China Outer Space Science, Technology and Explorations: News & Updates
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China's new-generation weather satellite put into service
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-25 16:15:57|Editor: Xiang Bo
BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Fengyun-4A satellite, the first of China's second-generation geostationary orbiting weather satellites, was put into operation Monday, said the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.
Tests on the satellite platform, payload and ground application system have been completed during its in-orbit operation, the administration said in a statement.
The satellite has helped improve the country's weather and climate forecasts, and test results during its in-orbit operation have met targets, it said.
Its successful operation enables China to become a leader in developing geostationary orbiting weather satellites, according to the statement.
The satellite was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Dec. 11, 2016.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-25 16:15:57|Editor: Xiang Bo
Tests on the satellite platform, payload and ground application system have been completed during its in-orbit operation, the administration said in a statement.
The satellite has helped improve the country's weather and climate forecasts, and test results during its in-orbit operation have met targets, it said.
Its successful operation enables China to become a leader in developing geostationary orbiting weather satellites, according to the statement.
The satellite was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Dec. 11, 2016.
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China's Chang'e-5 lunar sample return mission delayed by Long March 5 rocket failure, official confirms
by Andrew Jones Sep 25, 2017 13:41
The Long March 5 (Y2) rocket lifts off from Wenchang at 19:23:23 local time on July 2, 2017. CNS
China’s attempt to return the first samples from the Moon in over forty years, originally set for late November, is being delayed following the failure of the huge Long March 5 rocket in July, a top official has confirmed.
Tian Yulong, secretary-general of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), speaking at a press conference at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia on Monday, confirmed the delay.
Mr Tian said the investigation into the July 2 failure of the second Long March 5 rocket, which is needed to the get the 8.2 tonne Chang'e-5 probe to the Moon's surface, is underway, with the details possibly ready by the end of the year.
SpaceNews.com senior writer tweets live from IAC 2017 in Adelaide. Jeff Foust
Expected delay, new schedule not known
The delay to Chang'e-5 is no surprise, but it is the first public statement from a top official from the Chinese space programme.
This reporter understands that the Chinese side has already informed the European Space Agency's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), which is to provide ground support for the launch and landing segments of the Chang'e-5 mission, that the mission will not proceed in November.
With the rocketry issues still unclear, so is any new timeline. There have been vague suggestions from scientists in China close to the mission that the mission may launch before or after early 2019.
The Long March 5 Y2 failure to reach orbit, believed preliminarily to stem from a first-stage issue, followed a successful-yet-dramatic and far from perfect maiden flight in November 2016, suggesting that time will be needed before return to flight is attempted.
China's largest rocket is crucial to a number of its key space ambitions, including its first interplanetary mission, to Mars in 2020, while the Long March 5B variant will be used to launch the 20 tonne modules for the future Chinese Space Station to low Earth orbit.
The third Long March 5, which was originally planned to launch Chang'e-5 in late November, was already being manufactured in Tianjin at the time of the failure, in preparation for shipping in September. Meanwhile the probe was ready to be shipped to the launch centre at Wenchang on the island province of Hainan in August, were Chang'e-5 on schedule.
Long March 5 (Y3) components in Tianjin earlier in 2017. CASC
It is expected now that the Long March 5 (Y3) will instead be carrying a much less valuable or prestigious payload, possibly a second experimental large DFH-5 satellite bus, the first of which, Shijian-18, was lost in the July 2 failure.
The Yuanwang-21 and 22 cargo vessels designed to transport the components of the heavy-lift launch vehicle from the port city of Tianjin in the north to Wenchang in the south meanwhile remain docked in Eastern China.
Chang'e-5 probe otherwise ready
The Chang'e-5 mission is the third and final step of the robotic Chinese Lunar Exploration Project (CLEP), approved in the early 2000s, which set out to orbit, land and rove on, and finally return samples from the Moon, and sets the stage for more ambitious future missions.
Some estimates put the mission cost at around 20bn yuan, or US$3bn, and the complex, four-stage spacecraft and its mission profile would also implicitly prove useful for an expanded robotic lunar project, eventual human landings and a Mars sample return in the late 2020s.
Scientists working on China's Chang'e-5 reentry vehicle, right, with lander and ascent vehicles in the background.
While the issues with the launch vehicle are being isolated and addressed, the Chang'e-5 probe itself is ready to go.
Sun Weigang, chief engineer at the the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), said in a keynote session on Chang'e-5 at the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2017) in June that a range of tests, including simulated launch, landing, take-off and sampling, have demonstrated the effectiveness of the mission plan.
There have also been integrated tests with a non-flight model of the Long March 5 in Wenchang in 2016.The last lunar sample return mission, the Soviet Union’s Luna 24, saw the ascent stage returned directly to Earth, but China has decided that the Chang'e-5 mission will include a lunar orbit rendezvous similar to that used to facilitate the US Apollo lunar landings.
The 8.2 metric ton Chang'e-5 spacecraft requires the power of Long March 5 heavy-lift launch vehicles, and consists of a lander, a return vehicle, a service module and an ascent unit, the latter two of which will rendezvous in orbit after the lander has loaded the ascent unit with samples. The return vehicle will then receive the samples before separating from the service module close to Earth and performing a skip reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
This complexity hints that China will be looking to use aspects of the Chang’e-5 mission as experience for future grand missions, such as human lunar landings and a Mars sample return mission.
Framegrab from a video demonstrating the 2017 Chinese Chang'e-5 lunar sample return mission. Youku/Framegrab
The precise final target has not been revealed, but it is known that the Chang'e-5 lander will set down near Mons Rümker in Oceanus Procellarum, a large area of lunar mare in the northwest region of the Moon.
Further background on this and other selections has been laid out by Phil Stooke for the Planetary Society.
Bradley Jolliff, the Scott Rudolph Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St Louis, said in a presentation last week at the 3rd Beijing International Forum on Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, that one potential landing site, "P58", would allow Chang'e-5 to sample much younger basalts (potentially around 1.33 billion years old) than those returned by the United States' Apollo missions (3 to 4 billion years old), and offer insights into volcanism in the region and the thermal evolution of the Moon.
Far side mission changes?
It is unclear how the Chang'e-4 mission, which if successful would be the first landing on the far side of the Moon, will be affected.
