China Outer Space Science, Technology and Explorations: News & Updates

[JSCh]

Report on the where about of the Chang'e-5 orbiter after it has drop off the return capsule to land on China.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1339942034652610560

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

But but.... People died in american space program. Another flying coffin. No escape route unlike the one used by Russian and Chinese.

LOL! We have had over 200 manned launches. You have had only a handful.

That's like saying your high speed rail is a coffin because so many people have died on it while nobody has died on our Acela.

 

[mike2000 is back]

Hope it dont kaboom on first try like SpaceX.

From what I heard the LONG MARCH 8 that will launch this weekend won't be the reusable model but just a normal one to test the feasibility for using reusable rockets on the long March 8 in future.
So China is still a couple years away from that

 

[F-22Raptor]

From what I heard the LONG MARCH 8 that will launch this weekend won't be the reusable model but just a normal one to test the feasibility for using reusable rockets on the long March 8 in future.
So China is still a couple years away from that

The one just crashed and burn? I don't have high expectations this will be fast or coming soon.

Safety is a top priority and not rush job. I hope B737 Max is a good lesson for american how to prioritize human lives and safety. Innovation is zero if safety is compromise.

Falcon 9s also crashed and burned during development. Quite a few times in fact and look where Falcon 9 is today.

SN8 completed the most difficult parts of the test flight. Reaching apogee, engine cutoff, vertical to horizontal. Flaps working to perfection, stabilization and descent, relight of engines, and going horizontal to vertical flip maneuver. It’s just a matter of time now until it lands. That was just low pressure in the header tank that caused the crash. Relatively speaking that’s an easy fix. Had the other parts of flight gone bad then your talking a potential major redesign. So this test was remarkable really. A new way of flight was born.

 

[JSCh]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1340125993059565573

https://twitter.com/x/status/1340120610165297153

 

[Beast]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1340125993059565573

https://twitter.com/x/status/1340120610165297153

1731 gram? That is quite disappointing given the media expect more than 2kg or 2.3kg to be bring back.

That means we can only spare NASA 0.5g of luna soil.

 

[JSCh]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1340513102018711553

 

[Whizzack]

Biden space advisers urge cooperation with China
Lawmakers are skeptical of any cooperation, and have made it difficult to join forces with China in space.

Biden space advisers urge cooperation with China

Lawmakers are skeptical of any cooperation, and have made it difficult to join forces with China in space.

www.politico.com

excerpt from the article...
................
A good first step to any cooperation would be getting China to sign on to the Artemis Accords, a set of guidelines for the peaceful and sustainable exploration of space that NASA is using to build an international coalition to return to the moon. The U.S. has already gotten signatures from Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, and “there’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t be doing the same with China,” Manber said.
................

Is this something that China will be willing to do...?

 

[mike2000 is back]

Falcon 9s also crashed and burned during development. Quite a few times in fact and look where Falcon 9 is today.

SN8 completed the most difficult parts of the test flight. Reaching apogee, engine cutoff, vertical to horizontal. Flaps working to perfection, stabilization and descent, relight of engines, and going horizontal to vertical flip maneuver. It’s just a matter of time now until it lands. That was just low pressure in the header tank that caused the crash. Relatively speaking that’s an easy fix. Had the other parts of flight gone bad then your talking a potential major redesign. So this test was remarkable really. A new way of flight was born.

Yes Space X is basically reshaping space altogether. It's kind of similar to how the Germans started with the V2 rockets. Space x is doing things we humans didn't even imagine before only a decade or two ago. So in this regards they are the trend setter and other are bound to be following their lead in this regard, just like most countries are now trying to emulate them with reusable rockets. The same will be said of starship less than a decade from now when it is fully operational. Unfortunately, space X will be far ahead by the time other countries start emulating them with models like starship. Since this is a project that will revolutionize space as we know it.

 

[siegecrossbow]

From what I heard the LONG MARCH 8 that will launch this weekend won't be the reusable model but just a normal one to test the feasibility for using reusable rockets on the long March 8 in future.
So China is still a couple years away from that

That’s right. The recoverable one will fly in 2025. I think a couple of private Chinese firms will beat CNSA to recoverable rockets.

