"Tongchuan No 1" satellite, China's first privately operated experimental satellite, will be launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province in late October, the Tongchuan government, Shaanxi province, announced on Oct 11.

At the press conference, He Shangmin, Deputy Mayor of Tongchuan, explained that the standard 6U space science test satellite platform is installed on Tongchuan No 1 which will realize the space-to-ground docking test with the ground TT&C station of the commercial space TT&C network of China (Tongchuan).

Being the first satellite to verify the gravitational wave electromagnetic counterpart detection program, Tongchuan No 1 will be the first of its kind to detect gravitational wave sources with micro-satellite technology.

Deputy mayor added that the latest type of X-ray polarization detector with high sensitivity is also carried on the satellite to conduct observation experiments.

Tongchuan Mayor Li Zhiyuan said that the satellite, developed by China (Tongchuan) Commercial Space Industrial Town, would carry many important scientific research tasks and civil space missions.

According to the Tongchuan government, the Industrial Town, covering more than 6.67 sq km, is a platform which integrates a full industrial chain of commercial satellite development including collection of satellite data, monitoring and manufacturing.

Li stressed that the Town is intended to promote the transformation of local economic growth model and to realize a sustainable and coordinated development of national defense construction and local economic construction.

"The satellite will be the first name card issued by the Town to the vast universe, marking the opening of China (Tongchuan) Commercial Space Industrial Town," the mayor said.

"Tongchuan No 1" satellite, China's first privately operated experimental satellite, will be launched in late October, the Tongchuan government, Shaanxi province, announced at the press conference held in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province, on Oct 11. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]