The mission would see the backup to China's 2013 Chang'e-3 lander and rover attempt to land in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the lunar far side, which is never visible to the Earth due to tidal locking.
It involves sending a relay satellite to the second Earth-Moon Lagrange Point beyond the Moon some six months earlier to facilitate communications, but neither this nor the lander and rover require the Long March 5.
China's Chang'e-5 lunar sample return mission delayed by Long March 5 rocket failure, official confirms | gbtimes.com
by Andrew Jones Sep 25, 2017 13:41
China’s attempt to return the first samples from the Moon in over forty years, originally set for late November, is being delayed following the failure of the huge Long March 5 rocket in July, a top official has confirmed.
Tian Yulong, secretary-general of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), speaking at a press conference at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia on Monday, confirmed the delay.
Mr Tian said the investigation into the July 2 failure of the second Long March 5 rocket, which is needed to the get the 8.2 tonne Chang'e-5 probe to the Moon's surface, is underway, with the details possibly ready by the end of the year.
Expected delay, new schedule not known
The delay to Chang'e-5 is no surprise, but it is the first public statement from a top official from the Chinese space programme.
This reporter understands that the Chinese side has already informed the European Space Agency's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), which is to provide ground support for the launch and landing segments of the Chang'e-5 mission, that the mission will not proceed in November.
With the rocketry issues still unclear, so is any new timeline. There have been vague suggestions from scientists in China close to the mission that the mission may launch before or after early 2019.
The Long March 5 Y2 failure to reach orbit, believed preliminarily to stem from a first-stage issue, followed a successful-yet-dramatic and far from perfect maiden flight in November 2016, suggesting that time will be needed before return to flight is attempted.
China's largest rocket is crucial to a number of its key space ambitions, including its first interplanetary mission, to Mars in 2020, while the Long March 5B variant will be used to launch the 20 tonne modules for the future Chinese Space Station to low Earth orbit.
The third Long March 5, which was originally planned to launch Chang'e-5 in late November, was already being manufactured in Tianjin at the time of the failure, in preparation for shipping in September. Meanwhile the probe was ready to be shipped to the launch centre at Wenchang on the island province of Hainan in August, were Chang'e-5 on schedule.
It is expected now that the Long March 5 (Y3) will instead be carrying a much less valuable or prestigious payload, possibly a second experimental large DFH-5 satellite bus, the first of which, Shijian-18, was lost in the July 2 failure.
The Yuanwang-21 and 22 cargo vessels designed to transport the components of the heavy-lift launch vehicle from the port city of Tianjin in the north to Wenchang in the south meanwhile remain docked in Eastern China.
Chang'e-5 probe otherwise ready
The Chang'e-5 mission is the third and final step of the robotic Chinese Lunar Exploration Project (CLEP), approved in the early 2000s, which set out to orbit, land and rove on, and finally return samples from the Moon, and sets the stage for more ambitious future missions.
Some estimates put the mission cost at around 20bn yuan, or US$3bn, and the complex, four-stage spacecraft and its mission profile would also implicitly prove useful for an expanded robotic lunar project, eventual human landings and a Mars sample return in the late 2020s.
While the issues with the launch vehicle are being isolated and addressed, the Chang'e-5 probe itself is ready to go.
Sun Weigang, chief engineer at the the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), said in a keynote session on Chang'e-5 at the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2017) in June that a range of tests, including simulated launch, landing, take-off and sampling, have demonstrated the effectiveness of the mission plan.
There have also been integrated tests with a non-flight model of the Long March 5 in Wenchang in 2016.The last lunar sample return mission, the Soviet Union’s Luna 24, saw the ascent stage returned directly to Earth, but China has decided that the Chang'e-5 mission will include a lunar orbit rendezvous similar to that used to facilitate the US Apollo lunar landings.
The 8.2 metric ton Chang'e-5 spacecraft requires the power of Long March 5 heavy-lift launch vehicles, and consists of a lander, a return vehicle, a service module and an ascent unit, the latter two of which will rendezvous in orbit after the lander has loaded the ascent unit with samples. The return vehicle will then receive the samples before separating from the service module close to Earth and performing a skip reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
This complexity hints that China will be looking to use aspects of the Chang’e-5 mission as experience for future grand missions, such as human lunar landings and a Mars sample return mission.
The precise final target has not been revealed, but it is known that the Chang'e-5 lander will set down near Mons Rümker in Oceanus Procellarum, a large area of lunar mare in the northwest region of the Moon.
Further background on this and other selections has been laid out by Phil Stooke for the Planetary Society.
Bradley Jolliff, the Scott Rudolph Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St Louis, said in a presentation last week at the 3rd Beijing International Forum on Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, that one potential landing site, "P58", would allow Chang'e-5 to sample much younger basalts (potentially around 1.33 billion years old) than those returned by the United States' Apollo missions (3 to 4 billion years old), and offer insights into volcanism in the region and the thermal evolution of the Moon.
Far side mission changes?
It is unclear how the Chang'e-4 mission, which if successful would be the first landing on the far side of the Moon, will be affected.
The mission would see the backup to China's 2013 Chang'e-3 lander and rover attempt to land in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the lunar far side, which is never visible to the Earth due to tidal locking.
It involves sending a relay satellite to the second Earth-Moon Lagrange Point beyond the Moon some six months earlier to facilitate communications, but neither this nor the lander and rover require the Long March 5.
China's Chang'e-5 lunar sample return mission delayed by Long March 5 rocket failure, official confirms | gbtimes.com
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Long March 5 failure will delay lunar missions: official
2017-09-27 11:25Ecns.cn Editor: Mo Hong'e ECNS App Download
(ECNS) -- A Chinese official said on Monday that investigations into the cause of the July 2 failure of the Long March 5 carrier rocket might be concluded at the end of the year, and that the failure would lead to delays in the country's upcoming lunar missions, Science and Technology Daily reported.
Tian Yulong, the secretary general of the China National Space Administration, said at a press conference during the 68th International Astronautical Congress held in Adelaide, Australia, that the failure would affect missions including Chang'e-5, China's first unmanned lunar sample return mission, Chang'e-4, a lunar lander that is expected to be the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon, and Tianhe, the core module of China's first space station.
Long March 5 is the largest rocket developed by China to date. Its first launch from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on November 3, 2016, was successful, but the Long March 5-Y2 failed to send the Shijian-18 satellite into orbit after blasting off on July 2.
