Author Topic: China's space program  (Read 654691 times)

Offline otter

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1000 on: 11/25/2020 02:06 pm »

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1001 on: 11/28/2020 08:56 pm »
We've seen Volga-Dnepr An-124's deliver satellites in China.  Will the grounding effect any upcoming Chinese launches?

Discussion (that I'm reading via Google translate) in the 9ifly 2020 "China Satellite Launch Plan and Launched Statistics Post" thread states that some satellites cannot be carried via domestic rail due to width or height clearances.
Quote
The satellite box properly exceeds the 3.35 [meters?] limit.

Another member mentions use of the Il-76 for satellite transport.  I assume that there are some large satellites that exceed its dimensional capacity?
« Last Edit: 11/28/2020 08:59 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline Alter Sachse

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1002 on: 11/29/2020 09:05 am »
We've seen Volga-Dnepr An-124's deliver satellites in China.  Will the grounding effect any upcoming Chinese launches?

Discussion (that I'm reading via Google translate) in the 9ifly 2020 "China Satellite Launch Plan and Launched Statistics Post" thread states that some satellites cannot be carried via domestic rail due to width or height clearances.
Quote
The satellite box properly exceeds the 3.35 [meters?] limit.

Another member mentions use of the Il-76 for satellite transport.  I assume that there are some large satellites that exceed its dimensional capacity?
Maybe there is a connection ?

https://forum.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/index.php?topic=18607.msg2079620#msg2079620

"....Gaofen 14 satellite ... built by Belarus..."
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Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1003 on: 11/29/2020 10:32 am »
The LV for Gaofen-14 is now stacked for a launch on December 5.  (I went back into the thread and bolded the Belarus mention.)

I assume (certainly could be wrong) that Gaofen-14 was delivered from Belarus before the An-124 grounding.

EDIT/cross-post:
What satellite remote sensing expertise or concern operates in Belarus?
Russian Kanopus-V satellites have Belorussian imager as the main payload onboard.

My guess is, that Belorussia might provide the imager for this satellite. But the satellite itself is most likely Chinese built.

I remember a problem in translation from Russian (I think, or Chinese) of either NPO-PM or Luch.

The imager could have been delivered months ago, for integration into a Chinese satellite bus.
« Last Edit: 11/30/2020 01:13 am by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline plutogno

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1004 on: 11/29/2020 04:10 pm »
crosspost from the Space Science section:

the latest issue of the Chinese Journal of Space Science (Volume 40 Issue 5 http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/volumn/volumn_1328.shtml ) has lots of review papers (in English) on space science in China, including:

Science Research and Utilization Planning of China's Space Station in Operation Period 2022-2032
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.609

China's Lunar and Deep Space Exploration Program for the Next Decade (2020-2030)
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.615

Progress and Prospects of the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.618

Overview of the Latest Scientific Results of China's Lunar Exploration Program
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.626

Progress of the Quantum Experiment Science Satellite (QUESS) Micius Project
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.643

SJ-10 Recoverable Satellite for Space Microgravity Experiments
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.646

Progress Report on Insight-HXMT: China's First X-ray Astronomy Satellite
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.655

Current Status and Main Scientific Results of In-flight CSES Mission
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.662

Recent Advances in Research of the Chinese Meridian Project
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.679

Taiji-1 Satellite Mission
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.691

Development Progress of China's First Mars Exploration Mission: Its Scientific Objectives and Payloads
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.693

Progress on SVOM Satellite Development
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.698

Update on the ESA-CAS Joint Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) Mission
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.700

Status of the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.704

Progress on CASEarth Satellite Development
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.707

Introduction to Chinese Meridian Project-Phase II
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.718

China's Future Missions for Deep Space Exploration and Exoplanet Space Survey by 2030
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.729

Update on Fengyun Meteorological Satellite Program and Development
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.884

Ocean Observation from Haiyang Satellites
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.898

Progress of Earth Observation in China
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.908

Space Materials Science in China: I. Experiment Studies under Microgravity
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.946

and more...

