16 May 2012
Australia’s only dedicated satellite park, SSC Space Australia, in West Australia (WA) is now open for business. The park is owned and financed by its parent, Swedish Space Corporation, which selected WA for the facility as part of its international expansion strategy due to its geographically critical coverage area for global satellite tracking. The satellite park secured its first customer in October with China Satellite Launch & Tracking Control General (CLTC) which is part of the ambitious Chinese space programme. CLTC runs China's launch sites and tracks and controls its spacecraft, and is part of the army's General Armaments Department. SSC has been providing the space station tracking component s for the first two Chinese space missions, according to SSC Australia President Brian Mann. The Dongara East facility was used by SSC for supporting the docking between Shenzhou VIII and the Tiangong-1 experimental module.
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