With investigations into the accident still ongoing, Tian confirmed lunar missions Chang'e-5, originally scheduled for November, and Chang'e-4, for 2018, would both be delayed and the schedules would be updated by the end of the year.
In addition, previous media reports said the final assembly of Tianhe was completed in late 2016. But that launch, originally scheduled for 2018 atop a Long March 5B, would also be postponed, to 2019, Tian said.
2017-09-27 11:25Ecns.cn Editor: Mo Hong'e ECNS App Download
(ECNS) -- A Chinese official said on Monday that investigations into the cause of the July 2 failure of the Long March 5 carrier rocket might be concluded at the end of the year, and that the failure would lead to delays in the country's upcoming lunar missions, Science and Technology Daily reported.
Tian Yulong, the secretary general of the China National Space Administration, said at a press conference during the 68th International Astronautical Congress held in Adelaide, Australia, that the failure would affect missions including Chang'e-5, China's first unmanned lunar sample return mission, Chang'e-4, a lunar lander that is expected to be the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon, and Tianhe, the core module of China's first space station.
Long March 5 is the largest rocket developed by China to date. Its first launch from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on November 3, 2016, was successful, but the Long March 5-Y2 failed to send the Shijian-18 satellite into orbit after blasting off on July 2.
With investigations into the accident still ongoing, Tian confirmed lunar missions Chang'e-5, originally scheduled for November, and Chang'e-4, for 2018, would both be delayed and the schedules would be updated by the end of the year.
In addition, previous media reports said the final assembly of Tianhe was completed in late 2016. But that launch, originally scheduled for 2018 atop a Long March 5B, would also be postponed, to 2019, Tian said.
JSCh
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Venezuela Prepares to Launch Satellite from Chinese Base
Published 8 October 2017
Authorities say it will provide a better tool for monitoring agriculture health, energy food, security, socio-natural risk management and security.
Venezuela is preparing to send its third satellite into orbit from the Jiuquan Launch Center in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu.
The Director of Research and Innovation of the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities, ABAE, Rixio Morales, says the launch of the Antonio Jose de Sucre Satellite will take place on Sunday at midnight Caracas time.
It is due to enter orbit during the early hours of Monday morning.
Morales explained that if the weather conditions are not favorable, the launch will be postponed for three days.
Authorities say the new satellite will provide a better tool for monitoring agriculture health, energy food, security, socio-natural risk management and security.
The highly sophisticated device is equipped with both high definition and infrared cameras and will monitor regions photographing particular areas every four days.
Officials believe this feature will be particularly helpful in controlling criminal activity.
AVN reports say more than 100 young Venezuelans were involved in its design, structure, and construction.
"It can be properly said that the satellite Sucre is designed by Venezuelans," said the President ABAE, Camilo Torres.
"Sucre has already perfected a work done by Miranda over these five years, both for the exploration of mining and the protection of our frontiers, and to strengthen the work of the Orinoco Mining Arc with more information and data to clarify better actions in the economic and productive development of the country," he said, referring to Venezuela’s second satellite Francisco de Miranda, which was launched in September 2012.
The two platforms will orbit near each other during the transfer of data and information.
Scientists say Miranda may have at least two years left in operation.
The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the new Antonio Jose de Sucre satellite “will be sovereign, independent, and so we will go to the fourth, fifth, sixth satellite and the development of the highest technology in Venezuela.”
“Venezuela is moving forward. We are being beaten, yes, but we are moving forward with work, government and defense of the country,” Maduro insisted.
Venezuela Prepares to Launch Satellite from Chinese Base | News | teleSUR English
Published 8 October 2017
Authorities say it will provide a better tool for monitoring agriculture health, energy food, security, socio-natural risk management and security.
Venezuela is preparing to send its third satellite into orbit from the Jiuquan Launch Center in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu.
The Director of Research and Innovation of the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities, ABAE, Rixio Morales, says the launch of the Antonio Jose de Sucre Satellite will take place on Sunday at midnight Caracas time.
It is due to enter orbit during the early hours of Monday morning.
Morales explained that if the weather conditions are not favorable, the launch will be postponed for three days.
Authorities say the new satellite will provide a better tool for monitoring agriculture health, energy food, security, socio-natural risk management and security.
The highly sophisticated device is equipped with both high definition and infrared cameras and will monitor regions photographing particular areas every four days.
Officials believe this feature will be particularly helpful in controlling criminal activity.
AVN reports say more than 100 young Venezuelans were involved in its design, structure, and construction.
"It can be properly said that the satellite Sucre is designed by Venezuelans," said the President ABAE, Camilo Torres.
"Sucre has already perfected a work done by Miranda over these five years, both for the exploration of mining and the protection of our frontiers, and to strengthen the work of the Orinoco Mining Arc with more information and data to clarify better actions in the economic and productive development of the country," he said, referring to Venezuela’s second satellite Francisco de Miranda, which was launched in September 2012.
The two platforms will orbit near each other during the transfer of data and information.
Scientists say Miranda may have at least two years left in operation.
The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the new Antonio Jose de Sucre satellite “will be sovereign, independent, and so we will go to the fourth, fifth, sixth satellite and the development of the highest technology in Venezuela.”
“Venezuela is moving forward. We are being beaten, yes, but we are moving forward with work, government and defense of the country,” Maduro insisted.
Venezuela Prepares to Launch Satellite from Chinese Base | News | teleSUR English
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Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-09 13:06:17|Editor: Liangyu
JIUQUAN, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- China launched Venezuela's remote sensing satellite, VRSS-2, into a preset orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gobi desert at 12:13 on Monday.
The VRSS-2 was the third satellite jointly launched by China and Venezuela, and also the later's second remote sensing satellite. It will be primarily used by Venezuela for land resources inspection, environmental protection, disaster monitoring and management, crop yield estimation and city planning.
The satellite was launched by a Chinese Long March-2D carrier rocket which was designed by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.
This was the 252nd flight mission for the Long March rocket family.
In 2008, China launched Venezuela's first satellite -- the Venesat-1, or "Simon Bolivar" -- which carried communications facilities.
In 2012, Venezuela's first remote sensing satellite, the VRSS-1, was launched into space from China.
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Two new pulsars have been discovered using FAST - the world’s largest single dish radio telescope
Fig1. World's largest radio telescope, FAST, discovers new pulsars.