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1005 on: 11/29/2020 08:06 pm »
China's Lunar and Deep Space Exploration Program for the Next Decade (2020-2030)
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.615

I believe the second and third missions are Chang'e 5 and and Chang'e 8. All these three Lunar missions were previously known.

"The first mission, also named as Chang’E-7, which consists of a telecommunication relay, an orbiter, a lander, a rover and a flying detector, will be launched around 2024."
...
"The second mission which consists of a mobile lander, an ascender and a returner, will be launched around 2025. Its most important task is to collect soil and rock samples on the Moon’s South Pole and return them to Earth..."
...
"The third mission, which consists of a lander, a rover and a flying detector, is planned to be launched before 2030."
...
"China has also put forward plans to build an international lunar research station. It is the first landmark platform built and operated by a number of countries at the Moon’s South Pole, initiated by China. It will follow the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits. The platform will support not only unmanned lunar exploration but also manned lunar missions, as well as a combination of unmanned and manned modes, paving the way for deep space exploration."

Sounds like the Jupiter mission might be a flyby.

"A mission to Jupiter is also planned. It will detect Jupiter and its moons (Callisto or Ganymede), as well as conduct interplanetary exploration beyond Jupiter."

Quote
China's Future Missions for Deep Space Exploration and Exoplanet Space Survey by 2030
http://www.cjss.ac.cn/EN/10.11728/cjss2020.05.729

Confirming Mars sample return in 2028. More details on the asteroid and Jupiter missions.

"The second exploration on Mars is scheduled in 2028 and will take some Martian samples back to Earth."

"The Near-Earth asteroid and main belt comet exploration mission is expected to be carried out in 2024. The primary targets are the near Earth object 469219 Kamo’oalewa (also known as 2016 HO3) which is the fifth quasi-satellite of Earth[3] and the main belt comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro. The mission will fly around the asteroid, then land on it, carry out in-situ measurement, obtain some samples, and return Earth. For the comet phase, the spacecraft will orbit 133P to explore its physical property. The entire mission for two objects will almost last for 10 years."
...
"The exploration of Jupiter system is scheduled to be launched about 2030. The main targets are Jupiter and its four largest Moons, and perform large-scale remote-sensing observations"

Names have now been given to the exoplanet telescopes. Launch is by 2030.

"Miyin program expects to find habitable planets around the stars in our neighborhood. The mission will launch spacecraft with groups of telescopes to search for exoplanets with interferometry in the intermediate infrared band. The spatial resolution of the mission will reach 0.01 arcseconds."
...
"CHES (Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey) mission will discover the nearby Earth-like planets around FGK stars within 10 pc from our solar system via astrometry. Astrometry can minimize the detection bias of other techniques, like RV or transit, thereby being one of the most important methods of detecting exoplanets. The FOV of CHES is 0.44° 0.44°, based on 1.2 m primary."
« Last Edit: 11/29/2020 08:28 pm by Steven Pietrobon »
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline otter

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1006 on: 12/02/2020 12:36 pm »
China to build new production base for solid rockets

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-12/02/c_139558779.htm

JINAN, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese rocket manufacturer, China Rocket Co., Ltd., and the municipal government of Haiyang in east China's Shandong Province signed a contract Wednesday pledging to build a 163-hectare production base for solid-propellant rockets.

The base will be able to produce 20 solid rockets annually, including Jielong (Smart Dragon) series carrier rockets, upon its completion, according to the company.

The production base will also offer services such as rocket assembling, testing and seaborne rocket launch for domestic and overseas aerospace companies.

The base is part of a comprehensive aerospace project currently under construction in Haiyang City. With an investment of 23 billion yuan (about 3.5 billion U.S. dollars) and a total planned area of 1,860 hectares, the project includes an aerospace industrial park, a homeport for seaborne rocket launches, and an aerospace-themed tourist park.

