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China's 1st Manned Space Docking Mission a Big Step, Experts Say
By Leonard David
updated 6/14/2012

China's next high point in human space travel centers on a launch this weekend, with the planned Saturday liftoff (June 16) marking a major milestone for the country's space ambitions, according to state media reports and outside analysts.

The three-person crew that will launch on China's upcoming Shenzhou 9 docking mission is making final preparations to ride a Long March 2F rocket into orbit from China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest region.

The astronauts will be China's first space crew ever to make a piloted rendezvous and docking with the country's Tiangong 1 space laboratory currently in orbit. It will also mark the first flight of a female Chinese astronaut, according to media reports.

Mission launch officials successfully completed a dress rehearsal for the liftoff Tuesday (June 12), and has entered the final phase of prelaunch preparations, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

Tiangong launched into space in last September. In November, an unpiloted Shenzhou 8 spacecraft successfully conducted rendezvous and docking operations with the space lab in an unmanned demonstration.

According to Chinese media reports and several watchdog websites monitoring the China's space program, the Shenzhou 9 liftoff is to occur on June 16 and may likely carry 32 year-old female astronaut (taikonaut) Air Force Captain Wang Yaping, with two other crewmates. Another Chinese Air Force member, Liu Yang, is also in the running to become China's first female spaceflyer.

Slow but steady

China's Tiangong 1 space lab module is a relatively humble orbital abode. It is about the size of a bus and weighs 8.5 metric tons, compared with the International Space Station (ISS), which weighs about 400 metric tons, notes space policy analyst Marcia Smith, founder and editor of SpacePolicyOnline.com.

"Even though Tiangong 1 is very modest compared to ISS, and even to the first Soviet and U.S. space stations, it is nonetheless a starting point for long-term Chinese expeditions in Earth orbit," Smith told SPACE.com. "If all goes well, it is a feather in their cap."

Smith said that China is taking the slow-and-steady approach to its space program.

"They do things when they are ready to do them, not on the 'fits and starts' model of the U.S. program. I think … hope … believe the tortoise will not catch up with the hare, but perhaps we could learn a lesson from their strategy. Pick a long- term program and stick with it," Smith said.
SPACE.com contacted other China space program analysts, each offering their own perspective regarding the upcoming space venture by China.

Half of heaven

"To me, the launch signifies Chinese commitment to incrementally achieving the three-step program they laid out in the 1990s — a patience that will serve them well in the long run," said Joan Johnson-Freese, professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval War College in Newport, R. I.

"This particular mission isn't a big deal in technical terms," Johnson-Freese told SPACE.com. "They have already demonstrated the docking technology."

And what about that female space traveler onboard Shenzhou 9?

"Sending a woman likely serves the purpose of garnering international media attention more than anything else," Johnson-Freese said, "and domestically pleasing half the population of a country of 1.3 billion … and where Mao said women 'hold up half of heaven.'"

Another step in the long march

"It's a big deal," said Dean Cheng, The Heritage Foundation's research fellow on Chinese political and security affairs. China's 2011 space white paper laid out a list of main program objectives such as a space station by 2020 and initial manned moon shot studies.

"All of these rely on the ability to conduct docking, and require experience in microgravity," Cheng said in an interview.

Cheng said that after Shenzhou 8, the Chinese have demonstrated a basic, unmanned docking capability. But they must do it with people if they're going to use Tiangong 1, deploy a Tiangong 2, much less a space station, or go to the moon. [ Giant Leaps in Human Spaceflight ]

"Of course, this is only China's fourth crewed mission, so it's also another step in the long march, so to speak, to the stars for the Chinese," Cheng said.

"This is occurring in the context of a troubled Chinese leadership transition," Cheng also noted. "Therefore, any trouble with the mission is likely to have bad consequences for the Chinese leadership, as it might be seen as emblematic of poor leadership, poor stewardship of the nation's vital resources, and raise questions about the legitimacy of the incoming leaders."

Difficult and dangerous work

According to a new background brief on China's space efforts, Gregory Kulacki, senior analyst and China project manager of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security Program, the upcoming mission is an intermediate step in a 30-year Chinese blueprint to construct a national space station.

China is following the long-term plan it began two decades ago to build a Chinese space station that will be approximately the same size as the first U.S. space station, Skylab, which circled the Earth back in the 1970s, Kulacki said.

"This plan emerged from a contentious internal debate that began in March 1986 and engaged hundreds of Chinese experts in many fields, as well as the leadership of numerous Chinese institutions," Kulacki said.