On 10 Oct. 2017, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) and the Bureau of Science Communication of CAS held a press conference at NAOC to announce the first discoveries using the Five hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), the world’s largest single dish radio telescope. FAST is operated by NAOC and is located in Guizhou Province, China. Two new pulsars were discovered in the Southern Galactic plane, i.e. PSR J1859-01 (FP1 or FAST pulsar #1), and PSR J1931-01 (FP2 or FAST pulsar #2). These two new pulsars have just been confirmed by the Parkes telescope in Australia.
During its first year, FAST successfully commissioned several observation modes, including pointing, drift scan, and tracking. FAST has so far detected dozens of promising pulsar candidates during the commissioning, two of which have been confirmed by other telescopes. These represent the first pulsars ever discovered by a Chinese radio facility. The progress of FAST commissioning exceeds expectation and generally outpaces other international facilities of similar scale.
Discovering new pulsars is one of the key science goals of FAST. Since 2015, the FAST team built the FAST early science data center on the campus of Guizhou Normal University (GZNU), in collaboration with staff at GZNU. Utilizing a uniquely-designed drift-scan mode, an innovative pulsar search database, deep learning algorithms, and international collaboration, the NAOC team announces here two new confirmed discoveries in the Southern Galactic plane, i.e. PSR J1859-01 (FP1)，a pulsar with a spin period of 1.83 second and an estimated distance of 16 thousand light-years, and PSR J1931-01 (FP2), a pulsar with a spin period of 0.59 second and an estimated distance of 4.1 thousand light-years. These two pulsars were detected in FAST scans on August 22nd and 25th, respectively, and confirmed by the Parkes telescope on September 10th.
Pulsars are rapidly rotating compact stars subject to physical conditions far beyond the reach of any laboratory on Earth. These astrophysical laboratories can help answer many fundamental physical questions. For instance, some pulsars spin at a very fast and steady rate, and thus form a web of precise cosmic clocks. They can be used as tools for important scientific or technological developments, such as detecting gravitational waves and navigating spacecrafts.
There are believed to be a vast number of pulsars in our Galaxy, however, only a small portion have been discovered, since most of them are weak radio sources or masked by radio interference produced by human activities. Located in a radio quiet zone protected by law, FAST will become the most sensitive radio telescope in the world and an ideal instrument for identifying new pulsars. The pulsar timing array (PTA) experiment attempts to detect low-frequency gravitational waves from merging supermassive black holes using the long-term timing of a selected set of stable millisecond pulsars. FAST is expected to find many millisecond pulsars and contribute significantly to the PTA experiment.
In the next two years, continued commissioning of FAST is planned until it reaches the designed specifications and gradually becomes an open facility for Chinese and international scholars. The FAST group also plans to conduct further tests and optimization of the survey plan and generate science output along the way. These two new pulsars symbolize the dawn of a new era of systematic discoveries by Chinese radio telescopes.
FAST is a Chinese mega-science project to build the largest single dish radio telescope in the world. It had first light on 25 September 2016. The main observables of FAST are pulsars, the 21cm atomic hydrogen hyperfine transition, molecular transitions including masers, and radio continuum. Its unparalleled sensitivity and excellent survey speed should allow astronomers to vastly expand the total volume of knowledge on compact objects, gaseous galaxies, and the interstellar medium.
For more details of pulsars discovered by FAST, please refer to
http://crafts.bao.ac.cn/pulsar/ .
Fig2. The integrated pulse profiles of the new pulsars: Panel A (upper) shows the profiles of FP1, the gray one comes from 2100 second Parkes tracking observation, and the red one comes from only 52.4-second drift scan using FAST, demonstrating the superior sensitivity of the new telescope. Panel A (lower) shows the observed single pulses from FP1. Panel B shows the single pulses collected from the other new pulsar FP2 in a 5-minute tracking observation of FAST.
Two new pulsars have been discovered using FAST - the world’s largest single dish radio telescope----National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
On 10 Oct. 2017, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) and the Bureau of Science Communication of CAS held a press conference at NAOC to announce the first discoveries using the Five hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), the world’s largest single dish radio telescope. FAST is operated by NAOC and is located in Guizhou Province, China. Two new pulsars were discovered in the Southern Galactic plane, i.e. PSR J1859-01 (FP1 or FAST pulsar #1), and PSR J1931-01 (FP2 or FAST pulsar #2). These two new pulsars have just been confirmed by the Parkes telescope in Australia.
During its first year, FAST successfully commissioned several observation modes, including pointing, drift scan, and tracking. FAST has so far detected dozens of promising pulsar candidates during the commissioning, two of which have been confirmed by other telescopes. These represent the first pulsars ever discovered by a Chinese radio facility. The progress of FAST commissioning exceeds expectation and generally outpaces other international facilities of similar scale.
Discovering new pulsars is one of the key science goals of FAST. Since 2015, the FAST team built the FAST early science data center on the campus of Guizhou Normal University (GZNU), in collaboration with staff at GZNU. Utilizing a uniquely-designed drift-scan mode, an innovative pulsar search database, deep learning algorithms, and international collaboration, the NAOC team announces here two new confirmed discoveries in the Southern Galactic plane, i.e. PSR J1859-01 (FP1)，a pulsar with a spin period of 1.83 second and an estimated distance of 16 thousand light-years, and PSR J1931-01 (FP2), a pulsar with a spin period of 0.59 second and an estimated distance of 4.1 thousand light-years. These two pulsars were detected in FAST scans on August 22nd and 25th, respectively, and confirmed by the Parkes telescope on September 10th.
Pulsars are rapidly rotating compact stars subject to physical conditions far beyond the reach of any laboratory on Earth. These astrophysical laboratories can help answer many fundamental physical questions. For instance, some pulsars spin at a very fast and steady rate, and thus form a web of precise cosmic clocks. They can be used as tools for important scientific or technological developments, such as detecting gravitational waves and navigating spacecrafts.
There are believed to be a vast number of pulsars in our Galaxy, however, only a small portion have been discovered, since most of them are weak radio sources or masked by radio interference produced by human activities. Located in a radio quiet zone protected by law, FAST will become the most sensitive radio telescope in the world and an ideal instrument for identifying new pulsars. The pulsar timing array (PTA) experiment attempts to detect low-frequency gravitational waves from merging supermassive black holes using the long-term timing of a selected set of stable millisecond pulsars. FAST is expected to find many millisecond pulsars and contribute significantly to the PTA experiment.
