Australia's Space Base

choi

Jeremy Page, China, US Use Same Tracking Base; Australia lets Beijing use space facility without consulting withAmericans. Wall Street Journal, July 17, 2011.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 41891754431270.html

Quote:

"Australian authorities confirmed that they approved a plan for China to use the facility at Dongara [in Western Australia], which is owned and run by the Swedish state-owned company Swedish Space Corp, or SSC, and its US subsidiary that supports US Air Force space-surveillance satellites.

"The Chinese entity using the site, China satellite Launch & Tracking Control General, or CLTC, is part of teh army's General Armaments Department. CLTC runs China's launch sites and tracks and controls its spacecraft. Department's chief Gen Chang Wanquan led China's first docking mission between two spacecraft last week, a milestone to build a space station by 2020.

"Many US and Australian space experts were surprised when a Chinese space official announced in a video messsage on the docking-mission website that China had used a ground station in Australia to successfully guide the Shenzhou-8 and Tiangong-1 spacecraft.

My comment:
(a) the map that accompanies the report identifies "China's Space-Tracking Stations Abroad": Besides Dongara is Santiago, CHILE, Malindi, KENYA, Swakopmund, NAMIBIA, Karachi, PAKISTAN.
(b) There is no need to read the rest.