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

[cirr]

SZ-12 and SZ-13

 

[C130]

China plans ambitious space mission to hunt and ‘capture’ asteroids by 2020

Ultimate aim is to land on orbiting space rocks and exploit their mineral wealth, top space scientists say


PUBLISHED : Thursday, 11 May, 2017, 9:01pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 11 May, 2017, 9:09pm

Stephen Chen

A senior government space scientist said China was considering mounting a mission to “capture” an asteroid and try to fire it into the moon’s orbit within a decade, state media reported.

The ultimate aim would be to mine the asteroid for metal and minerals, or use it as the base for a space station.

Ye Peijian, chief commander and designer of China’s lunar exploration programme, said at a meeting of space authorities in Beijing this week that the nation’s first batch of asteroid exploration spacecraft would probably be launched in about 2020, according to state media reports.

NASA says space mining can solve climate change, food security and other Earthly issues

Asteroids roam throughout our solar system, ranging in size from a metre to hundreds of kilometres across. Some cross close to Earth’s orbit, sometimes dangerously so.

Many near-Earth asteroids contain a high concentrations of precious metals, Ye told the Science and Technology Daily, a newspaper run by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.

He estimated some of the asteroids might justify the enormous cost and risk of space exploration as their economic value could amount to trillions of US dollars.



Nasa announced a plan earlier this year to send two spacecraft to asteroids in 2021 and 2023.

The later mission will explore the asteroid 16 Psyche, which is 210km wide and probably a remnant from the core of an ancient planet no longer in existence.

The Chinese programme, however, is much more ambitious.

The plan is to capture an asteroid by landing and anchor a spacecraft on its surface, fire up multiple rocket boosters and project it into the orbit of the moon.

An asteroid like a 10-storey building just missed Earth by only half the distance to the Moon. We barely saw it coming

The excavation of mineral ores and its transportation to Earth would be carried out by robotic machinery, Ye was quoted as saying.

Ye estimated it could take a further four decades before China had the technology and infrastructure in place to mine the asteroid.

No details were given of which asteroid Chinese space scientists may be targeting.

China is also interested in using an asteroid as the base for a permanent space station, the report said. Ye was quoted by the newspaper as saying that the Chinese government was mulling this separate proposal to build a self-sustainable base on an asteroid.

The natural spin of an asteroid could generate a certain amount of centrifugal force that could be transformed into gravity, which was good for the mobility and general health of astronauts, he said.

A team of space scientists from the California Institute of Technology came up with a similar proposal in 2013 and submitted it to the White House under the former Obama administration.

China re-activated an air-tight research facility in Beijing on Wednesday and began a new experiment with artificial ecological system to pave the way for the design and construction of human settlement on the moon.

Four young men and women volunteers entered Lunar Palace 1 – a self-contained laboratory in Beihang University with a bio-regenerative life support system built four years ago – to join a year-long mission to evaluate the system’s performance after new upgrades, in particular its reliability and flexibility to cope with various accidents.

Chinese space technology still lags decades behind the US, but the Chinese government has poured enormous resources into the development of its space programme, including developing an orbiting space station. Analysts say the clear aim is to challenge US supremacy in space.

The first landing of a probe on an asteroid was conducted in 2001 by the US spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker.

Chinese scientists study viability of manned radar station on the moon

The European spacecraft Rosetta put a fully-functioning landing probe on an asteroid in 2014, which sent back data for two days until its power supply ran out.

The Chinese lunar probe Chang’e-2 conducted a fly-by in 2012 over 4179 Toutatis, the largest asteroid known to pose a collision threat with Earth.

Huang Jiangchuan, the chief scientist at China’s deep space exploration programme, said at the same meeting attended by Ye on Monday that the nation’s asteroid mission would aim high for “landmark achievements”, state media reported.

But some space researchers have cautioned that the mission faced huge challenges, including developing technology to firmly anchor the probe to the surface of the asteroid.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/poli...lans-ambitious-space-mission-hunt-and-capture

capture an asteroid and put it in a lunar orbit. can use it build a space colony on the moon and send back precious metals back to Earth.

will need super heavy weight rockets for this IMO

 

[cirr]

Test of pulsar navigation with POLAR on TG-2 spacelab

X-ray Pulsar Navigation 1 (XPNAV 1) success!!!