In the next two years, continued commissioning of FAST is planned until it reaches the designed specifications and gradually becomes an open facility for Chinese and international scholars. The FAST group also plans to conduct further tests and optimization of the survey plan and generate science output along the way. These two new pulsars symbolize the dawn of a new era of systematic discoveries by Chinese radio telescopes.
FAST is a Chinese mega-science project to build the largest single dish radio telescope in the world. It had first light on 25 September 2016. The main observables of FAST are pulsars, the 21cm atomic hydrogen hyperfine transition, molecular transitions including masers, and radio continuum. Its unparalleled sensitivity and excellent survey speed should allow astronomers to vastly expand the total volume of knowledge on compact objects, gaseous galaxies, and the interstellar medium.
For more details of pulsars discovered by FAST, please refer to
http://crafts.bao.ac.cn/pulsar/ .
Two new pulsars have been discovered using FAST - the world’s largest single dish radio telescope----National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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China’s FAST telescope to explore extragalactic radio pulsars in 2018
(People's Daily Online) 16:37, October 11, 2017
After identifying multiple pulsars in its one-year trial operation, China’s 500-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) may become the world’s first telescope to capture extragalactic radio pulsars, as well as exploring the possibility of extraterrestrial civilization.
“FAST may become the first [telescope] to find extragalactic radio pulsars. We’ve been preparing for this cause, which may kick off [our research] as early as in 2018,” a scientist from the National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences told Thepaper.cn.
Over 2,700 pulsars have been identified since the first one was discovered by British astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish on November 28, 1967. But almost all of them are within the scope of the Milky Way. Many scientists expect FAST to be the first telescope to spot a pulsar outside our own galaxy, according to Xinhua News Agency.
In addition to finding the extragalactic pulsars, FAST may monitor the radio waves transmitted by possible extraterrestrial civilizations. As the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, FAST is sensitive enough to capture the signal of a cell phone being used on the moon.
“Parkes Observatory has allocated 20 percent of its research time on finding intelligent life outside of the Earth, but so far we’ve found nothing. FAST can observe much more of the [universe] and may bring us some good news about extraterrestrial civilization,” George Hobbs, a research scientist at Parkes Observatory in Australia, told Xinhua.
Located in a naturally deep and round karst depression in southwest China's Guizhou Province, FAST was completed in September 2016. Its receiving area is equivalent to about 30 football fields.
(People's Daily Online) 16:37, October 11, 2017
After identifying multiple pulsars in its one-year trial operation, China’s 500-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) may become the world’s first telescope to capture extragalactic radio pulsars, as well as exploring the possibility of extraterrestrial civilization.
“FAST may become the first [telescope] to find extragalactic radio pulsars. We’ve been preparing for this cause, which may kick off [our research] as early as in 2018,” a scientist from the National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences told Thepaper.cn.
Over 2,700 pulsars have been identified since the first one was discovered by British astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish on November 28, 1967. But almost all of them are within the scope of the Milky Way. Many scientists expect FAST to be the first telescope to spot a pulsar outside our own galaxy, according to Xinhua News Agency.
In addition to finding the extragalactic pulsars, FAST may monitor the radio waves transmitted by possible extraterrestrial civilizations. As the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, FAST is sensitive enough to capture the signal of a cell phone being used on the moon.
“Parkes Observatory has allocated 20 percent of its research time on finding intelligent life outside of the Earth, but so far we’ve found nothing. FAST can observe much more of the [universe] and may bring us some good news about extraterrestrial civilization,” George Hobbs, a research scientist at Parkes Observatory in Australia, told Xinhua.
Located in a naturally deep and round karst depression in southwest China's Guizhou Province, FAST was completed in September 2016. Its receiving area is equivalent to about 30 football fields.
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Next-gen Long March rockets to be developed by 2030: report
By Qu Qiuyan Source:Global Times Published: 2017/10/11 22:24:09
China is expected to develop a new generation of Long March carrier rockets by 2030, a rocket designer said on Tuesday.
By 2030, China will develop 12 types of new-generation Long March carrier rockets, Long Lehao, chief carrier rocket designer at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, said at a conference in the 2017 World Space Week on Tuesday, chinanews.com reported.
The new rockets will range from light to heavy types using both liquid and solid fuel, Long said.
"The current generation of the Long March series mainly consists of small and medium sizes of carrier rockets and the new generation will cover all types and have more technological advancement in terms of its engines and accessories," Song Zhongping, a military expert who used to serve the PLA Rocket Force, told the Global Times.
The current series of Long March rockets has undergone four generations and 17 types, with 12 of them in service and another two under development, the report said.
The rockets have been launched 252 times and have sent 344 spacecraft into orbit, Long explained, adding that the Long March's precision, launch rate and carrier capacity are advanced.
Carrier rockets are expected to carry heavier payloads at a lower cost, Song said, and that the new-generation homemade carrier rockets would make the transition from micro-rockets to heavy rockets, which could attract a broader global market.
China has been developing reusable carrier rocket technologies and is experimenting with vertical landing and parachute landing to reduce costs, China Central Television reported in July.
By Qu Qiuyan Source:Global Times Published: 2017/10/11 22:24:09
China is expected to develop a new generation of Long March carrier rockets by 2030, a rocket designer said on Tuesday.
By 2030, China will develop 12 types of new-generation Long March carrier rockets, Long Lehao, chief carrier rocket designer at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, said at a conference in the 2017 World Space Week on Tuesday, chinanews.com reported.
The new rockets will range from light to heavy types using both liquid and solid fuel, Long said.
"The current generation of the Long March series mainly consists of small and medium sizes of carrier rockets and the new generation will cover all types and have more technological advancement in terms of its engines and accessories," Song Zhongping, a military expert who used to serve the PLA Rocket Force, told the Global Times.
The current series of Long March rockets has undergone four generations and 17 types, with 12 of them in service and another two under development, the report said.
The rockets have been launched 252 times and have sent 344 spacecraft into orbit, Long explained, adding that the Long March's precision, launch rate and carrier capacity are advanced.