Furthermore, it will be another decade before China completes its space station, Kulacki said. "A lot of difficult and dangerous work remains to be done. The leadership of China's space program does not appear to be in a hurry and is not rushing to beat the United States to the moon or anywhere else."

China's 1st Manned Space Docking Mission a Big Step, Experts Say - Technology & science - Space - Space.com - msnbc.com

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is a winner of last year's National Space Club Press Award and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has written for SPACE.com since 1999.
 
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Tiangong-1 Space Station Module's First Visitor

Shenzhou-8 undergoes testing in preparation for carrying out an unpiloted rendezvous and docking mission to the Tiangong-1platform.


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Credit: China National Space Administration
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Chinese Spacewalks

An artist's illustration of Chinese astronauts spacewalking outside their Shenzhou spacecraft. Future Shenzhou missions will feature spacewalks ahead of orbital rendezvous and docking demonstrations.
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Credit: China National Space Administration
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The next-gen rocket for the Moon Landing is named as CZ-9. :coffee:

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The rest of the majestic Chang Zheng 长征 (Long March) Rocket Family

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China's space launch schedule from 2012 to 2028

I saw a Chinese Mars flight in a few years on NASA Spaceflight. I think China will use their own heavy-lift rocket.

Venus in 2015. Mars in 2016. See tentative launch schedule below.

Chinese launch schedule

China launches in 2012

01 - January 9 (0317:09.979UTC) - CZ-4B (Y26) - TSLC, LC9 - ZY-3 Ziyuan-3; VesselSat-2
02 - January 13 (0056:04.326UTC) - CZ-3A (Y22) - XSLC, LC3 - FY-2F Fengyun-2F
03 - February 24 (1612:04.289UTC) - CZ-3C (Y6) - XSLC, LC2 - Compass-G5
04 - March 31 (1027:04.438UTC) - CZ-3B/E (Y22) - XSLC, LC2 - Apstar-7
05 - April 29 (2050:03.968UTC) - CZ-3B/E (Y14) - XSLC, LC2 - Compass-M3; Compass-M4
06 - May 6 (0710:04.736UTC) - CZ-2D (Y17) - JSLC, 603 - TH-1B Tianhui-1B
07 - May 10 (0706:04.493UTC) - CZ-4B (Y12) - TSLC, LC9 - YG-14 Yaogan Weixing-14; TT-1 Tiantuo-1
08 - May 26 (1556:04.241UTC) - CZ-3B/E (Y17) - XSLC, LC2 - ZX-2A Zhongxing-2A
09 - May 29 (0731:05.187UTC) - CZ-4C (Y10) - TSLC, LC9 - YG-15 Yaogan Weixing-15
10 - June 16 (1037:24.558UTC) - CZ-2F/G (Y9) - JSLC, 921 - SZ-9 Shenzhou-9


China launch schedule

2012

July - CZ-4C (Y9) - JSLC, 603 - YG-16 Yaogan Weixing-16A/B/C
July - CZ-3C - XSLC, LC2 - TL-1C Tianlian-1C
August - CZ-3B/E (Y15?) - XSLC, LC2 - Compass-M2; Compass-M5
September 30 or first days of October - CZ-2D - JSLC, 603 - VRSS-1 (Venezuela Remote Sensing Satellite-1) 'Francisco Miranda'
October - CZ-3C - XSLC, LC2 - Compass-G6 (G2R)
November - CZ-4B - TSLC, LC9 - CBERS-3
December - CZ-2C - TSLC, LC9 - HJ-1C Huanjing-1C
December - CZ-3B/E - XSLC, LC2 - ZX-12 Zhongxing-12 (Chinasat-12)
Second half - CZ-2D - JSLC, 603 - Gokturk-2 (or 2013)
?? - CZ-2D - JSLC, 603 - SJ-9 Shijian 9A/B; FN-1 Fengniao-1A/B
?? - CZ-2C - JSLC, 603 - SJ-11 Shijian 11-05 (11-04R)
?? - CZ-4B - TSLC, LC9 - SJ-6 Shijian-6 Group 5

The following satellites will possibly be launched as piggyback payloads

?? - ?? - ?? - Beijing-2
?? - ?? - ?? - Jishu Shiyan-1 (NewTec-1)
?? - ?? - ?? - XY-1 Xinyan-1

