China Space Military：Recon, Satcom, Navi, ASAT/BMD, Orbital Vehicle, SLV, etc.

China’s orbiting quantum satellite links with ground stations
Satellite, named after ancient philosopher Micius, launched in August with a mission to establish a secure communications between China and Europe

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 24 September, 2016, 11:47pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 24 September, 2016, 11:48pm

Viola Zhou
21 Sep 2016

Initial results from the quantum satellite that China sent into space are encouraging, the project’s chief scientist said on Saturday.

A quantum channel had been well established between the satellite and ground stations, Pan Jianwei, the nation’s leading expert in quantum physics, said at a technology exhibition in Hong Kong.

China had been exploring the military and commercial applications of quantum technology, and successful tests of the satellite system would pave the way for the construction of large quantum communication networks, he said.



Con't -> China’s orbiting quantum satellite links with ground stations | South China Morning Post

Commercial remote sensing satellites (gaojing)
2016/09/27
Launch before the end of 2017 a total of four satellites 01-04 are in the same orbital plane, spaced 90 degrees apart.

16 optical satellites with 0.5m GSD, 4 optical satellites with 0.3m GSD, 4 SAR satellites with 0.5m GSD and a certain amount of video satellites. Once completed, the constellation will be able to acquire global high resolution optical data and radar remote sensing data quickly.

http://www.chinaspaceflight.com/satellite/Gaojing/Gaojing.html

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USING RESOURCES ON ASTEROID FOR MANUFACTURING OF SSPS - A NEW ATTEMPT AND ITS POTENTIAL
Laurence Honnora, Published on Sep 28, 2016

Ming Li, China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), China - International Astronautical Congress - September 26 th - Guagalajara - Mexico

Note: SSPS is Space solar power system

18.00hrs, Nov. 3rd, 2016.

cirr said:

18.00hrs, Nov. 3rd, 2016.

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LM-5's maiden flight?

Reusable sub-orbital vehicle to test flight in 2018

Two models

Model 1(10-ton class)

Wing span - 6m
Passengers - 5
Max speed - Mach 6
Max altitude - 100km
Weightless - 2mins

Model 2(100-ton class)
Wing span - 12m
Passengers - 20
Max speed - Mach 8
Max altitude - 130km
Weightless - 4mins

Vertical takeoff, horizontal landing, space travel for a price of 200000-250000 USD.

Model 2 can also be used for launching small satellites(LEO 2.2tons, SSO 1.0ton) .

http://www.chinaspaceflight.com/default/CALT-Suborbital-Space-Tourism.html

cirr said:

Reusable sub-orbital vehicle to test flight in 2018

Two models

Model 1(10-ton class)

Wing span - 6m
Passengers - 5
Max speed - Mach 6
Max altitude - 100km
Weightless - 2mins

Model 2(100-ton class)
Wing span - 12m
Passengers - 20
Max speed - Mach 8
Max altitude - 130km
Weightless - 4mins

Vertical takeoff, horizontal landing, space travel for a price of 200000-250000 USD.

Model 2 can also be used for launching small satellites(LEO 2.2tons, SSO 1.0ton) .

Click to expand...

I'm assuming that the 2018 flight is slated for the smaller (10-ton) vehicle?

The scale model of China next-generation multipurpose manned spaceship was launched by the first CZ-7 launch vehicle and return successfully in June, 2016. It is a innovation program of China manned spaceflight.

China is researching and developing next-generation multi-purpose manned spaceship now, and has completed concept definition and large cluster parachute system test.

China next-generation multi-purpose manned spaceship can both support manned Lunar mission and near Earth orbit mission.

This spaceship has some advance characters, such as partial reuse, blackout communication, and escape flying with propellant propulsion of itself.