Pulsar navigation, which utilizes pulsar observations to determine the position or orbit of a spacecraft, has raised interests of many countries. Several projects, such as NICER, have been proposed. POLAR on-board the TG-2 space station of China has worked for about half year and its main task is to measure the polarization of the gamma-ray bursts. POLAR can also detect the photons from pulsars due to its large effective area (about 200 cm2) and wide field of view (more than 2π Sr). In this work we report our first results testing pulsar navigation with POLAR observations. A new navigation algorithm has been used that combines the orbit dynamics and pulsar profile analysis. With 31-day-long observations of the Crab pulsar, the TG-2 orbit was determined successfully. The parameter values of the orbital elements are solved and the errors are estimated by bootstrap method. The errors with 99.7% confidence are: semi-major axis error of 7.0 m, eccentricity error of 0.00026, inclination error of 0.023° Right Ascension of the Ascending Node (RAAN) error of 0.17°, error for argument of perigee of 0.042° and mean anomaly error of 0.042°.

http://engine.scichina.com/publisher/scp/journal/SSPMA/47/9/10.1360/SSPMA2017-00080?slug=full text

 

[samsara]

China is building it's space station. Good luck to them!

And THANK YOU for letting us know the little fact in this dedicated thread

 

[Han Patriot]

Chinese, Indonesian firms sign contract on satellitepurchase package
(Xinhua) 21:03, May 17, 2017
JAKARTA, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Senior officials of Chinese firm China Great Wall IndustryCorporation (CGWIC) and Indonesian firm Palapa Satelit Nusa Sejahtera (PSNS) Wednesday signed a purchase contract for the latter's satellite system, namely PALAPA-N1, scheduled to orbit in first half of 2020.

PALAPA-N1 communication satellite project is the first communication satellite ofIndonesia that is produced by China.

PSNS is a joint venture enterprise of prominent telecommunication firm operating inIndonesia, Indosat Ooredoo, and Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN).

Under the contract, CGWIC is responsible for in orbit delivery of the PALAPA N1. CGWICshall provide a package solution with the products and services to its Indonesian client, including the satellite, the rocket launching service, ground system, insurance andfinancing support.

The PALAPA-N1 satellite, which is designed to replace the PALAPA D, will be launched toits orbit slot at 113°E in the geostationary arc by Long March 3B launch vehicle from theXichang Satellite Launch Center in China.

PALAPA-N1 will provide the latest technology of High Throughput Satellite for broadcastand broadband telecommunications.

Speaking on the sideline of the signing ceremony, Indosat Ooredoo CEO Alexander Ruslisaid the new satellite would greatly help broadband penetration among the society inIndonesia.

"It would also help accelerating the creation of digital society in Indonesia, support thegovernment's plan to make Indonesia the largest digital state in Southeast Asia," he added.

The contract signing was witnessed by Indonesian Informatics and CommunicationsMinister Rudiantara, Chinese Embassy Charge d'Affaires Sun Weide and Vice President ofChina Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation (CASC), the parent firm of CGWIC, Yang Baohua.

CGWIC President Yin Liming said the satellite would significantly improve the broadcastand broadband in Indonesia.

"It would also be an embodiment of friendship between Chinese and Indonesian people," he said in a statement.

CGWIC won the contract after undergoing a strict auction process considering technical, manufacturing period and cost efficiency. It brushed competitors from Europe and theUnited States to get the contract.

The PALAPA-N1 satellite is developed by China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), asubsidiary of CASC.

The PALAPA-N1's satellite system is designed to have lifetime of more than 16 years, to beequipped with a total of 42 transponders.
http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/0517/c90000-9216997.html

 

[JSCh]

China to invest 23.3 mln U.S. dollars in developing space science satellites
Source: Xinhua| 2017-05-23 22:25:12|Editor: Mengjie



BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- A fund of 160 million yuan (23.3 million U.S. dollars) was set up Tuesday to help the development of four space science satellites, as well as advanced scientific research.

Jointly set up by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences, with each side sponsoring half of the investment, the fund will last from 2017 to 2020.

The four satellites are the Dark Matter Particle Explorer Satellite, retrievable scientific research satellite SJ-10, a quantum communication satellite and a hard X-ray modulation telescope satellite.

The fund will support experiments such as exploration of dark matter particles, microgravity science and space life science, satellite-ground quantum communication experiments, and observation of compact objects including black holes and neutron stars.

 

[Shotgunner51]

China, Russia Advancing Anti-Satellite Technology, US Intelligence Chief Says
By Leonard David, Space.com's Space Insider Columnist | May 18, 2017 07:00am ET

The United States' top intelligence official spotlighted the threat of space warfare in a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week.

