CONCLUSIONS: FSW – AN EVOLVED ROLE

The FSW series evolved through three phases. It was originally intended to test a recoverable system and as a precursor for manned spaceflight (see Chapter 8). When the early manned program was cancelled, it was used for Earth observations, military and civilian, although only limited civilian results were published and none military. The photographic role continued to the end, when it was divided along Soviet lines of close-look and area surveys. From 1987, the program developed a third role, in biological, life sciences, and materials processing experiments of ever greater sophistication, using improved and more versatile designs, the most recent exemplar being Shi Jian 8, with a successor, Shi Jian 10, still to come. In the end, it turned into a multi-purpose program of military and civil photography and scientific and applications experiments. The only other country with a similar capacity in recoverable cabins was Russia, with its Bion and Foton series. The series is summarized in Table 4.2.

Table 4.2. FSW series.

No.

FSW identifier

Launch date

Recovery date

Notes

1

FSW 0-1

26 Nov 1975

29 Nov

First Chinese satellite recovered

2

FSW 0-2

7 Dec 1976

10 Dec

Second test flight

3

FSW 0-3

26 Jan 1978

29 Jan

Third test flight

4

FSW 0-4

9 Sep 1982

24 Aug

First operational 5-day mission

5

FSW 0-5

19 Aug 1983

24 Aug

6

FSW 0-6

12 Sep 1984

17 Sep

Land survey

7

FSW 0-7

21 Oct 1985

26 Oct

Survey of Chinese land mass

8

FSW 0-8

6 Oct 1986

11 Oct

Splashed down in lake

9

FSW 0-9

5 Aug 1987

10 Aug

First materials processing mission

10

FSW 1-1

9 Sep 1987

17 Sep

Gallium arsenide, algae

11

FSW 1-2

5 Aug 1988

13 Aug

Three German experiments

12

FSW 1-3

5 Oct 1990

13 Oct

Guinea pigs on board

14

FSW 1-4

9 Oct 1992

13 Oct

Semiconductor, protein

15

(FSW 1-5

8 Oct 1993

Recovery failed)

13

FSW 2-1

9 Aug 1992

25 Aug

16-day mission

16

FSW 2-2

3 Jul 1994

18 Jul

13 days

17

FSW 2-3

20 Oct 1996

4 Nov

15 days, Japanese cargo

18

FSW 3-1

3 Nov 2003

21 Nov

18-day mission

19

FSW 3-2

29 Aug 2004

24 Sep

27 days, close look

20

FSW 3-3

27 Sep 2004

15 Oct

17 days, area survey

21

FSW 3-4

2 Aug 2005

29 Aug

27 days, close look

22

FSW 3-5

29 Aug 2005

15 Sep

18 days, area survey

23

Shi Jian 8

9 Sep 2006

24 Sep

15 days, seeds mission

Some Western experts have taken the view that FSW was primarily a military photo-reconnaissance series, imaging the Earth with film recovered from the landed cabin, like the Russian Zenit and Yantar series. The other experiments were, in effect, add-ons to take advantage of spare cabin space. There is strong evidence to support the military photographic role in the use, by the Chinese, of Jian Bing designators which are suggestive of a military purpose. Phil Clark, the British expert who analyzed the behavior, orbital patterns, and maneuvers of Soviet photo­reconnaissance satellites, noticed a similar pattern of area-survey and close-look missions in the FSW series. What appears to be the end of FSW series coincides with the start of the Yaogan program (Chapter 6), which appears to have the capacity for digital imaging, making the film-recovery system of FSW outdated. Concluding the chapter, Table 4.3 is a technical summary of the FSW series under its Jian Bing designators.

Table 4.3. Technical summary of FSW spacecraft under Jian Bing designators.

Program

Mass

Typical parameters

Mission

Jian Bing 1-1 FSW 0-1 to 0-4

1974-82

CZ-2C

1,800 kg

172-484 km 57°, 59°, 63°

3 days, remote sensing, photography

Jian Bing 1-2 FSW 0-5 to 0-9 1982-87 CZ-2C

1,840 kg

173^400 km 57°, 63°, 67°

5 days, remote sensing, photography

Jian Bing 1A FSW 1

1987-93

CZ-2C

2,100 kg

208-310 km 57°, 63°

8 days, remote sensing, photography, microgravity

Jian Bing IB FSW 2 CZ-2D 1992-96

3,100 kg

172-340 km 63°, maneuverable, orbital module

15 days, remote sensing, photography, microgravity, promoted commercially

Jian Bing 4 FSW 3-1, 3-3, 3-5

CZ-2D

3,800 kg

194-335 km, then up to 340 km, maneuverable, 63°

18 days, area survey

Jian Bing 4 FSW 3-2, 3-4 CZ-2C

3,800 kg

166 km, maneuvering up to 560 km, 63°

27 days, close look

Based on Clark, P. The Jian Bing Program. Presentation to the British Interplanetary Society, June 2005; and Data for the Jian Bing 4 Program, unpublished paper (2005).