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Beijing－(13July)Chinasentupanewdatarelaysatellite(数据中继卫星)TianlianI-02onMondayattheXichangSatelliteLaunchCentreinSouth-westernSichuanprovince．Thenewsatellitewillpromotethecountry'ssatellitecommunicationnetworkforspacedocking(对接)．

ThesatellitewaslaunchedonaLong-March-3Ccarrierrocketat11∶41p.m.sourcesatthecentretoldXinhuaNewsAgency．Thesatelliteseparatedfromtherocket26minutesafteritslaunchandwasthensuccessfullydeliveredintoageostationarytransferorbit(地球同步转移轨道)．

DevelopedbytheChinaAcademyofSpaceTechnologyundertheChinaAerospaceScienceandTechnologyCorporationthesatelliteisthecountry'sseconddatarelaysatellite．ThefirstTianlianI-01waslaunchedonApril25.2008．

ThetwosatelliteswillformanetworktoimprovecommunicationsbetweenChina'sspacecraftandbasesonEarthaccordingtothecentre．Theywillalsobeusedtohelpthenation'sfirstspacedockingscheduledforthesecondhalfofthisyear．

AsplannedChinawilllaunchspacemoduleTiangong-IwhichwasdesignedasaplatformthatwilldockwithanunmannedspaceshipShenzhouforthecounty'sfirstspace-dockingmissionthisyear．

TwomoreShenzhouspaceshipswilldockwithTiangong-InextyearandonewillbemannedbytwoorthreeastronautsaccordingtoChinaMannedSpaceEngineeringOfficewhichwasthemainuseroftheTianlianIseriesdatarelaysatellites．

“Thenewsatellitecancoveragreaterareatotrackandcommandthecountry’sspacevehiclesinlow-Earthorbitssuchasmannedspacecraftandremotesensingsatellitesfromahigherpositioninouterspace．OnlythreesatellitesofthiskindareneededtoformaglobalcommunicationnetworkandChinahastwonow．”PangZhihaoaresearcheranddeputyeditor-in-chiefofSpaceInternationalsaid．

Thesatellitecouldalsoequipastronautswithreal-timecommunicationswhichwillbenefitthecountry'sfuturemannedspaceflightshesaid．