In his written testimony in the May 11 hearing, Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, reviewed the worldwide threat assessment of the U.S. intelligence community, noting an appraisal that "Russia and China perceive a need to offset any U.S. military advantage derived from military, civil, or commercial space systems and are increasingly considering attacks against satellite systems as part of their future warfare doctrine."​

Coats reported that both Russia and China "will continue to pursue a full range of antisatellite (ASAT) weapons as a means to reduce U.S. military effectiveness." [The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Ever]​

Some new Russian and Chinese ASAT weapons, including destructive systems, "will probably complete development in the next several years," Coats added. "Russian military strategists likely view counterspace weapons as an integral part of broader aerospace defense rearmament and are very likely pursuing a diverse suite of capabilities to affect satellites in all orbital regimes."​

China and Russia are advancing directed-energy (laser) weapons technologies for the purpose of fielding ASAT systems "that could blind or damage sensitive space-based optical sensors," Coats said. "Russia is developing an airborne laser weapon for use against U.S. satellites. Russia and China continue to conduct sophisticated on-orbit satellite activities, such as rendezvous and proximity operations, at least some of which are likely intended to test dual-use technologies with inherent counterspace functionality."​

Coats also testified that robotics technology designed for satellite servicing and space-junk removal might be used to damage satellites.

"Such missions will pose a particular challenge in the future, complicating the U.S. ability to characterize the space environment, decipher intent of space activity, and provide advance threat warning," Coats wrote.​

Additionally, the global threat of electronic warfare attacks against space systems will expand in the coming years in both the number and types of weapons, Coats noted.

"Development will very likely focus on jamming capabilities against dedicated military satellite communications (SATCOM), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging satellites, and enhanced capabilities against Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as the US Global Positioning System (GPS)," Coats said.​

You can read Coats' testimony here: http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Newsroom/Testimonies/SSCI Unclassified SFR - Final.pdf

Leonard David is author of "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet," published by National Geographic. The book is a companion to the National Geographic Channel series "Mars." A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This version of this story was posted on Space.com.

http://www.space.com/36891-space-war-anti-satellite-weapon-development.html

 

[samsara]

China, Russia Advancing Anti-Satellite Technology, US Intelligence Chief Says
By Leonard David, Space.com's Space Insider Columnist | May 18, 2017 07:00am ET

View attachment 399047

The United States' top intelligence official spotlighted the threat of space warfare in a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week.

In his written testimony in the May 11 hearing, Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, reviewed the worldwide threat assessment of the U.S. intelligence community, noting an appraisal that "Russia and China perceive a need to offset any U.S. military advantage derived from military, civil, or commercial space systems and are increasingly considering attacks against satellite systems as part of their future warfare doctrine."​

Coats reported that both Russia and China "will continue to pursue a full range of antisatellite (ASAT) weapons as a means to reduce U.S. military effectiveness." [The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Ever]​

Some new Russian and Chinese ASAT weapons, including destructive systems, "will probably complete development in the next several years," Coats added. "Russian military strategists likely view counterspace weapons as an integral part of broader aerospace defense rearmament and are very likely pursuing a diverse suite of capabilities to affect satellites in all orbital regimes."​

China and Russia are advancing directed-energy (laser) weapons technologies for the purpose of fielding ASAT systems "that could blind or damage sensitive space-based optical sensors," Coats said. "Russia is developing an airborne laser weapon for use against U.S. satellites. Russia and China continue to conduct sophisticated on-orbit satellite activities, such as rendezvous and proximity operations, at least some of which are likely intended to test dual-use technologies with inherent counterspace functionality."​

Coats also testified that robotics technology designed for satellite servicing and space-junk removal might be used to damage satellites.

"Such missions will pose a particular challenge in the future, complicating the U.S. ability to characterize the space environment, decipher intent of space activity, and provide advance threat warning," Coats wrote.​

Additionally, the global threat of electronic warfare attacks against space systems will expand in the coming years in both the number and types of weapons, Coats noted.

"Development will very likely focus on jamming capabilities against dedicated military satellite communications (SATCOM), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging satellites, and enhanced capabilities against Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as the US Global Positioning System (GPS)," Coats said.​

You can read Coats' testimony here: http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Newsroom/Testimonies/SSCI Unclassified SFR - Final.pdf

Leonard David is author of "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet," published by National Geographic. The book is a companion to the National Geographic Channel series "Mars." A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This version of this story was posted on Space.com.

http://www.space.com/36891-space-war-anti-satellite-weapon-development.html

They said a lot about what RUS & CHN may have for the ASAT but forget to mention own X-37B

Better to say out loud and clear that all the MAJOR POWERS do have ASAT programs... thus one cannot dominate the others, and there is no more such unilateral world when it touches the core interests of the others! It seems a mad Deep State is driving the Empire looking for a nonexistent "Full Spectrum Dominance" chasing down the wind...