2013

December 20 - CZ-3B/E - XSLC, LC2 - Túpac Katari 'TKSat-1' (Bolivia)
Early - CZ-4C - TSLC, LC9 - FY-3C Fengyun-3C (or December 2012)
Second quarter - CZ-3B/E - XSLC, LC2 - ZX-11 Zhongxing-11 (Chinasat-11)
Second quarter - CZ-3B/E - XSLC, LC2 - ZX-M Zhongxing-M (Chinasat-M)
Third quarter - CZ-3B/E - XSLC, LC2 - LaosSat-1
?? - CZ-7 - JSLC, 921 - TG-2 Tiangong-2
?? - CZ-2F/G - JSLC, 921 - SZ-10 Shenzhou-10 (or end 2012)
?? - CZ-2F - JSLC, 921 - SZ-11 Shenzhou-11
?? - CZ-2F - JSLC, 921 - SZ-12 Shenzhou-12
?? - CZ-2D - JSLC, 631 - Shiyan Weixing-5; Chuangxin-4
?? - CZ-2D - JSLC, 631 - civilian high-resolution remote sensing satellite
?? - CZ-3B/E - XSLC, LC2 - ZX-9A Zhongxing-9A (Chinasat-9A)
?? - CZ-3B - XSLC, LC2 - Chang'e-3 (Moon lander/rover)
?? - CZ-3B - XSLC, LC2 - Communications Satellite
?? - CZ-4B - TSLC, LC9 - HY-2B Haiyang-2B (or 2014)
?? - ?? - ?? - Pakistani remote sensing satellite (RSSS)
?? - ?? - ?? - YG-17 YaoGan Weixing-17
?? - ?? - ?? - YG-18 YaoGan Weixing-18
?? - ?? - ?? - YG-19 YaoGan Weixing-19
?? - ?? - ?? - YG-20 YaoGan Weixing-20
?? - ?? - ?? - HY-3A Haiyang-3A
?? - ?? - ?? - FAST (FAST-D and FAST-T: Formation for Atmospheric Science and Technology)
?? - CZ-6 - ?? - ??

2014

August - ?? - TSLC - CBERS-4
First quarter - CZ-3B/E - XSLC - Belarus Sat-1
Second half - CZ-3B - XSLC - Barcelona Moon Team
?? - CZ-3A - XSLC, LC3 - FY-2G Fengyun-2G
?? - CZ-3B/E - XSLC - ZX-5 Zhongxing-5 (Chinasat-5)
?? - CZ-3B/E - XSLC - TurkmenistanSat
?? - CZ-3B - XSLC - NigComSat-2
?? - CZ-3B - XSLC - Chang'e-4 (Moon lander/rover)
?? - CZ-5 - WSLC - ??
?? - CZ-7 - WSLC - ??
?? - CZ-?? - ?? - CFOSAT (China-France Oceanography SATellite)
?? - ?? - ?? - Scientific Experimental Satellite for Global Carbon Dioxide Monitoring
?? - CZ-2C(?) - ?? - CSES-1 Earthquake electromagnetism monitor satellite
?? - ?? - ?? - Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope 'HXMT'

2015

June - ?? - ?? - Venus probe
December - CZ-4B - TSLC - FY-3D Fengyun-3D (Batch 2)
?? - CZ-2C - JSLC - SJ-10 Shijian-10
?? - ?? - ?? - FY-3 Fengyun-3 RM-1
?? - ?? - ?? - Kuafu-A
?? - ?? - ?? - Kuafu-B (1)
?? - ?? - ?? - Kuafu-B (2)
?? - ?? - ?? - Dark Matter Satellite
NET - ?? - ?? - VeneSat-2
NET - CZ-3B/E - XSLC - NigComSat-3
NET - CZ-3B/E - XSLC - SupremeSAT
?? - CZ-3B/E - XSLC, LC2 - LaosSat-1

2016

January / April - ?? - ?? - Mars probe
?? - CZ-7 - JSLC - TG-3 Tiangong-3 (or 2015)
?? - CZ-3A - XSLC - FY-2H Fengyun-2H
?? - CZ-4B - TSLC, LC9 - FY-4A Fengyun-4A
?? - ?? - TSLC - CBERS-4B
?? - ?? - ?? - Quantum Science Satellite

2017

NET - ?? - TSLC - CBERS-SAR 1
?? - CZ-5 - WSLC - Chang'e-5 (Sample return)
?? - ?? - ?? - HY-3B Haiyang-3B
?? - ?? - TSLC - FY-3E Fengyun-3E (Batch 2)
?? - ?? - ?? - FY-4B Fengyun-4B
?? - ?? - ?? - Asteroid rendezvous and touchdown

2017 / 2020

?? - CZ-5 - WSLC - Chang'e-6 (Sample return)