Carrier rockets are expected to carry heavier payloads at a lower cost, Song said, and that the new-generation homemade carrier rockets would make the transition from micro-rockets to heavy rockets, which could attract a broader global market.
China has been developing reusable carrier rocket technologies and is experimenting with vertical landing and parachute landing to reduce costs, China Central Television reported in July.
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World's largest radio telescope is detecting candidate pulsars 'almost every night'
by GBTIMES Oct 16, 2017 08:24 GUIZHOU PROVINCE
The world's largest single aperture radio telescope is detecting high-quality pulsar "candidates almost every night," according to a chief scientist on the project.
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) had its first two pulsar discoveries recently confirmed, following detection on August 22 and 25.
But these discoveries, which more than anything confirm FAST's functionality and sensitivity, are set to be followed by numerous more new astronomical phenomena.
"We can detect high-quality pulsar candidates almost every night," said Li Di, chief scientist of the Radio Astronomy Division of the National Astronomical Observatories (NAOC) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), told Xinhua.
Studying pulsars
A pulsar was first observed by Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967, and the rapidly repeating pulse of electromagnetic radiation was initially considered to be a possible signal from aliens.
Pulsars are rapidly rotating remnants of formerly massive stars, and are sometimes referred to as 'lighthouses' of the universe due to their regular rotational periods and focused electromagnetic radiation emissions.
Half a century and thousands of pulsars later, much remains to be learned and the objects are a focus of FAST's work.
"There are many strange phenomena and natures of pulsars that we don't understand," said Chen Xuelei, a researcher with NAOC, adding that scientists have discovered some millisecond pulsars spinning very fast. "More study is needed to find out why they rotate so fast."
The telescope, which while fixed in place, has an 'active' surface made of 4,600 panels and a movable feed cabin to allow it to scan a larger area of the skies.
Located in a karst depression in Guizhou Province in southwest China, it has detected dozens of candidate pulsars since the debugging and a trial phase of the telescope began after its completion in September 2016.
The discoveries mark a new era for Chinese astronomy. The Xinhua feature notes that when the first pulsar was discovered, China was suffering from poverty and turmoil, but is now looking to contribute to answering the most profound questions.
FAST will also seek to detect molecules such as long-chain carbon molecules in the space between stars, and survey hydrogen levels in the Milky Way and other galaxies.
Eventually it will also contribute to the international search for intelligent extraterrestrial life (SETI) by listening for signals from exoplanets.
"Looking for aliens is one of the goals of FAST. But we haven't started that kind of search during the debugging and trial period," said Li Di.
Li predicts that after it starts formal operation in 2019, FAST will be capable of finding over a hundred pulsars per year, including some in M31, the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way.
Li Di said FAST takes in the past and brings about the future. "The era of systematic pulsar research with a Chinese telescope has just started. We hope to make the telescope an important scientific instrument of mankind."
World's largest radio telescope is detecting candidate pulsars 'almost every night' | GBTIMES
by GBTIMES Oct 16, 2017 08:24 GUIZHOU PROVINCE
The world's largest single aperture radio telescope is detecting high-quality pulsar "candidates almost every night," according to a chief scientist on the project.
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) had its first two pulsar discoveries recently confirmed, following detection on August 22 and 25.
But these discoveries, which more than anything confirm FAST's functionality and sensitivity, are set to be followed by numerous more new astronomical phenomena.
"We can detect high-quality pulsar candidates almost every night," said Li Di, chief scientist of the Radio Astronomy Division of the National Astronomical Observatories (NAOC) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), told Xinhua.
Studying pulsars
A pulsar was first observed by Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967, and the rapidly repeating pulse of electromagnetic radiation was initially considered to be a possible signal from aliens.
Pulsars are rapidly rotating remnants of formerly massive stars, and are sometimes referred to as 'lighthouses' of the universe due to their regular rotational periods and focused electromagnetic radiation emissions.
Half a century and thousands of pulsars later, much remains to be learned and the objects are a focus of FAST's work.
"There are many strange phenomena and natures of pulsars that we don't understand," said Chen Xuelei, a researcher with NAOC, adding that scientists have discovered some millisecond pulsars spinning very fast. "More study is needed to find out why they rotate so fast."
The telescope, which while fixed in place, has an 'active' surface made of 4,600 panels and a movable feed cabin to allow it to scan a larger area of the skies.
Located in a karst depression in Guizhou Province in southwest China, it has detected dozens of candidate pulsars since the debugging and a trial phase of the telescope began after its completion in September 2016.
The discoveries mark a new era for Chinese astronomy. The Xinhua feature notes that when the first pulsar was discovered, China was suffering from poverty and turmoil, but is now looking to contribute to answering the most profound questions.
FAST will also seek to detect molecules such as long-chain carbon molecules in the space between stars, and survey hydrogen levels in the Milky Way and other galaxies.
Eventually it will also contribute to the international search for intelligent extraterrestrial life (SETI) by listening for signals from exoplanets.
"Looking for aliens is one of the goals of FAST. But we haven't started that kind of search during the debugging and trial period," said Li Di.
Li predicts that after it starts formal operation in 2019, FAST will be capable of finding over a hundred pulsars per year, including some in M31, the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way.
Li Di said FAST takes in the past and brings about the future. "The era of systematic pulsar research with a Chinese telescope has just started. We hope to make the telescope an important scientific instrument of mankind."
World's largest radio telescope is detecting candidate pulsars 'almost every night' | GBTIMES
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China announces new gravitational wave observation
2017-10-17 08:30 Xinhua Editor: Wang Fan
Photo taken on Dec. 30, 2016 shows Chinese telescope AST3-2. (Xinhua/Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy)
Chinese scientists on Monday announced observation of the "optical counterpart" of gravitational waves coming from the merger of two binary neutron stars using a survey telescope in Antarctica.
The gravitational waves were first discovered by the U.S.-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors on Aug. 17. The Chinese telescope independently observed optical signals resulting from the merger the next day, among some 70 telescopes on the ground or from space across the world, according to the Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy.
It was the first time humans have detected gravitational waves and the corresponding electromagnetic phenomena resulting from a binary neutron star merger.
Data exclusively collected by the Chinese detector has led to a preliminary estimate of the ejecta parameters, according to Wang Lifan, director of the center.
The merging process ejected radioactive material with more than 3,000 times the mass of the Earth at a speed of up to 30 percent the speed of light, Wang said.