Posted few posts above at the same page here, just scroll up.
‘718 days in space’: Secretive US X-37B plane said to break record as it lands in Florida

 

[samsara]

U.S. to build hypersonic spaceplane that can fly 10 times in 10 days

Source: Xinhua | 2017-05-25 03:41:10 | Editor: huaxia

Phantom Express is envisioned as a highly autonomous experimental spaceplane, shown preparing to launch its expendable second stage on the top of the vehicle in this artist's concept. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is collaborating with Boeing to fund development of the Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program (Xinhua/Boeing Rendering)​

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced Wednesday it has selected Boeing company to design, build and test the first of an entirely new class of hypersonic aircraft that would be able to fly 10 times in 10 days.

The unmanned vehicle, known as Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1), roughly the size of a business jet, would take off vertically like a rocket and fly to hypersonic speed. But unlike the U.S. military's X-37B spaceplane that launches with an external booster, it would be powered solely by self-contained cryogenic propellants, the DARPA said in a statement.

Upon reaching a high suborbital altitude, the spaceplane would release an expendable upper stage that is able to deploy a 3,000-pound (1,360-kilogram) satellite to polar orbit. The reusable first stage would then bank and return to Earth, landing horizontally like an aircraft, and be prepared for the next flight, potentially within hours.

Currently, months or years of preparation is needed to send a single satellite into orbit.

According to the DARPA, building XS-1 will need significant advances in both technical capabilities and ground operations, but "would revolutionize the Nation's ability to recover from a catastrophic loss of military or commercial satellites, upon which the Nation today is critically dependent."

"The XS-1 would be neither a traditional airplane nor a conventional launch vehicle but rather a combination of the two, with the goal of lowering launch costs by a factor of ten and replacing today's frustratingly long wait time with launch on demand," said Jess Sponable, DARPA program manager.

Boeing's Phantom Express XS-1 design beat out concepts proposed by Masten Space Systems and Northrop Grumman.

"Phantom Express is designed to disrupt and transform the satellite launch process as we know it today, creating a new, on-demand space-launch capability that can be achieved more affordably and with less risk," said Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works.

Next, Boeing will build and test the technology demonstration vehicle, culminating with 10 test fires of the vehicle's engine on the ground in 10 days to demonstrate propulsion readiness for flight tests in 2019.

Then, there would be 12 to 15 flight tests, currently scheduled for 2020. After these flights are completed, the DARPA would launch the XS-1 10 times over 10 consecutive days, at first without payloads and at speeds as fast as Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.

Subsequent flights are planned to fly as fast as Mach 10, and deliver a demonstration payload between 900 pounds and 3,000 pounds (400 to 1,360 kilograms) into low Earth orbit.

If the program is successful, the agency predicted that the XS-1 could operate with costs under five million U.S. dollars per launch, including the cost of an expendable upper stage, which accounts for "a small fraction of the cost of launch systems the U.S. military currently uses for similarly sized payloads."

 

[samsara]

Boeing Wins $1B MDA Contract For Four Space Object Kill Vehicles

Defense World.net 08:35 AM, May 23, 2017
​

Boeing Wins $1B MDA Contract For Four Space Object Kill Vehicles​

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has awarded Boeing with a $1.08 billion contract to provide development support for the Redesigned Kill Vehicle program.

This modification contract brings to the total award to more than $5 billion for work on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, the US Department of defense announced in a press release Monday.

The contract covers payload development, payload ground testing, integration with the Ground-based Interceptor (GBI) and GMD Ground system, flight testing and four initial production RKVs for initial fielding, the release states.

Boeing will collaborate with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to develop the RKV system and perform work in Alabama, Arizona, California and other government designated locations through June 30, 2022.

Kill vehicles destroy long-range ballistic missiles in space. Launched atop missiles, kill vehicles use sensors, lenses and rocket thrusters to pick out warheads and steer into their paths. The RKV is a component of the GMD system interceptors designed to destroy targets in high-speed collisions after separating from the booster rocket.

 

[Ultima Thule]

Boeing Wins $1B MDA Contract For Four Space Object Kill Vehicles

Defense World.net 08:35 AM, May 23, 2017
​

Boeing Wins $1B MDA Contract For Four Space Object Kill Vehicles​

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has awarded Boeing with a $1.08 billion contract to provide development support for the Redesigned Kill Vehicle program.

This modification contract brings to the total award to more than $5 billion for work on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, the US Department of defense announced in a press release Monday.

