This Day, That Year: Jan 23

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On Jan 23, 1989, the service contract for the launch of AsiaSat 1 by the Long March 3 rocket was signed with China Great Wall Industry Corp, the country's sole provider of commercial satellite launch services.

An item in China Daily on April 9, 1990, showed AsiaSat 1 being launched into the designated orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

It was the first time the Long March 3 rocket booster had successfully sent a foreign telecommunications satellite into a geosynchronous orbit.

The launch not only indicated that China's rocket and satellite technology had entered a mature and practical-use phase, but also marked the country's entry into the global commercial launch market.

China has since boosted its share of the global commercial satellite launch sector. Since 1990, CGWIC has undertaken more than 70 launches for clients from home and abroad. China aims to hold 15 percent of the market by 2020, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The nation maintains relations with several space agencies - in Brazil, France, Russia and other countries and regions.

As of Dec 25, China had completed at least 40 launch missions last year, double the number in 2017, which set a record for the nation.

This month, CGWIC signed a multiple launch services agreement with Satellogic, a private company in Argentina that specializes in Earth-observation satellites.

It will send 90 satellites into orbit on the Long March 6 carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province.

It will be the first time the Long March 6 has provided launch services for an international user, CGWIC said.

When all 90 satellites are in orbit, an Earth-observation satellite constellation will be formed, imaging the whole world with a 1-meter resolution every week.