A merger of black holes with an extremely strong gravitational field can not generate ejecta or electromagnetic phenomena, according to Wu Xuefeng, a researcher with the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
However, the collision of binary neutron stars is accompanied by a series of electromagnetic phenomena that are crucial to research in origins of heavy elements like platinum and gold.
"The crash of binary neutron stars is like a gigantic gold factory in the universe," said Jin Zhiping, an associate researcher with the observatory and a member of an international team that analyzed optical signals.
The host galaxy of the incident is located about 130 million light years from the Earth.
In 2015, LIGO detectors confirmed the existence of gravitational waves produced during the merger of two black holes, which were predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity 100 years ago.
So far, LIGO and its partners have discovered four cases of gravitational waves coming from mergers of two black holes.
The Chinese telescope is a catadioptric optical telescope with an entrance pupil diameter of 500 mm. Its unique location allows for continuous observations lasting longer than 24 hours during the austral winter.
China's first X-ray astronomical satellite, a Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope named Insight, also contributed to the detection.
Only two months after its launch, the satellite successfully monitored the space where the incident occurred.
Chinese scientists forecast that the next achievement in observation might be gravitational waves coming from the merger of a binary neutron star and a black hole. (Updated)
http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-16/277251.shtml
Huiyan satellite helps measure new type of gravitational wave
2017-10-17 09:02 chinadaily.com.cn Editor: Li Yahui
A Chinese satellite helped define the energy level of a newly discovered gravitational wave — tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time caused by violent cosmic events.
Scientists at the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory in the United States announced on Monday night they had discovered the first-ever gravitational wave created by the collision of two neutron stars — superdense remnants of massive stars — on Aug 17.
Huiyan, or Insight, China's first Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope put into orbit on June 15, has been cooperating with other observatories and located the source of the wave some 130 million light years away, according to a news release from the Institute of High Energy Physics, a unit of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Detectors from the US and Europe also found the collision had produced a short gamma ray burst — extremely energetic explosions often regarded as the brightest electromagnetic event in the universe.
This is the first time scientist has discovered gravitational waves and a gamma ray burst from the same event — important because scientist might be able to directly see the event thanks to visible light.
"Finding a cosmic event that can produce both gravitational and electromagnetic waves has been an aspiration of scientists," the news release said. "Studying such an event will have an irreplaceable, decisive significance in understanding the universe and fundamental physics."
To better understand the aftermath of a cosmic collision, the institute plans to build a telescope specifically for detecting gamma ray bursts from events capable of creating gravitational waves.
The project is called Shan Dian, meaning lighting, and, after approval, will be put into orbit by 2020. "It will make China a world leader in studying the electromagnetic aftermath of these cosmic crashes," the release said.
In the neutron crash, Huiyan defined the energy range of the gamma ray burst at between 0.2 million to 5 million electron volts. This energy level is "surprisingly weak" relative to the extreme properties that neutron stars have, the news release said.
Neutron stars are the superdense cores of massive stars that went supernova and died. They have a mass about 1.5 times that of the sun packed into a sphere around 20 kilometers in diameter.
They are so dense that a single teaspoon of neutron star would weigh a billion metric tons. They also have extremely strong electromagnetic fields and some are capable of firing radiation at nearly the speed of light — such stars are called pulsars.
In February 2016, the observatory announced it had confirmed the first-ever direct observation of Albert Einstein's gravitational waves — 100 years after the genius predicted them.
The first discovered gravitational wave was caused by the collision of two black holes, which are much denser than neutron stars. Since a black hole's gravity is so strong that not even light can escape, scientists could only illustrate and describe what happened, rather than seeing it directly.
Three US physicists — Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne — were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics this year for the discovery of gravitational waves
http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-17/277276.shtml
2017-10-17 08:30 Xinhua Editor: Wang Fan
Photo taken on Dec. 30, 2016 shows Chinese telescope AST3-2. (Xinhua/Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy)
Chinese scientists on Monday announced observation of the "optical counterpart" of gravitational waves coming from the merger of two binary neutron stars using a survey telescope in Antarctica.
The gravitational waves were first discovered by the U.S.-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors on Aug. 17. The Chinese telescope independently observed optical signals resulting from the merger the next day, among some 70 telescopes on the ground or from space across the world, according to the Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy.
It was the first time humans have detected gravitational waves and the corresponding electromagnetic phenomena resulting from a binary neutron star merger.
Data exclusively collected by the Chinese detector has led to a preliminary estimate of the ejecta parameters, according to Wang Lifan, director of the center.
The merging process ejected radioactive material with more than 3,000 times the mass of the Earth at a speed of up to 30 percent the speed of light, Wang said.
A merger of black holes with an extremely strong gravitational field can not generate ejecta or electromagnetic phenomena, according to Wu Xuefeng, a researcher with the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
However, the collision of binary neutron stars is accompanied by a series of electromagnetic phenomena that are crucial to research in origins of heavy elements like platinum and gold.
"The crash of binary neutron stars is like a gigantic gold factory in the universe," said Jin Zhiping, an associate researcher with the observatory and a member of an international team that analyzed optical signals.
The host galaxy of the incident is located about 130 million light years from the Earth.
In 2015, LIGO detectors confirmed the existence of gravitational waves produced during the merger of two black holes, which were predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity 100 years ago.
So far, LIGO and its partners have discovered four cases of gravitational waves coming from mergers of two black holes.
The Chinese telescope is a catadioptric optical telescope with an entrance pupil diameter of 500 mm. Its unique location allows for continuous observations lasting longer than 24 hours during the austral winter.
China's first X-ray astronomical satellite, a Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope named Insight, also contributed to the detection.
Only two months after its launch, the satellite successfully monitored the space where the incident occurred.
Chinese scientists forecast that the next achievement in observation might be gravitational waves coming from the merger of a binary neutron star and a black hole. (Updated)
http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-16/277251.shtml
Huiyan satellite helps measure new type of gravitational wave
2017-10-17 09:02 chinadaily.com.cn Editor: Li Yahui
A Chinese satellite helped define the energy level of a newly discovered gravitational wave — tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time caused by violent cosmic events.
Scientists at the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory in the United States announced on Monday night they had discovered the first-ever gravitational wave created by the collision of two neutron stars — superdense remnants of massive stars — on Aug 17.