2018

?? - ?? - TSLC - CBERS-SAR 1
?? - ?? - ?? - Deep Space Solar Observatory

2019

?? - ?? - TSLC - FY-3F Fengyun-3F (Batch 2)
?? - ?? - ?? - FY-3 Fengyun-3 RM-2

2020

September - ?? - TSLC - CBERS-6
?? - ?? - CZ-5 - Space Station Core Module
?? - ?? - CZ-5 - Space Station Laboratory
?? - ?? - ?? - FY-4C Fengyun-4C (or 2019)
NET - ?? - ?? - Recoverable Moon Probes

2021

?? - ?? - TSLC - FY-3G Fengyun-3G (Batch 2)
?? - ?? - ?? - Venus Global Sensing Probe

2022

?? - ?? - ?? - HY-3C Haiyang-3C
?? - ?? - ?? - Mars Rover

2023

?? - ?? - ?? - Polar Orbiter Solar Probe

2024

?? - ?? - ?? - Asteroid Sample Return Mission

2025

Proposed Moon Landing
?? - ?? - ?? - Jupiter Orbiter

2027

?? - ?? - ?? - FY-4E Fengyun-4E

2028

?? - ?? - ?? - Mars Sample Return

[Note: Thank you to Satori.]
 
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this is mr. E space robotic arm developed way back..:lol:

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 05, 2002
Chinese Space Robot Seeks Employment on ISS

*ttp://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200212/05/eng20021205_107989.shtml

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harbin institute rover concepts

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First Look: China

First Look: China’s Big New Rockets
By Craig Covault
July 18th, 2012

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Images illustrate the diversity of activity under China’s heavy lift rocket program. Top graphic depicts a Long March 5 mission with liquid booster and satellite separation. Chart highlights Long March 5 and Long March 9 vehicles, while a Long March 5 propellant tank is at right. Image Credit: CALT

Images from China’s new heavy rocket development program show spotless production facilities with advanced tooling to build China’s new Long March 5/CZ-5 heavy rocket, along with even more advanced launchers to come.

In addition to CZ-5 hardware development, China is completing design studies on two 11 million lb. thrust Long March 9 maximum heavy lift rocket configurations. If approved for final development, one of the designs would emerge for flight in 2020-2025 with the capability to launch Chinese astronauts to the surface of the Moon.

The concepts mean that China is designing “a Super Saturn V rocket,” says Charles P. Vick, a highly experienced analyst with GlobalSecurity.Org.

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The two options for China’s “Super Saturn V” rocket are the favored “Option A” oxygen/kerosene version at left and less favored oxygen/hydrogen “Option B” with solid rocket boosters on the right. Image Credit: CALT

The Long March 5 and other future planned vehicles are shown here in context with each other for the first time in a major news article.

Images of the construction underway at China’s new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island are also shown as the site is readied to fire Long March 5’s into space by 2014.

Currently, six Long March 5 vehicle configurations are planned for different missions, with a maximum payload capacity of 55,000 lbs. to LEO and nearly 31,000 lbs. to geostationary transfer orbits. This makes it more powerful than a Delta IV Heavy, depending upon the mission configuration.

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Long March 5 stage is welded in modern assembly rig. Photo Credit: CALT

Details emerging from largely secret Chinese rocket projects point up the importance of the Long March 5 to future far more powerful Chinese rockets.

Whether the timing of China’s Long March 9 development is a deliberate challenge to the U. S. is unknown. But while neither China nor the U. S. professes to be in a new space race, they may well already be in one.

The most powerful version of the new U. S. Space Launch System (SLS) rocket currently under development is scheduled to be ready for flight at the same time as the CZ-9 to carry NASA astronauts beyond Earth orbit to the Moon, Lagrangian points, asteroids and eventually Mars.

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Modern jig for Long March 5 welding and assembly is comparable with western manufacturing hardware. Photo Credit: CALT

The new Long March 9 details were revealed by Liang Xiaohong, the Communist Party Chief at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), China’s largest rocket contractor. Vick at Global Security did an extensive review of Liang’s revelations.

Liang outlined several new Long March versions, virtually all of them testing elements that would eventually find their way into the Long March 9 that has 4 million lb. more of liftoff thrust than the 7.5 million lb. thrust NASA Saturn V. Forty-three years ago this week a Saturn V propelled the Apollo 11 astronauts to the first manned landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

The Long March 5 appears positioned in the development flow to function like the U. S. Saturn 1B rockets did in relation to the Saturn V in Apollo. That role was to use a powerful, but smaller launch vehicle to launch key elements of the program like the Apollo Command/Service modules and Lunar Modules for test in Earth orbit.