In June last year, China successfully launched a Long March-11 carrier rocket from a mobile platform in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Haiyang, marking the country's first space launch from a sea-based platform. The rocket was transported from Haiyang Port to the launch site.

So far, the port has seen two successful seaborne rocket launches.

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1007 on: 12/06/2020 05:28 am »
Yuanwang 6 is in port in Singapore.  What might its next destination be, and therefore, what launch(es) would it support?

Yuanwang 3 still has the same vessel information as before the Gaofen-14 launch.
NOTAM is out:
<snip>
This confirms it to be an SSO launch out from Xichang...but to the SSW (this zone is in southern Yunnan) and not NNW as expected!
Yuanwang 3 was directly east of the Sunda Strait 4 days ago, continuing into the Indian Ocean.  The ship's destination is "open sea," arriving on December 4.

Tracking ship for this launch?

Yuanwang 5 is returning to China.
« Last Edit: 12/06/2020 05:34 am by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline tangdou8

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1008 on: 12/10/2020 02:32 pm »
SAST has signed an agreement with Ningbo government and a new launch site will be built in Xiangshan, Ningbo, Zhe Jiang province. Xiangshan is located near the East China Sea with an ideal latitude 29.5°N
Possibly for the new 4*YF100K rocket.

"在宁波航天智慧科技城建设国际商业卫星发射中心"
"The international commercial satellite launch Center will be built in Ningbo Aerospace Intelligent Science and Technology City"

Possibly for the new 4*YF100K rocket for commercial.
link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/pW7uJQcFiqeWXxDmgjhnMw

Offline Kit344

Re: China's space program
« Reply #1009 on: 12/16/2020 06:26 pm »


Chang'e 5 landing and recovery live feed.

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1010 on: 12/17/2020 04:16 pm »
Yuanwang 3 still has the same vessel information as before the Gaofen-14 launch.
Yuanwang 3 was directly east of the Sunda Strait 4 days ago, continuing into the Indian Ocean.  The ship's destination is "open sea," arriving on December 4.
Tracking ship for this launch?
Follow-up: Yuanwang 3 worked the Chang'e-5 re-entry, under the re-entry path in the Arabian Sea.
« Last Edit: 12/17/2020 04:17 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1011 on: 01/01/2021 07:30 pm »
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Offline Hug

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1012 on: 01/07/2021 12:15 pm »
Yo so can we quickly talk about Chinese COTS?

Dongfanghour do a pretty good summary of it at https://twitter.com/DongFangHour/status/1346731884852731904?s=20, but basically it's soliciting proposals for a commercial resupply of the Chinese space station. Cargo mass of 1-4 tons and return payload of 100-300kg.

https://spacenews.com/china-gears-up-for-space-station-cargo-and-crewed-mission-launches/

"The call is understood to be open to both state-owned space sector entities and new commercial actors, which have emerged since late 2014. The latter, nascent grouping is in the earlier phases of developing light and medium-lift launch vehicles and likely lack the required capabilities, expertise and resources.
The call for proposals is notable however for being open to outside entrants. Such missions and activities have so far been carried out by the China Aerospace Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), China’s state-owned main space contractor. " Andrew Jones

However it's not exactly certain whether it'll be opened to private commercial companies yet, from DFH "The phrasing is actually "单位", or "unit", which probably means that this CMS request does not concern private companies," but maybe given the nature of this sort of thing it might be.

Solicitation:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzI0NTU3MTk1Nw==&mid=2247491622&idx=1&sn=d33385f43b182c5db728c9eaa6eb3401

Anyway it'll be interesting to see this play out.

Offline zandr

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1013 on: 01/19/2021 04:23 pm »
From  Xinhua
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-01/19/c_139680171.htm
Quote
A smart production line capable of producing 240 small satellites per year has been put into operation in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, according to its owner, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited.