 

[Beast]

Yes Space X is basically reshaping space altogether. It's kind of similar to how the Germans started with the V2 rockets. Space x is doing things we humans didn't even imagine before only a decade or two ago. So in this regards they are the trend setter and other are bound to be following their lead in this regard, just like most countries are now trying to emulate them with reusable rockets. The same will be said of starship less than a decade from now when it is fully operational. Unfortunately, space X will be far ahead by the time other countries start emulating them with models like starship. Since this is a project that will revolutionize space as we know it.

Far ahead? They haven't even land on another planet to prove anything. Sure they have a huge space payload capacity. But when comes to real planet exploration. They are still novice when comes to NASA or CNSA to land, explore, retrieve and return.

 

[Beast]

China roadmaps ambitious space projects, starting with 11 launches in next two years - Global Times

www.globaltimes.cn

China roadmaps ambitious space projects, starting with 11 launches in next two years
By Deng Xiaoci Source: Global Times Published: 2020/12/18 18:28:48 Last Updated: 2020/12/19 0:36:30
18


Space station building focus on next two years’ schedule

China's Chang'e-5 successfully landed at its designated landing area in Siwangzi Banner, N China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region around 2 am Thursday, carrying around 2 kgs of lunar samples. Photos show workers checking craft's status. Photo: Our Space/ Wang Jiangbo
Closely following the complete success of Chang'e-5 lunar sample return mission on Thursday, China's National Space Administration (CNSA) disclosed plans for a slew of ambitious space projects that include a new three-step plan for the country's future moon and deeper space exploration missions, which Wu Yanhua, the CNSA deputy head, referred to as "surveying, constructing, and exploiting," as opposed to the already conquered goals of "orbiting, landing and returning."

Wu made the remarks during a special press conference at the State Council Information Office in Beijing on Thursday afternoon, and in the early morning, the re-entry capsule of the Chang'e-5 probe executed a safe landing in its predetermined site in Siziwang Banner of North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, drawing a perfect conclusion for not only the 23-day single mission but also China's increasingly complex "orbiting, landing and returning" moon exploration scheme that was blueprinted in 2004.

"Surveying" means to explore the space and geological environment of the moon and other cosmic bodies, and the variety of radiation in space, Wu said.

"Constructing" is to master the capability of building infrastructure, remarked the CNSA official, citing Queqiao the relay satellite of the Chang'e-4 probe that is capable of providing constant moon-Earth tracking and communication service function, for example, and he also mentioned the prospects of building the capability of long-term water and electricity supply.

"Exploiting" refers to human development of extraterrestrial resources, which Wu sees as the common goal of interstellar probe missions from all over the world.

Technical personnel work at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing on December 1. China's Chang'e-5 spacecraft successfully landed on the near side of the moon late Tuesday and sent back images. Photo: CNSA
Walk the walk in space

China's space industry does not only talk the talk, but is walking the walk.

The past decades witnessed the steady and robust development of China's space exploration programs, which have acted as proof of self-reliance, resilience and the CNSA's capacity for organizing major programs in a concerted, systematic fashion, space insiders told the Global Times on Friday.

And they now have all the reason in the world to believe that China will practice its space plans for years to come, well-paced and always headed for the infinity of the universe.

Global Times has learned from the CNSA that Phase 4 of the country's moon exploration is already underway, which will include four missions named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology, Chang'e.

The Chang'e-4 probe that achieved the man's first robotic landing on the dark side of the moon in January 2019 was the first step in the new phase.

And the agency and scientists are mulling over the details of the Chang'e-6 mission, which could be enforced during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

The Chang'e-6 mission, also a lunar material retrieving task just as Chang'e-5, would inherit and further extend the technology breakthroughs and complexity of the previous mission. The sample collecting location could be the moon's south pole or even the dark side of the moon, which has never been done before by any nation.

"But if the Queqiao satellite still functions well by the time we launch Chang'e-6, we may also consider sending it to the far side to take some samples there," Wu Yanhua told reporters.

