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China launches new communication satellite - People's Daily Online June 21, 2011

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China launches Zhongxing – 10, a new communication satellite at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China on June 21. The Long March – 3B rocket carrier carries the satellite into space. (Luo Xiaoguang/Xinhua)

China successfully launched a new communication satellite, the Zhongxing-10, from its Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest Sichuan Province on early Tuesday.

The satellite, carried by a Long March-3B rocket carrier, blasted off from the center at 0:13 a.m., said a statement from the center.

According to statistics from the control center, the satellite successfully separated from its carrier rocket and entered Earth's orbit as scheduled, 26 minutes after being launched.

The Zhongxing-10 was designed and manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The satellite will provide communication, broadcasting and data transmission services for users in China and the Asia-Pacific region. It will replace the Zhongxing-5B satellite, which was launched in 1998.

The launch was the 138th mission for the Long March carrier rocket series.

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SOARING SUCCESS: Technicians assembling Chang'e-II at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre prior to October 1, 2010 launch. (Photo: Xinhua)

Chang'e 2 To Lay Groundwork For Mars Missions | AVIATION WEEK

"Chang'e 2 To Lay Groundwork For Mars Missions
By Bradley Perrett
Beijing
Jun 13, 2011

Smashed to smithereens, a return to Earth orbit for retirement, or a voyage into deep space—those are the alternative fates that have awaited the Chinese lunar probe Chang’e 2 since its launch last October.

Now the decision has been made: Chang’e 2 will go to the second Sun-Earth Lagrangian point this month, laying the groundwork for Martian missions.

The opportunity to send Chang’e 2 far from Earth has resulted from the good condition of the spacecraft as it approaches the end of its lunar observation mission, says the China Academy of Sciences.

“We made this choice because the instruments aboard Chang’e 2 are normal, the spacecraft’s remaining life is still long and its remaining fuel is fairly plentiful, enough to support a future mission,” says an official of the academy.

Lagrangian points are positions that remain constant relative to two other bodies in an orbital system. The second Lagrangian point (L2) of the Sun and the Earth is in line with the two but 1.5 million km (932,000 mi.) farther out. “The second Lagrangian point is relatively ideal, because interference from solar radiation there is relatively low,” says the official, quoted in a People’s Daily report that can be taken as a government announcement.

Program managers considered three options for Chang’e 2 after its lunar mission: crashing it into the Moon, as they did with its predecessor, Chang’e 1; bringing it back to an orbit around the Earth; or sending it into the Solar System beyond the Moon’s orbit.

They have chosen the third but limited themselves to L2 as a destination because, they say, their deep-space tracking capability is not good enough to send the spacecraft farther. Even so, the additional mission will help prepare for missions to Mars, says the People’s Daily.

In fact, going farther into the Solar System has always been a function of Chang’e 2. The chief designer of the lunar program, Wu Weiren, said after the Oct. 1, 2010, launch of Chang’e 2 that the mission would demonstrate telemetry, tracking and control technology that could be used for missions to study Mars and Venus. For those more distant missions, only larger antennas would be needed, because other facilities were already being built, he said.

Chang’e 2 will conduct unspecified observations and experiments at L2. To get there, it might have to miss a total eclipse of the Moon on June 15 (GMT), the academy says. The trip will take 2-3 months.

It will not be the first spacecraft to go to L2. NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, among others, is already there.

Chang’e 2, based on the CAST DFH-3 satellite bus, has operated for more than 200 days. Program officials are wrapping up the lunar observation phase, which should be completed by mid-June. Imagery data has all been transmitted back to Earth, where scientists and technicians are assembling it and making three-dimensional images. The academy says that with this data it will be able to publish the most precise complete set of images of the Moon by the end of the year. Resolution will be 7 meters (23 ft.).

The probe is named after a legendary goddess who traveled to the Moon. “Chang” is pronounced as “chahng” and “e” as in “her.”

Meanwhile, China has renewed its polar-orbiting weather satellite group with the in-orbit delivery of Fengyun 3B alongside Fengyun 3A, halving the country’s global observation interval to 6 hr.

Fengyun 3B was subject to half a year of in-orbit checkouts after its Nov. 5 launch. With all systems functioning properly, it was handed over to the national weather bureau on May 26, says national space contractor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.(CASC). Tests showed the satellite exceeding the performance of Fengyun 3A, CASC says, without giving details.

The Fengyun 3 program was the largest civil space project of China’s 10th five-year plan, for 2001-05, says the manufacturer. The designed image resolution has been stated as 250 meters and the altitude variously as 870 or 890 km.

This is China’s second series of polar-orbiting weather satellites. The first, the Fengyun 1 series, comprised four spacecraft launched in 1988-2002. The third unit in that series, Fengyun 1C, was destroyed in an anti-satellite missile test in 2007."
 
China launches experimental satellite - People's Daily Online July 06, 2011



An experimental orbiter in China's Shi-Jian satellite series, SJ-11-03, boosted by a Long-March II-C rocket carrier, lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province, July 6, 2011. The satellite will be used for experiments of space science and technology. (Xinhua/Li Wen)

China on Wednesday launched an experimental orbiter in the country's Shijian satellite series from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province.

The satellite, SJ-11-03, was sent to space at 12:28 a.m. (Beijing time) by a Long March II-C carrier rocket, according to the launch center.


The orbiter, developed by China Spacesat Co. Ltd under China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, will be used to conduct space scientific experiments, the company said.

It has been the 139th flight of the Long March rocket series.

