AEROSPACE

Hughes, China Reportedly Reach Launch Accord: The pact calls for the Optus B3, an Australian telecommunications satellite built by Hughes Aircraft Co., to be launched from China by one of China’s Long March rockets in the second half of 1994, the Xinhua news agency reported. It would replace the Optus B2, another Hughes-built satellite that failed to reach orbit after launching from China in December, 1992. However, the Optus B3 launch will first require clearance by the U.S. government, because of U.S.-imposed sanctions on certain technology exports to China last summer. Los Angeles-based Hughes, a unit of General Motors Corp., had no immediate comment on the report.