Chinese Satellite Tracking Ship

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the Chinese Satellite tracking vessel YUAN WANG 5 inbound for Jiangyin Photo : Hans Simens o/b Coral Acropora

YUAN WANG 5 is the third generation tracking ship of Yuan Wang series, and entered service on September 29, 2007. Built by Jiangnan Shipyard, Yuan Wang 5 has a displacement of 25,000 tones and withstand wind scale up to 12, and perform duties in sea state 6. The general designer of both YUAN WANG 5 & 6 is Mr. Huang Wei (黄蔚), the general engineer of the 701st Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC). The Yuan Wang-class (Chinese: 远望; lit. ‘Long View’) are used for tracking and support of satellite and intercontinental ballistic missiles by the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It is important to note that Yuanwang class is not a single class of identical design, but instead, a group of different designs grouped under the same series that share the one name. The detailed specifications for every ship are not released by the PLAN. Yuanwang 1 and Yuanwang 2 are thought to have a displacement tonnage of around 21,000 tons when fully loaded, with a crew of about 470 and a length of about 190 metres (620 ft). Their propulsion is from one Sulzer Ltd. diesel engine, with a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h). The class was first proposed by Premier Zhou Enlai in 1965, and the idea was personally approved by Mao Zedong in 1968. The first two ships of the class, Yuanwang 1 and Yuanwang 2, were built at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai and put to sea on 31 August 1977 and 1 September 1978 respectively. The general designer of this class is Xu Xueyan [zh]. For the first time, this gave the PRC the ability to track launches and satellites that were not over their territory. The first survey mission of the two ships was during May 1980. After being used for tracking of the launches of indigenously developed communications satellites, YUAN WANG 1 and YUAN WANG 2 underwent overhauls in 1986, so they could be used for supporting international satellite launches by the PRC. Two further ships of the class have been built. The first was YUAN WANG 3, which was commissioned on 20 October 1995. The YUAN WANG 4 tracking ship was constructed by China State Shipbuilding Corporation and delivered to the China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General on 18 July 1999. It had been converted from the previously used Xiang Yang Hong 10 scientific survey ship. Another two Yuanwang-class vessels were launched in Shanghai in early 2007. Pictures of YUAN WANG 6 were published, and both YUAN WANG 5 and the newly commissioned ship were on duty for the Shenzhou 7 mission. During the Shenzhou spacecraft flights, the four ships were positioned as follows:
YUAN WANG 1 in the Yellow Sea
YUAN WANG 2 about 1500 km (about 900 statute miles) southwest of French Polynesia YUAN WANG 3 off the Namibian coast
YUAN WANG 4 off the coast of Western Australia in the Indian Ocean