The contract covers payload development, payload ground testing, integration with the Ground-based Interceptor (GBI) and GMD Ground system, flight testing and four initial production RKVs for initial fielding, the release states.

Boeing will collaborate with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to develop the RKV system and perform work in Alabama, Arizona, California and other government designated locations through June 30, 2022.

Kill vehicles destroy long-range ballistic missiles in space. Launched atop missiles, kill vehicles use sensors, lenses and rocket thrusters to pick out warheads and steer into their paths. The RKV is a component of the GMD system interceptors designed to destroy targets in high-speed collisions after separating from the booster rocket.

Is this US space defense thread sir

 

[onebyone]

China launches advanced satellite navigation positioning system
Xinhua | Updated: 2017-05-28 06:19

BEIJING -- China on Saturday launched a national satellite navigation and positioning system. It is the largest in the country and boasts the widest coverage.

Li Weisen, deputy director of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, said that the system consists of 2,700 base stations, a national database center and 30 provincial level database centers.

The system, featuring faster speed, higher accuracy and wider coverage, will be compatible with other satellite navigation systems, such as the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and Global Position System (GPS), Li said.

According to the administration, the system is able to provide positioning service to transportation, emergency medical rescue and city planning and management.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-05/28/content_29534107.htm

 

[cirr]

China reveals hypersonic scramjet developments and plans

brian wang | April 14, 2017 |

China has revealed the first known images of an indigenous scramjet test that it says was successfully conducted at speeds up to Mach 7 and altitudes up to 30 km, in December 2015.

Credit: National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Studies of a folding-wing hypersonic boost-glide vehicle designed for deployment from a launcher at Mach 5 and 30-km altitude show dramatic changes in the center of pressure on release. Credit: China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology

Tests of a magneto-hydrodynamic heat shield system showed performance could be boosted by seeding the flow with potassium particles. Credit: College of Aerospace Science and Engineering

Ground tests of a hydrogen-fueled continuous-rotating detonation ramjet at Mach 4.5 and simulated 18.5-km altitude indicated positive thrust was obtained. Credit: National University of Defense Technology

China will test a prototype combined-cycle hypersonic engine later this year that they hope will pave the way for the first demonstration flight of a full-scale propulsion system by 2025. If successful, the engine could be the first of its type in the world to power a hypersonic vehicle or the first stage of a two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane. Combined-cycle systems have long been studied as a potential means to access to space and long-range hypersonic vehicles.

Chinese Academy of Sciences professor Lihong Chen said: “We also developed a low cost near-space science and technology flight test platform. The first flight test was successfully carried out, and key issues of the scramjet were demonstrated at Mach 3.5-7 and at altitudes of 15-30 km [9-18 mi.].” Offering no further details, Chen says the flight test was targeted at fundamental research under a program that she likened to the Australian-U.S. Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) effort.

Zhang Yong, a CASTC engineer, claimed that China will master the spaceplane’s technologies in the next three to five years, and a full-scale spaceplane would then enter service by 2030.

Lihong Chen had written a Feb 2016, paper in Acta Mechanica Sinica – Engine performance analysis and optimization of a dual-mode scramjet with varied inlet conditions.

A dual-mode scramjet can operate in a wide range of flight conditions. Higher thrust can be generated by adopting suitable combustion modes. Based on the net thrust, an analysis and preliminary optimal design of a kerosene-fueled parameterized dual-mode scramjet at a crucial flight Mach number of 6 were investigated by using a modified quasi-one-dimensional method and simulated annealing strategy. Engine structure and heat release distributions, affecting the engine thrust, were chosen as analytical parameters for varied inlet conditions (isolator entrance Mach number: 1.5–3.5). Results show that different optimal heat release distributions and structural conditions can be obtained at five different inlet conditions. The highest net thrust of the parameterized dual-mode engine can be achieved by a subsonic combustion mode at an isolator entrance Mach number of 2.5. Additionally, the effects of heat release and scramjet structure on net thrust have been discussed. The present results and the developed analytical method can provide guidance for the design and optimization of high-performance dual-mode scramjets.

 

[cirr]

Performance assessments of new solid-fuel ramjet with variable airflow completed:

http://kpzg.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0601/c404389-29310924.html

The engine is now primed for next generation aerospace model engineering/project applications.

 

[星海军事]

Performance assessments of new solid-fuel ramjet with variable airflow completed:

http://kpzg.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0601/c404389-29310924.html

The engine is now primed for next generation aerospace model engineering/project applications.

The free-jet tests of the variable flow ducted rocket began in 2012, and the flight tests began in 2015.