There is one major difference with the Long March 5 however. It is powerful enough to launch a Shenzhou manned spacecraft on a lunar orbit flight, a mission the Saturn 1Bs could not duplicate.

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Larger view of new Long March fleet chart shows medium class Long March 7 at center with smaller but upgraded vehicles to the left and a whole new range of Chinese heavy lift options to the right. The Long March 5 alone has 6 configurations. Image Credit: CALT

For the massive Long March 9, the Chinese have both an “Option A” oxygen/kerosene powered launcher and an “Option B oxygen/hydrogen rocket. The detailed specifications for both rocket concepts are at the bottom of this article.

Option A appears to be the preferred of the two options because its first stage uses liquid propellant strap on boosters, compared with ”Option B” that combines an oxygen/hydrogen core with solid rocket boosters, an area where China lacks experience.

The Option A concept would stand 321 ft. tall and have a design payload to low Earth orbit of 130 metric tons (286,601 lb.) exactly the same as the largest of two SLS versions.

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Hainan Island launch pad for Long March 5 is well under way toward being ready for its first launch in 2014. Photo Credit: CALT

As part of an oxygen/kerosene Long March 9 project, China has already started development of a large new oxygen/kerosene rocket engine called the YF-650 that stems directly from the Long March 5 in advanced production.

“The YF-100, oxygen/kerosene engine with 120 metric tons of thrust for the new Long March-5 debuting in 2014 forms the technical basis for 330 metric tons thrust YF-330 single thrust chamber engine,” said Vick.

“It in turn is being combined with a second identical thrust chamber engine to create the YF-650 engine with 650 metric tons thrust,” he said.

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This is similar to the Russian Energomash RD-180 design used on the Russian Zenit. The same engine was essentially cut in half to power the Atlas V.

“The Chinese will combine several of them to achieve 5,200 metric tons of liftoff thrust. That equates to an 11.46 million lb. thrust ‘Super Saturn V’ class rocket,” said Vick.

Data on the Option A and Option B Chinese “Super Saturn Vs” compiled by Vick from Chinese sources is presented in chart form below.

(Click to see chart: First Look: China)

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Hainan Island launch pads for the Long March 5 and smaller Long March 7 rockets are visible in this overhead shot. There are separate Vehicle Assembly Buildings for each launch pad. Photo Credit: China Space Blog / Bing
 
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XICHANG, July 25 (Xinhua) -- China successfully launched the Tianlian I-03 satellite on Wednesday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, completing the country's first data relay satellite network system.

The satellite was launched on a Long March-3C carrier rocket at 11:43 p.m. Beijing Time, according to sources with the center.

Developed by the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the satellite will join its two predecessors to realize global network operation after in-orbit validation and system coordination procedures are carried out.

The first data relay satellite, the Tianlian I-01, was launched in April 2008, and the second was launched in July 2011.

The third satellite is expected to improve the network's coverage in providing measurement and control services for China's manned spacecraft as well as the planned construction of future space labs and space stations, according to the center.

The network will also offer data relay services for the country's medium- and low-Earth orbits as well as measurement and control support for spacecraft launches.

The two-satellite network had previously played a key role in assisting in two space docking missions -- an automated one between the Tiangong-1 lab module and the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in late 2011, and a manual docking between Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-9 in June.

Wednesday's launch marked the 166th mission of China's Long March series of rockets.
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China launches 3rd satellite in its global data relay network - Xinhua | English.news.cn
 
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New rocket engine tests successful
New rocket engine tests successful - Globaltimes.cn
TV footage from China Central Television shows the igniting of China's new liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene engine in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Sunday. The new engine is made for China's new generation carrier rocket, the Long March 5. Photo: CFP

China successfully conducted tests on its new 120-ton-thrust liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene engine on Sunday for its new generation carrier rocket, the Long March 5, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The test was conducted in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The engine was tested to 20,000 revolutions per minute and a high temperature test of 3,000 C that lasted 200 seconds, China Central Television reported.

The high-performance engine is non-toxic, pollution-free and highly reliable.

The engine is much more powerful than the 75-ton-thrust engines of the launch vehicles used to launch the Shenzhou spacecraft.

It also makes China the second country in the world, after Russia, to grasp the core technologies for an LOX/kerosene high-pressure staged combustion cycle rocket engine.

The large-thrust carrier rocket under development, the Long March 5, is expected to make its maiden voyage in 2014.
 
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