Huiyan, or Insight, China's first Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope put into orbit on June 15, has been cooperating with other observatories and located the source of the wave some 130 million light years away, according to a news release from the Institute of High Energy Physics, a unit of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Detectors from the US and Europe also found the collision had produced a short gamma ray burst — extremely energetic explosions often regarded as the brightest electromagnetic event in the universe.
This is the first time scientist has discovered gravitational waves and a gamma ray burst from the same event — important because scientist might be able to directly see the event thanks to visible light.
"Finding a cosmic event that can produce both gravitational and electromagnetic waves has been an aspiration of scientists," the news release said. "Studying such an event will have an irreplaceable, decisive significance in understanding the universe and fundamental physics."
To better understand the aftermath of a cosmic collision, the institute plans to build a telescope specifically for detecting gamma ray bursts from events capable of creating gravitational waves.
The project is called Shan Dian, meaning lighting, and, after approval, will be put into orbit by 2020. "It will make China a world leader in studying the electromagnetic aftermath of these cosmic crashes," the release said.
In the neutron crash, Huiyan defined the energy range of the gamma ray burst at between 0.2 million to 5 million electron volts. This energy level is "surprisingly weak" relative to the extreme properties that neutron stars have, the news release said.
Neutron stars are the superdense cores of massive stars that went supernova and died. They have a mass about 1.5 times that of the sun packed into a sphere around 20 kilometers in diameter.
They are so dense that a single teaspoon of neutron star would weigh a billion metric tons. They also have extremely strong electromagnetic fields and some are capable of firing radiation at nearly the speed of light — such stars are called pulsars.
In February 2016, the observatory announced it had confirmed the first-ever direct observation of Albert Einstein's gravitational waves — 100 years after the genius predicted them.
The first discovered gravitational wave was caused by the collision of two black holes, which are much denser than neutron stars. Since a black hole's gravity is so strong that not even light can escape, scientists could only illustrate and describe what happened, rather than seeing it directly.
Three US physicists — Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne — were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics this year for the discovery of gravitational waves
http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-17/277276.shtml
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Saturday, October 21, 2017, 10:36
Chinese-French satellite nearly ready
By Jiang Chenglong
This image obtained from the official website of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CENS) shows an artist's rendition of the deployed CFOSAT spacecraft in orbit.
Chinese and French space scientists are working in Beijing on the final assembly of their first jointly developed satellite, which is scheduled to be launched in the second half of 2018 to assist in oceanographical research.
Based on China's CAST 2000 satellite platform, which has been applied to dozens of satellites successfully, the China-France Oceanography Satellite, known as CFOSAT, will be equipped with two major high-tech instruments - French-developed surface waves investigation and monitoring radar and Chinese-developed wind scatterometer.
The China National Space Administration said in a news release that the French-developed parts were delivered on time to their Chinese partner in August and the two nations' science teams are working together on the final assembly in Beijing.
"After the assembly, we will run a series of tests in different simulated environments similar to those in space in terms of temperature, vacuum and radiation," said Wang Hui, deputy director of the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft Environment Engineering.
The satellite is expected to be launched in the latter half of next year in China and will operate at an orbit 500 kilometers above Earth for three years, according to the administration.
ALSO READ: China's new-generation weather satellite put into service
The satellite is tasked with detecting the wind and waves on the ocean's surface and helping analyze their effect on the air-sea interface, which will enhance what is known about climate change.
Daniele Hauser, director of Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales in France, said the satellite will observe the wind and waves in both normal and extreme weather conditions.
"Unlike others, it can measure the wind and waves at the same time, which relies on two countries' most advanced technology," she said.
READ MORE: Breakthroughs confirm China's rise as a global high-tech player
The wind and wave data collected by the satellite will be extremely significant for an exact marine meteorological forecast, which will benefit sea transportation, marine pollution prevention and the yacht industry, according to the China National Space Administration.
Huang Yaohui, deputy chief commander on Chinese side of the project, said, "The data gathered by the satellite will be shared by both China and France."
The CFOSAT program started in 2009.
"Both Chinese and French side have utilized their rich experience and developed this satellite with a number of world-leading technologies," said Wang Lili, chief designer of the satellite at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
Chinese-French satellite nearly ready
By Jiang Chenglong
Chinese and French space scientists are working in Beijing on the final assembly of their first jointly developed satellite, which is scheduled to be launched in the second half of 2018 to assist in oceanographical research.
Based on China's CAST 2000 satellite platform, which has been applied to dozens of satellites successfully, the China-France Oceanography Satellite, known as CFOSAT, will be equipped with two major high-tech instruments - French-developed surface waves investigation and monitoring radar and Chinese-developed wind scatterometer.
Unlike others, it can measure the wind and waves at the same time, which relies on two countries' most advanced technology
Daniele Hauser,
director of Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales in France
Daniele Hauser,
director of Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales in France
The China National Space Administration said in a news release that the French-developed parts were delivered on time to their Chinese partner in August and the two nations' science teams are working together on the final assembly in Beijing.
"After the assembly, we will run a series of tests in different simulated environments similar to those in space in terms of temperature, vacuum and radiation," said Wang Hui, deputy director of the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft Environment Engineering.
The satellite is expected to be launched in the latter half of next year in China and will operate at an orbit 500 kilometers above Earth for three years, according to the administration.
ALSO READ: China's new-generation weather satellite put into service
The satellite is tasked with detecting the wind and waves on the ocean's surface and helping analyze their effect on the air-sea interface, which will enhance what is known about climate change.
Daniele Hauser, director of Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales in France, said the satellite will observe the wind and waves in both normal and extreme weather conditions.
"Unlike others, it can measure the wind and waves at the same time, which relies on two countries' most advanced technology," she said.
READ MORE: Breakthroughs confirm China's rise as a global high-tech player
The wind and wave data collected by the satellite will be extremely significant for an exact marine meteorological forecast, which will benefit sea transportation, marine pollution prevention and the yacht industry, according to the China National Space Administration.
Huang Yaohui, deputy chief commander on Chinese side of the project, said, "The data gathered by the satellite will be shared by both China and France."
The CFOSAT program started in 2009.
"Both Chinese and French side have utilized their rich experience and developed this satellite with a number of world-leading technologies," said Wang Lili, chief designer of the satellite at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
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