"This is because there has never been a mission to return samples from the far side, and if we do so ... that will be very meaningful to scientists around the world," Wu noted.

The country's space agency is also planning Chang'e-7 and -8 missions and taking those missions as opportunities; China will reach out to relevant countries and international agencies to jointly study the capability of building a moon research base and verify core technologies.

Xu Hongliang, the CNSA spokesperson, revealed on Thursday that Chang'e-7 is likely to explore the moon's south pole, which is similar to Russia's LUNA-26 probe mission. "Under the cooperation mechanism of two governments, China and Russia are preparing to push forward relevant collaboration."

Xu added that "We also welcome other countries around the world that are carrying out international moon base construction programs to join us, and make contributions to the cause of enhancing human well-being with space solutions."

China launched the country's first-ever Mars probe, codenamed Tianwen-1, on July 23 from Wenchang Space Launch Center in South China's Hainan Province, kickstarting its inter-planetary exploration.

Currently, Tianwen-1 has traveled 370 million kilometers and reached more than 100 million kilometers from Earth, as per the CNSA latest update on the mission earlier this week.

The spacecraft is expected to arrive in the gravity of the Red Planet by mid-February next year and then start orbiting Mars. And it aims to land on the planet by mid-May 2021, where it will release a rover to conduct a survey mission.

There would be three more planetary probe missions - an asteroid probe and sampling mission, a Mars sample mission, and a mission to orbit Jupiter - according the CNSA.

China launches Chang’e-5 mission via Long March-5 rocket to retrieve Moon rocks at Wenchang Space Launch Center from South China’s Hainan Province early Tuesday morning. Photo: Li Dike


Busy schedule for crewed missions

China will carry out 11 launches that include four crewed spaceships and four cargo spaceship flights in the next two years, as it aims to complete the building of the country's first space station by around 2022.

The space station, named Tiangong, meaning heavenly palace, will be a T shape with a core module at the center and a lab capsule on each side. It will be able to accommodate three astronauts under normal circumstances and up to six during a crew replacement.

The Chinese space station will operate in low-Earth orbit at an altitude from 340 kilometers to 450 kilometers for more than 10 years, supporting large-scale scientific, technological and application experiments.

Commenting on the prospect of sending Chinese astronauts to the moon, Wu Yanhua, the CNSA deputy head, said Thursday that the space station construction would be a priority for the next two years, and the topic of crewed lunar missions still awaits further discussion.

He also stressed that if there are any Chinese crewed moon mission, they shall be different from those by the US and Soviet Union during the space race period, which focused merely on who got there first and who made more landings.

We shall focus on the scientific research value [in future crewed moon missions], and breakthroughs made during the Chang'e-5 mission - take-off from the moon, rendezvous and docking on the lunar orbit, and re-entry to Earth - are all solid foundations laid for future crewed missions, he said.

China is also pressing ahead with the research and development of a crewed heavy-lift carrier rocket, whose launch capability would reach 70 tons to the low Earth orbit (LEO) and 27 tons to the lunar transfer orbit (LTO), according to a tentative roadmap for the country's future moon landing strategy unveiled by Zhou Yanfei, deputy chief designer of China's crewed space program in September, Global Times previously reported.

None of the existing members of China's Long March carrier rocket family could allow the country to achieve such an ambitious crewed moon landing, Zhou said during his keynote speech at the China Space Conference, adding that the development of a new heavy-lift crewed carrier rocket is among the challenges in reaching the goal.

CNSA officials on Thursday also mentioned such new-generation heavy-lift launch vehicles, calling them a must in the country's space industry development.

"We are working on key technological solutions and optimizing plans, and we will report to the country for approval when the conditions are ripe," Wu revealed.

