CHINA-S&T: CHINA TO LOSE ACCESS TO YATHARAGGA SATELLITE STATION IN AUSTRALIA ON EXPIRY OF CONTRACT
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Quoting the Asahi Shimbun, Reuters reported (September 21) that China will lose access to the strategic space tracking Yatharagga Satellite Station, located about 350 km north of the Australian city of Perth when its contract expires. The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) had a contract allowing Beijing access to the satellite antenna at the ground station since at least 2011. It is located next to an SSC satellite station primarily used by the United States and its agencies, including NASA. The Swedish state-owned company told Reuters it would not enter into any new contracts at the Australian site to support Chinese customers after its current contract expires, but did not disclose when the lease runs out. The SSC said the current contract supports Chinese scientific space missions within its program for manned-space flights for telemetry, tracking and command services.
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