the active market for large spacecraft platforms.
Development is scheduled for the next five-year economic plan of the Chinese government, covering 2011 to 2015, says Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST) President Yang Baohua.
Currently, there are no great difficulties in the development, Yang tells Aviation Week. It is just an issue of scale, because we do not need to make any particularly difficult breakthroughs in the concept as we move to the DFH-5 from the DFH-4, which is currently CASTs biggest bus.
The DFH-5 is a large, trussed satellite platform that will meet the needs of new-generation large geostationary communications satellites and Earth observation satellites, CAST says
The DFH-4 was initially unreliable, but Yang says its problems have been basically resolved.
We can say that the DFH-4 has progressed from failures to success, and now from success to maturity. Next it will progress from maturity to international recognition.
While the DFH-4 is now CASTs main offering, the smaller DFH-3 still has a future, Yang says, speaking at Airshow China in Zhuhai. An order for eight satellite buses placed at the show by affiliate China Great Wall Industry Corp. were originally said to be DFH-4s, but some might actually be DFH-3Bs, an uprated version of the earlier bus.
The DFH-4 has a launch mass of 5.1-5.4 tons, payload of 600 to 800 kg., and power of 10.5 kw. The figures for the DFH-5 are 6.5-7 tons, 1,200-1,500 kg. and 15-20 kw.
CAST is part of national space contractor CASC (China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp.).
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