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Cornerstone of Chinese space station approaches liftoff

Cornerstone of Chinese space station approaches liftoff
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: July 4, 2011

China plans to launch the first module of an envisioned space laboratory by the end of September, and the rising space power will attempt its first in-orbit docking weeks later, according to space program officials and state-run media reports.

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Photo of the Tiangong 1 module undergoing testing earlier in 2011. Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office

The Tiangong 1 space module was shipped to the Jiuquan launching base June 29 to begin the last steps in preparing the craft for launch sometime before the end of September, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, an organization supporting planning and development of the country's human space efforts.

The spacecraft will be given a "final check" before blasting off on a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan, a space center in the Gobi desert in northwestern China. The launch site is near the border between China's Gansu and Inner Mongolia provinces.

"After two years of strenuous efforts by the scientists, [the] Tiangong 1 target spacecraft has been successfully assembled and passed through failure detection," the state-run People's Daily newspaper reported in its English edition.

Xinhua, another state-run news agency, also reported last week the Tiangong 1 spacecraft was transported to the launch site.

The 19,000-pound vehicle is designed to function as a testbed for Chinese rendezvous and docking techniques a few hundred miles above Earth. China says it will operate for at least two years.

Tiangong, which means "heavenly palace" in Chinese, features a forward docking port, navigation and communications equipment, and a pressurized cabin for human visitors.

An automated Chinese capsule named Shenzhou 8 will launch as soon as October to approach and dock with the Tiangong module. If the rendezvous attempt is successful, it will pave the way for up to two manned Shenzhou flights to the mini-space station in 2012.

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Photo of the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft undergoing [vacuum thermal] testing earlier in 2011. Credit: China Manned Space Engineering Office

The piloted missions could stay at the complex for days or weeks working on scientific experiments, military missions and other research for China's military-run space program.

China's next five-year strategic plan includes manned space missions spanning at least 20 days and the design and construction of an automated cargo craft to resupply outposts in orbit, state-owned media reported this spring.

The advances come as the United States retires the space shuttle and struggles to formulate a consistent policy regarding cooperation with the Chinese space program. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden visited China in October 2010, but a clause inserted into the agency's budget this year sought to limit NASA's ability to collaborate with the Chinese government or companies.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., is a staunch critic of China's human rights record. Wolf was instrumental in ensuring the China restrictions made it into the budget.

Although many lawmakers support Wolf's provision, some members of Congress show guarded support for modest cooperation between NASA and China, including the development of a joint docking system to facilitate rescues of international space crews.

An Obama administration official told Congress in May the White House's view of the issue was that the legislation should not interfere with the president's constitutional ability to conduct international negotations.

The Tiangong docking test this fall is a key milestone for China's objective of building a space station the size of NASA's 1970s-era Skylab outpost by 2020.

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[Note: Thank you to PakChina for the article link and HouShanghai for the video links.]
 
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I've heard the Vietnamese claim that Chinese space industry is lack very far behind the Japanese, China this time can only doing well in launch vehicles which is not a big problem in space science world; thus the Japanese can hire the U.S. or Russia space taxi service to carry them to the space effectively.

Japan are far more advantaged than the Chinese in space researching and achievement, if Chinese cannot catch up with the Japanese so how they can compared to the U.S.!?

Even in Vietnam this time, they have planning to make Vietnam surpassing China in space race in the next 20 years. I think Chinese scientists must work very hard to secure the premier place!!! :angel:

P.S: Also there are many Russian love to blame Chinese copying of their technologies, Chinese must be very empathic and stressed to live in this world these days.
 
Japan don't have their own launch system, so their cargo has to pass through other nation's hands before being sent to space.

That limits alot of things.

China is behind in widespread adoption of tech and it's prevalence on the civilian market.
But their core stuff is not behind, and most of us don't get to see them. You don't complete an ABM interception with mediocre gears.
 
Yeah but they don't afraid of it, it is not a big problem to them.

They proud of themselves that they are far away from you in making probes and send to other planets, once in the past they had sent a probe to march successfully, also the west don't view Chinese endeavor in space is a donation to human science but a world peace threat, it looks like you guys will meet many barriers in the future!!!
 
The west have about same number of people as china, but if their standards makes you more comfortable, meh?
 
I've heard the Vietnamese claim that ...

I've heard Vietnamese claim that I am technically of Vietnamese descent (being born south of the Yangtze and all that).

As for claims that Vietnam will surpass China in Space technology in 2020... There is a very good chance it might happen once the launch center at Hainan opens. They claim that Hainan is a part of Vietnam, don't they?
 
I've heard Vietnamese claim that I am technically of Vietnamese descent (being born south of the Yangtze and all that).

As for claims that Vietnam will surpass China in Space technology in 2020... There is a very good chance it might happen once the launch center at Hainan opens. They claim that Hainan is a part of Vietnam, don't they?

I don't troll you bro, that what I have heard from the Vietnamese, remember I am 1/3 Vietnamese background, I had been living near the border between Cambodia and Vietnam so I know them more than you can imagine!!!

Hainan? Oh may be you don't know what Viet talking about you, they already claim the whole southeast China province such as Guangdong or Hainan was belong to the ancient great Viet, thus there are some extreme Viets appeal to take these lands back from your Chinese. Be aware!!! ::rolleyes:

But anyway, just like you, sometime I feel that the Viets are so insane and scary, they think they are invincible in any fields, they are the best and others are inferiors!!! :confused::sniper:
 

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