The Xi'an Satellite Tracking, Telemetry, and Control Center (XSCC; ), also known as Base 26, is the primary

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

telemetry, tracking, and control facility of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Located in the Beilin District of

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

Shaanxi Province Shaanxi is a province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to the west. Shaanxi ...

, XSCC is subordinate to the Satellite Launch, Tracking, and Control Department of the

People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force The People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force was a service branch of the People's Liberation Army that existed from December 2015 to April 2024. With an aim to improve the army's ability to fight what China terms "informationized confli ...

(PLASSF).

History

The history of the Xi'an Satellite Monitor and Control Center began in 1967 with the founding of the Satellite Ground Tracking Department () in Qiaonan sub-district, Shaanxi on

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC; also known as Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center; Launch Complex B2; formally Northwest Comprehensive Missile Testing Facility (); Base 20; 63600 Unit) is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility ( spacep ...

(JSLC, Base 20). On 24 April 1970, when the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched its first

artificial satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scienti ...

, Dong Fang Hong 1, into orbit from JSLC, The Satellite Ground Tracking Department provided the "three grasps" (satellite tracking, telemetry, and control, TT&C) using the newly developed 7010 and Type 110 radars. Upgraded to a center in September 1975, as the PRC increased its testing of satellites, ICBMs, and SLBMs in the early 1980s and the TT&C network grew. The organization evolved into its current form in 1987, moving to

from

Weinan Weinan ( zh, s=渭南 , p=Wèinán) is a prefecture-level city in east-Guanzhong, central Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, northwest China. The city lies on the lower section of the Wei River confluence into the Yellow River, about east of the provinc ...

. By the 1980s, China's TT&C network () consisted of two command and control (C2) centers: the Xi'an Satellite Control (XSCC) and Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center (BACC), supported by six ground stations:

Changchun Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin, Jilin Province, China, on the Songliao Plain. Changchun is administered as a , comprising seven districts, one county and three county-level cities. At the 2020 census of China, Changchun ha ...

, Lingshui,

Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...

Nanning Nanning; is the capital of the Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China, southern China. It is known as the "Green City (绿城) " because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South of Guangxi, Nanning ...

, Weinan,

Xiamen Xiamen,), also known as Amoy ( ; from the Zhangzhou Hokkien pronunciation, zh, c=, s=, t=, p=, poj=Ē͘-mûi, historically romanized as Amoy, is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Stra ...

, and a series of

Yuan Wang-class tracking ship The Yuan Wang-class ( ''Yuǎn wàng'') are a line of Chinese tracking ships used for surveillance and communication of launch vehicle rockets and intercontinental ballistic missiles by the People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force. This ...

s. The facility was established in

as the "Satellite Survey Department" in 1967, and relocated to

in 1987. Today, the XSCC comprises a mission control station in Xi'an and a set of tracking arrays located outside the city on a mountain plateau. The tracking station is equipped with

antenna farm An antenna farm, satellite dish farm or dish farm is an area dedicated to television or radio telecommunications transmitting or receiving antenna equipment, such as C band (IEEE), C, Ku band, Ku or Ka band, Ka Band (radio), band satellite dish ...

s, masts, and communications dishes, while the mission control station is equipped with television screens,

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

plotter A plotter is a machine that produces vector graphics drawings. Plotters draw lines on paper using a pen, or in some applications, use a knife to cut a material like Polyvinyl chloride, vinyl or leather. In the latter case, they are sometimes k ...

s, and high-speed computers that allow technicians to trace the orbital paths of all Chinese satellites in orbit.

Organization

Xi'an SMCC is the central coordinator for the system of TT&C stations, which include the following subordinate agencies and ground stations: * Tracking and Control Technology Center (测控技术部) *Department of Long-Term Spacecraft Management (航天器长期管理部) *Operations Tracking and Control Recovery Department (活动测控回收部) **First Operations TT&C Station (第一活动测控站) **Second Operations TT&C Station (第二活动测控站) **Landing Site Station (着陆场站) *

TT&C Station (喀什测控站) established 1970 *

Jiamusi Jiamusi (Manchu: ; formerly Kiamusze) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. Located along the middle and lower reaches of the Songhua River, it faces Russia's Khabarovsk Krai across the Ussuri ...

TT&C Station 佳木斯测控站（2007年投入使用） *

Sanya Sanya; Chinese postal romanization, also spelled Samah is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan, Hainan Province in Southeast China, South China. According to the Sixth National Populati ...

TT&C Station (三亚测控站)（2008年投入使用） *

TT&C Station (长春测控站) * Western Fujian TT&C Station (闽西测控站) *

TT&C Station (厦门测控站) *

TT&C Station (渭南测控站 *

TT&C Station (南宁测控站) *

Qingdao Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...

TT&C Station (青岛测控站) * Swakopmund Monitoring and Control Station (纳米比亚测控站) *

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

TT&C Station (卡拉奇测控站) *

Malindi Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban centr ...

TT&C Station (马林迪测控站) *

Neuquén Neuquén (; ) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form t ...

Far Space Station ( * El Sombrero TT&C Station *Amachuma TT&C Station *Lingshui Station (陵水测控站) * Menghai Station (勐海测控站) * Western Hunan Station (湘西站) * Zhanyi Station (沾益测控站) *Central Communication Station (通信总站) *Satellite Monitoring and Control Science and Engineering Museum, located within the Xi'an center's compound. Contains various exhibitions and models of satellites, and allows the public to see the control chamber in operation. *The Satellite TT&C Equipment Museum (航天测控装备博物馆) in Qiaonan Town, Weinan City, Shanxi Province. Opened in 2010.Huang Xianghong, Treasures are speechless, green mountains are evidence. A brief account of the construction of the China Aerospace Measurement and Control Equipment Museum, Excalibur 2010 No. 4 The Changchun Satellite Tracking & Control Station (), located outside of

Jilin Province ) , image_skyline = Changbaishan Tianchi from western rim.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = View of Heaven Lake , image_map = Jilin in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_a ...

, was established in 1968 and operates with the

Military Unit Cover Designator A military unit cover designator (MUCD, , ) is a unique five-digit number used by the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China to externally identify military units. MUCDs are used externally to protect the identity of units, whi ...

(MUCD) Unit 63759. Outfitted with 154-IIB

monopulse radar Monopulse radar is a radar system that uses additional encoding of the radio signal to provide accurate directional information. The name refers to its ability to extract range and direction from a single signal pulse. Monopulse radar avoids prob ...

, may be a part of the Chinese Deep Space Network under the Jiamusi Satellite Tracking & Control Station. The Kashgar Station, MUCD 63783, in the west of Xinjiang Autonomous Region was established in 1968 under Base 26 until Xi Jinping's 2016 military reforms when the organization was moved under the newly created PLASSF. The Lingshui Control Station on

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

was established in April 2008 and finds itself responsible for the tracking of Shijian satellites. A 40 meter

radome A radome (a portmanteau of "radar" and "dome") is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna (radio), antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weathe ...

was built in 2012.

History

Organization

See also

References

Further reading