Fanhui Shi Weixing

Series of recoverable reconnaissance satellites formerly used by the People's Republic of China

The Fanhui Shi Weixing series of satellites was China's first reconnaissance satellite program. The satellites were used for military reconnaissance and civilian imagery tasks and completed 23 missions between November 1974 and April 2016. There were four generations of the Fanhui Shi Weixing (FSW) satellites: FSW 0 from 1974 to 1987; FSW 1 from 1987 to 1993; FSW 2 from 1992 to 1996; and FSW 3 from 2003 to 2005. Two derivative models, the Shijian 8 (SJ 8) and Shijian 10 (SJ 10), were developed and launched as 'seed satellites' conducting bioastronautic experiments for the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. All FSW series satellites were launched into orbit using Long March rockets from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC). The successful recovery of an FSW 0 recoverable satellite in 1974 established China as the third nation to launch and recover a satellite following the United States and the Soviet Union. This success served as the basis for the second Chinese crewed space program, the third crewed program (Project 863) during the late 1980s, and the current Shenzhou program (active since 1992). The Fanhui Shi Weixing (FSW) imagery reconnaissance satellite program was succeeded by the ongoing Yaogan Weixing satellite program which began in 2006 and consists of imagery, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and ocean surveillance payloads.

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. Having returned to Mainland China from the United States after pressure from FBI and Ku Klux Klan during the Second Red Scare, "father of the Chinese missile program" Qian Xuesen began a remarkably successful career in rocket science, boosted by the reputation he garnered for his past achievements, and eventually rose through the Party's ranks to become a Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party member. Purportedly out of his dream of crewed spaceflight but also recognizing the military value, Qian Xuesen 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. Among other groups, the purges of Mao's Red Guards focused heavily on academics and intellectuals regarded as the "Stinking Old Ninth" which included the seizure of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the persecution of 131 of the 171 senior members and the killings of 229 members. Zhao Jiuzhang was killed (though some sources say he committed suicide under the pressures of persecution), Qian Xeusen was reduced to the role of a common worker, and Wang Xiji 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.

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 Xeusen 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' 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.

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.

The FSW 0 was the first generation of China's returnable satellites. Its primary use was for the inspection of national land and natural resources. First generation FSW 0 satellites all carried prism scan panoramic cameras. The FSW 0 did not have a complete orbit control system, so its decay or attenuation of orbit was quick, and it had a relatively short orbital duration. Its landing or return location accuracy was also relatively low. The next generation, the FSW 1, carried more powerful cameras than its predecessor and was mainly used for drawing maps. Its spatial resolution was as high as 10m (able to discern objects 10 meters apart). The next two generations were called FSW 2 and FSW 3.

NameMilitary designationLaunchDurationCapsule recoveryInclinationSCNCOSPAR IDMass (t)OrbitLauncherN/AN/A5 November 1974N/AN/AN/AN/A(Failed)UnknownN/ALong March 2FSW 0 1Jianbing 1 126 November 19753 daysUnknown63.0°84521.790181 km × 495 kmLong March 2FSW 0 2Jianbing 1 27 December 19762 days9 December 197659.49°95871.812172 km × 492 kmLong March 2FSW 0 3Jianbing 1 326 January 19785 days30 January 197857.0°106111.810169 km × 488 kmLong March 2FSW 0 4Jianbing 1 49 September 19825 days14 September 198263.0°135211.783175 km × 404 kmLong March 2CFSW 0 5Jianbing 1 519 August 19835 days24 August 198363.3°142881.842178 km × 415 kmLong March 2CFSW 0 6Jianbing 1 612 September 19845 days17 September 198462.94°152791.809171 km × 409 kmLong March 2CFSW 0 7Jianbing 1 721 October 19855 days26 October62.98161771.810176 km × 402 kmLong March 2CFSW 0 8Jianbing 1 86 October 19865 days11 October 198656.96°170011.770142 km × 402 kmLong March 2CFSW 0 9Jianbing 1 95 August 19875 days10 August 198762.95°183061.810172 km × 410 kmLong March 2CFSW 1 1Jianbing 1A 19 September 19878 days17 September 198762.99°183412.07208 km × 323 kmLong March 2CFSW 1 2Jianbing 1A 25 August 19888 days13 August 198863.02°193682.13208 km × 326 kmLong March 2CFSW 1 3Jianbing 1A 35 October 19908 days13 October 199056.98°208382.08206 km × 308 kmLong March 2CFSW 2 1Jianbing 1B 19 August 199215 days25 August 199263°220722.50354 km × 173 kmLong March 2DFSW 1 4Jianbing 1A 46 October 19926 days13 October 199263.01°221622.06211 km × 315 kmLong March 2CFSW 1 5Jianbing 1A 58 October 199330 months(Disintegrated on 12 March 1996)56.95°228592.099214 km × 317 kmLong March 2CFSW 2 2Jianbing 1B 23 July 199415 days18 July 199462.9°231452.60355 km × 176 kmLong March 2DFSW 2 3Jianbing 1B 320 October 199615 days4 November 199663°246342.60332 km × 168 kmLong March 3FSW 3 1Jianbing 2 13 November 200324 days27 November 200363°280783.60330 km × 191 kmLong March 2DFSW 3 2Jianbing 4 129 August 200426.67 days24 September 200463°284022.10553 km × 168 kmLong March 2CFSW 3 3Jianbing 2 227 September 200417.78 days15 October 200463°284243.60315 km × 201 kmLong March 2DFSW 3 4Jianbing 4 22 August 200527.00 days29 August 200563°287763.40547 km × 169 kmLong March 2CFSW 3 3Jianbing 2 329 August 200549.00 days17 October 200564.8°288243.60264 km × 178 kmLong March 2D
Notes: FSW 3 No. 2 and No. 4 are sometimes referred to as FSW 4 1 and 2 due to design variations and the military designation's transition from Jianbing 2 to Jianbing 4, however most sources retain the original FSW 3 name. Because Jianbing 4 No. 1 and No. 2 are differently designed, some sources refer to them as Jianbing 4A (JB 4A) and Jianbing 4B (JB 4B) respectively.