Chinese television satellite fails to deploy, millions disappointed
You know how everyone's talking about how China is going to overtake us in jobs, research, and innovation in the next few decades? Well, allow us to insecurely and self-consciously jab at our friends across the Pacific. See, the Chinese government had this fantastic idea that it was going to provide free satellite TV to every household from Urumqui to Beijing. Except there was one small problem -- the Sinosat II satellite, which was launched late last month, didn't deploy its solar panel nor its antenna properly, basically making it unusable. Of course, the SINO Satellite Communications Co. Ltd. is unwilling to confirm the mechanical failure, even though the problem was reported by the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. The Agence France Presse reports that SSC is still going forward with the Sinosat III launch sometime in the first six months of 2007. Best of luck with that, guys. Really.
[Via Fark, photo courtesy AFP]