The recovery of this spaceship will be mainly at sea, while the recovery of Shenzhou space is mainly on land. And the new spaceship can reenter atmosphere with the second cosmic velocity.

http://www.chinaspaceflight.com/manned-spacecraft/new-generation-manned-spacecraft.html

World’s Biggest Radio Ear | SETI Institute

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It’s now the biggest single-dish radio telescope on Earth. Settled down in the bumpy karst of China’s Guizhou province, about 1200 miles southwest of Beijing, this newest instrument for studying the heavens is very similar in design to the famed Arecibo dish, renown both for its science accomplishments and its performance in two popular films, “Contact” and “Goldeneye.”

But FAST, the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, is Arecibo on steroids. The latter has a dish diameter of 300 meters, so FAST is, in principle, almost three times more sensitive. Put another way, it can reach 70 percent farther into space with the same sensitivity, which could increase the number of “targets” within its purview by roughly 4.6 times.

These are merely brute-force consequences of FAST’s size, however. This new telescope, which is younger than its Puerto Rican cousin by more than a half-century, is also able to see more of the sky – up to 40 degrees from its “straight overhead”, or zenith, pointing. While Arecibo can track objects for as much as 40 minutes, FAST can do this for as long as 6 hours. That would gain it another factor of three advantage in sensitivity.

In order to keep the telescope free of man-made interference, the government plans to relocate more than 9 thousand people living nearby.

For the first several years, FAST will be in shakedown mode. After that, research on galaxies, pulsars, and other astronomical objects will begin, and foreign researchers will also have access. The Chinese have said that their new telescope will also be used for SETI, making it the most sensitive such device in the world in the frequency range of 70 MHz to 3 GHz. (Note that the Allen Telescope Array, used by the SETI Institute, has extended frequency coverage to 14 GHz.)

-- Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer

China to launch world's first X-ray Pulsar-based NAVigation satellite XPNAV-1 in Nov. 2016:

http://tech.qq.com/a/20161009/007784.htm

China's state observatory partners Alibaba on big data
Source: Xinhua | October 13, 2016, Thursday

THE National Astronomical Observation (NAO) on Thursday announced a partnership with Alibaba Group on astronomy research using big data.

The partnership, involving Alibaba's cloud computing unit Aliyun will result in the establishment of a big data research center, featuring an open online database of astronomical information that enables users to explore the cosmos via a virtual space observatory.

The center will also be able to support scientific research with cloud computing.

Yan Jun, head of NAO, said astronomy was one of the first disciplines to utilize data science. Big data opens up new opportunities for astronomical research but also features some challenges, in terms of data collection, transportation, storage, processing, analysis, and sharing, he said.

The volume of data collected through astronomical observation is expected to balloon to 250 trillion bytes a year. The NAO's partnership with Aliyun, whose strength lies in AI and big-scale computing, is expected to help upgrade China's capability in basic research regarding astronomy.

In a pilot project for the virtual space observatory, scientists will be able to upload and share data collected by the large sky area multi-object fibre spectroscopic telescope (LAMOST), also known as Guo Shoujing Telescope. LAMOST, a leading optical telescope project, went into operation in 2008 to collect high quality spectra, an important collection of data that helps astronomers concerned with celestial bodies' chemical composition, density, atmosphere and magnetism.

China to launch X-ray pulsar navigation satellite in November
Source: Xinhua 2016-10-14 01:03:27

BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China plans to launch an X-ray pulsar navigation satellite (XPNAV-1) in November to test autonomous spacecraft navigation, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Fifth Academy.

X-ray pulsar navigation is an innovative navigation technique in which periodic X-ray signals emitted from pulsars are used to determine the location of a spacecraft in deep space, said Shuai Ping, chief system designer of the satellite.

The satellite, developed by CASC Fifth Academy, weighs more than 200 kilograms and carries two detectors.

In its mission, the satellite will test the detectors' functions in responding to the background noise of the universe, outline pulsar contours, and create a database for pulsar navigation, the academy said.

X-ray pulsar navigation techniques will help reduce the reliance of spacecraft on ground-based navigation methods and are expected to achieve autonomous spacecraft navigation in the future.