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#20 by Phillip Clark on 25 Oct, 2013 17:23
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Maybe I am missing something basic, but I do not see Shijian 16 as being a follow-on to the three pairs of Shijian 6 satellites. The orbit inclination is different and the obvious difference is that the Shijian 6 satellites were *pairs*, not singletons. One satellite of each pair was supposed to be based upon the FY-1 platform and the other - the manoeuvring satellite - was a CAST-968 class platform.
Of course, I could be completely wrong about this but i am keeping an open mind about Shijian 16 at present. -
#21 by weedenbc on 25 Oct, 2013 19:49
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It could be that this is testing a different technology than the previous SJ satellites. The name translates as "practice" and it may be that they are testing different technologies and types of satellites as the series evolves.
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#22 by Phillip Clark on 25 Oct, 2013 20:01
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It could be that this is testing a different technology than the previous SJ satellites. The name translates as "practice" and it may be that they are testing different technologies and types of satellites as the series evolves.
Many years ago I recall reading that Shijian means "practice" "in the political sense" - ie, the way of doing things rather than testing. Maybe a Chinese-speaker could clarify please? -
#23 by Star One on 25 Oct, 2013 21:42
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Definitely looks a follow up series with two objects being catalogued after launch.
The second object (2013-057B) could be CZ-4B 3rd stage
That's possible.
Seems an unusual orbit, haven't been able to find much in the way of satellites in similar orbits. -
#24 by frank808 on 25 Oct, 2013 21:46
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It could be that this is testing a different technology than the previous SJ satellites. The name translates as "practice" and it may be that they are testing different technologies and types of satellites as the series evolves.
Many years ago I recall reading that Shijian means "practice" "in the political sense" - ie, the way of doing things rather than testing. Maybe a Chinese-speaker could clarify please?
Shijian does mean "practise" in Chinese. It represents a kind of satellites used for testing new technology. -
#25 by Galactic Penguin SST on 26 Oct, 2013 03:50
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#26 by jcm on 26 Oct, 2013 18:06
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It could be that this is testing a different technology than the previous SJ satellites. The name translates as "practice" and it may be that they are testing different technologies and types of satellites as the series evolves.
Many years ago I recall reading that Shijian means "practice" "in the political sense" - ie, the way of doing things rather than testing. Maybe a Chinese-speaker could clarify please?
Shijian does mean "practise" in Chinese. It represents a kind of satellites used for testing new technology.
The question was which of the two English meanings of "practise" applies.
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#27 by weedenbc on 26 Oct, 2013 23:17
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A very interesting post here from Bob Christy suggesting that the inclination for this launch could be related to the need to test their new TT&C center in Western Australia:
http://www.zarya.info/blog/?p=1712 -
#28 by Galactic Penguin SST on 27 Oct, 2013 13:03
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A very interesting post here from Bob Christy suggesting that the inclination for this launch could be related to the need to test their new TT&C center in Western Australia:
http://www.zarya.info/blog/?p=1712
I have doubt that testing ground stations is a major objective of the launch - although it is certainly plausible that the Australian ground station has been put into service for this. The 75 degree orbit is roughly similar to the Soviet/Russian ELINT reconnaissance satellites - particularly the Tselina series, which are in 70-80 degrees inclination low Earth orbits.
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#29 by weedenbc on 27 Oct, 2013 14:28
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Right - didn't mean to suggest that was the only reason for the launch, but that it could be part of it. Maybe they had a remote sensing technology to test that didn't need to be in an operational Sun-sync orbit at this phase in development. So they could have killed two birds with one stone by putting it into the inclination they did.
It will be telling if they put up another satellite into a complementary orbit in the near future (same inc but opposing in RAAN for example). -
#30 by Star One on 28 Oct, 2013 08:55
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Are there any pictures of the first stage of this launch as I read elsewhere it had come down relatively intact near a village?
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#31 by input~2 on 28 Oct, 2013 09:05
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Are there any pictures of the first stage of this launch as I read elsewhere it had come down relatively intact near a village?
Did you read this upthread?
and here is one more picture:
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#32 by Star One on 28 Oct, 2013 17:21
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Are there any pictures of the first stage of this launch as I read elsewhere it had come down relatively intact near a village?
Did you read this upthread?
and here is one more picture:
I am bemused I have just gone all the way back through this thread on Tapatalk & cannot see that post? -
#33 by input~2 on 28 Oct, 2013 19:33
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I am bemused I have just gone all the way back through this thread on Tapatalk & cannot see that post?
Well, I can see it OK on Tapatalk... -
#34 by Star One on 29 Oct, 2013 08:37
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I am bemused I have just gone all the way back through this thread on Tapatalk & cannot see that post?
Well, I can see it OK on Tapatalk...
Oh well I have no answer to that. -
#35 by input~2 on 31 Oct, 2013 21:10
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#36 by russianhalo117 on 31 Oct, 2013 23:47
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Fairing debris were spotted near Maiwa village (N330339 E1025451) Sichuan province
Nice angled bulls eye in the ground. It Reminds me of the average angle that my friend ends up with when we throw darts.
(source)
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#37 by luhai167 on 05 Nov, 2013 05:50
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Chinese Lesson timeIt could be that this is testing a different technology than the previous SJ satellites. The name translates as "practice" and it may be that they are testing different technologies and types of satellites as the series evolves.
Many years ago I recall reading that Shijian means "practice" "in the political sense" - ie, the way of doing things rather than testing. Maybe a Chinese-speaker could clarify please?
Shijian does mean "practise" in Chinese. It represents a kind of satellites used for testing new technology.
The question was which of the two English meanings of "practise" applies.
Shijian实践, if you look at the word separately, Shi means Reality (in the sense of physical reality, things you can touch), and jian means to implement. Hence, together it means to implement (theory or idea) into reality.
A related word, Shiyan, 实验 or experiment。 with Shi still meaning Reality, and yan meaning verify. Hence to verify (theory or idea) in reality. This is used mostly in the context hypothesis -experiment-conclusion context.
For brand new experiments, it's 试验, Shiyan. With a different shi meaning trial, with yan still meaning verify. The is used mostly in the context of testing a new technology based on know scientific principles. It should be noted, the official description for Shijian series is 科学探测与技术试验卫星, or Scientific exploration and Technology experiments Satellite. With Experiment being the Trial-Verify type rather than Reality-verify type.
Why using Shijian then you say, well, remember the program is born during the height of Cultural Revolution, and the name is from one of Mao's essay*. So basically it's the same reason Dongfeng (East Wind) is name of the Chinese missile program, Changzheng or Long March and Dongfanghong (East is Red) is the name of Chinese communication satellites. See below.
*The Gist of the essay is the following:
All logical knowledge must be put to practice in order to substantiate its truth-value.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Practice
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#38 by Liss on 05 Nov, 2013 07:30
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So the word Shijian should be understood in a classical Marxist sense, as in "practice is the criterion of truth".
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#39 by limen4 on 05 Nov, 2013 17:50
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I found this image on a philatelic website. It shows a commemorative envelope issued by Shanghai Academy of Space Technology, the builder of SJ-16.
