Shijian-8

Launch data:

Mission details:

• China launched the Shi Jian 8 satellite on Sep 9, 2006 from the Jiuquan space center into a 177 x 445 km x 63.0 deg orbit. SJ-8, unlike earlier SJ satellites, is a recoverable satellite derived from earlier FSW reconnaissance and microgravity satellites. It will study the exposure of seeds to microgravity and radiation. The satellite carried 215 kilograms of seeds of vegetables, fruits, grains and cotton, the largest payload of this kind since 1987.
• The Xinhua news agency reports that the launch vehicle was a CZ-2C. Both CZ-2C and uprated CZ-2D rockets are used for the recoverable satellites.
• Once the space-bred seeds are recovered, the Ministry of Agriculture will organize research institutions to develop new seeds featuring high yield, good quality and high efficiency, according to a spokesman with the Space-breeding Center of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science.
• It is the 90th space flight of the Long March rockets and the 23rd return satellite China has launched so far. It has been the country's 48th successful space launch in succession since October 1996.
• China's seed-breeding satellite, Shijian-8, successfully landed in Sichuan Province, southwest China, at 10:43 a.m. Beijing time on Sept 24, 2006 after a 15-day flight in space.
  
  
  

  A helicopter carries the return capsule off the ground in Suining, Southwest Sichuan Province on Sept. 24, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

  
  After being exposed to cosmic radiation and zero gravity, some seeds may mutate and produce higher yields and improved quality when planted back on earth, scientists said.
  Over the past four years, new types of crop developed with space-bred seeds have been planted in a total of 567,000 hectares of farmland, producing 340 million kilograms of grain and direct GDP of 500 million yuan (62.5 million U.S. dollars).
• The orbital module will continue to orbit the earth and carry out more experiments until its battery gives up the ghost.