 

[JSCh]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1340696072222601216

Andrew Jones @AJ_FI

Mission extended: the Chang'e-5 orbiter is heading to Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1, according to the link here, citing Hu Hao, a chief designer of Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. Images: Weibo/China航天，NASA。




12:30 AM · Dec 21, 2020

 

[JSCh]

China航天​

13分钟前​

#长征八号# 【长征八号首飞】北京时间今天12时37分，我国在文昌航天发射场用长征八号遥一运载火箭发射技术验证七号卫星，此次发射任务还搭载了4颗微卫星。
长征八号总长约50.34米，起飞重量约356吨，起飞推力约480吨。700公里太阳同步轨道运载能力4.5吨以上。​

China Aerospace
13 minutes ago
[Long March 8 first flight]

At 12:37 Beijing time today, our country launched the Long March 8 Y1 carrier rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Site with technology verification No. 7 satellite, the launch mission also carried 4 microsatellites.

The Long March 8 has a total length of about 50.34 meters, a takeoff weight of about 356 tons, and a takeoff thrust of about 480 tons. The 700km sun-synchronous orbit has a carrying capacity of more than 4.5 tons.

 

[JSCh]

Maiden flight test mission success !!

​

我们的太空​

4分钟前 来自 微博 weibo.com​

【#长征八号运载火箭首次飞行试验取得圆满成功# 转发祝贺

】从国家航天局获悉,12月22日12 时37分,我国自主研制的新型中型运载火箭长征八号首次飞行试验，在中国文昌航天发射场顺利实施，火箭飞行正常,试验取得圆满成功。​

长征八号运载火箭充分继承长征五号、长征七号运载火箭技术成果，采用无毒无污染推进剂，芯一级直径3.35米，芯二级直径3米，整流罩直径4.2米，捆绑2枚直径2.25米助推器,全长约50.3米,起飞质量约356吨,700公里太阳同步轨道运载能力不小于4.5吨,填补了我国太阳同步轨道3吨至4.5吨运载能力空白，对加速推进运载火箭升级换代具有重要意义，将与长征五号、长征六号、长征七号等无毒无污染运载火箭，构成运载能力大、中、小布局合理的新一代运载火箭型谱。​

长征八号运载火箭首飞搭载的5颗试验性卫星准确进入预定轨道，相关卫星载荷将对微波成像等技术进行在轨验证,开展空间科学以及遥感、通信技术试验与应用。​

长征八号运载火箭工程于2017年由国家航天局批复研制立项并组织实施,中国航天科技集团有限公司所属中国运载火箭技术研究院抓总研制运载火箭系统,中国卫星发射测控系统部负责飞行试验组织实施。此次任务是长征系列运载火箭第356次发射。（摄影：杨海鹏）#我们的太空#​

Our space
4 minutes ago from Weibo

[#Long March 8 Carrier rocket first flight test achieved a complete success#]

It was learned from the National Space Administration that at 12:37 on December 22, the first flight test of our country's self-developed medium-sized carrier rocket Long March 8 was successfully carried out at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. The rocket flew normally and the test was a complete success.

The Long March 8 launch vehicle fully inherits the technical achievements of the Long March 5 and Long March 7 launch vehicles. It uses non-toxic and pollution-free propellant. The core diameter is 3.35 meters, the 2nd stage diameter is 3 meters, and the fairing diameter is 4.2 meters and also bundled with 2 boosters with a diameter of 2.25 meters, total length is about 50.3 meters, take-off mass is about 356 tons, and its 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit has a carrying capacity of no less than 4.5 tons. Which fills the gap in the carrying capacity of China’s sun-synchronous orbit from 3 tons to 4.5 tons. It is of great significance for accelerating the upgrade of launch vehicles. Together with Long March 5, Long March 6, and Long March 7 non-toxic and pollution-free carrier rockets, it will form a new generation of carrier rockets with a reasonable layout of large, medium and small carrying capacities.

The five experimental satellites carried by the Long March 8 carrier rocket for the first flight have accurately entered the predetermined orbit. The relevant satellite payload will verify the microwave imaging and other technologies in orbit, and carry out space science, remote sensing and communication technology experiments and applications.

The Long March 8 carrier rocket project was approved by the National Space Administration in 2017 and subsequently organized the implementation. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, is responsible for the development of this launch vehicle systems. The China Satellite Launch, Measurement and Control System Department is responsible for the organization and implementation of this flight tests.

This mission is the 356th launch of the Long March series of carrier rockets. (Photo: Yang Haipeng)

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https://twitter.com/x/status/1341250390126280705