Offline zandr

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1014 on: 01/19/2021 04:40 pm »
Translated from Russian
http://russian.news.cn/2021-01/19/c_139681548.htm
Quote
China plans to launch 7 satellites, "Fengyun" in the 2021-2025 years.
Beijing, January 19 / Xinhua / -- China plans to launch two weather satellites, Fengyun-4B and Fengyun-3E, in 2021. During the 14th five-year plan (2021-2025), five more Fengyun satellites will also be launched.
As the correspondent reported today. Xinhua in the China Meteorological Administration, the Fengyun-4B satellite is actually the first operational satellite of the Fengyun-4 satellite series. The Fengyun-3E weather satellite will become the world's first polar-orbiting satellite for morning and evening monitoring, will fill the current shortage of global meteorological satellite observations and will be able to provide significant support in the development of numerical weather forecasts.

Offline fruitshop

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1015 on: 01/24/2021 08:22 am »
Just recently, China announced that it had successfully built a prototype cryogenic fuel tank made of composite materials.

Use Google Translate to read the whole article:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0Q4Ktap_Wh_A9eAMdMhD5Q

A major breakthrough! The first 3.35m diameter composite liquid oxygen storage tank in the country is built

Quote
 On January 22, my country's first prototype of a 3.35m diameter composite material storage tank was born in the Rocket Academy. The storage tank is mainly used in liquid oxygen environment. Compared with the metal storage tank, it can reduce the weight by 30% and has higher strength. It can greatly improve the structural efficiency and carrying capacity of the rocket. It is a new type of lightweight storage tank.

  The birth of the prototype of the composite material storage tank marks that my country has broken the foreign monopoly and has become one of the few countries in the world that has the ability to design and manufacture composite material storage tanks.
Quote
The density of the composite material is about 1.7g/cm³, the density of the aluminum alloy is 2.8g/cm³, and the density of the aluminum-lithium alloy is 2.7g/cm³. The specific strength of the composite material is 8 times that of aluminum alloy and 6 times that of aluminum-lithium alloy.

Quote
  The greater the rocket carrying capacity, the relatively large increase in the ability to enter space, opening up a larger stage for China's aerospace. The weight of the tank structure accounts for more than 50% of the total weight of the rocket body structure. Therefore, the lightweight of the tank is one of the important ways to improve the rocket carrying efficiency.

  Compared with the metal tank used in the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen environment, the composite material tank is mainly used in the specific liquid oxygen environment and can be used in the final stage of the rocket. According to data, every 1 kg weight loss of the rocket's final stage tank means an increase of 1 kg in carrying capacity. Moreover, the composite material storage tank has the advantages of fewer production procedures and short cycle. From the perspective of foreign research results, the use of composite material tanks can reduce the overall cost of rockets by 25% compared to metal tanks.

  In the future, the promotion and application of composite material storage tanks in the final stage of rockets will greatly increase the carrying capacity of the rocket, and will have a profound impact on the exploration of reducing rocket costs.
« Last Edit: 01/24/2021 08:23 am by fruitshop »

Offline plutogno

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1016 on: 01/31/2021 08:20 am »
The latest issue of the Chinese Journal of Deep Space Exploration (http://jdse.bit.edu.cn/sktcxben/ch/index.aspx) has a few interesting papers (in Chinese) on:
- CZ-8
- Space-X-inspired technology for reusable launchers
- Chang'e 4 VLF radio observations

hint: I can't download the pdfs from the issue index page. I have to open each article abstract and then click on pdf

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1017 on: 02/09/2021 12:21 am »
Will there be any more Chinese orbital launches before February 12?
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Offline newfrontiers

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1018 on: 02/09/2021 03:12 am »
none ;D

Online Satori

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Re: China's space program
« Reply #1019 on: 02/17/2021 11:20 am »
At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center maintenance work is being done at LC2.

 

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