-
Kuaizhou-2 (KZ-2) launch, Kuaizhou L/V, Jiuquan - November 21, 2014
by
beidou
on 31 Aug, 2014 19:54
-
Though no concrete information on this mission, people close to the Chinese aerospace industry has made hint this launch will be in as early as September - this launch vehicle was transported to launch site on August 26th. (
source)
-
#1
by
Star One
on 31 Aug, 2014 19:58
-
Don't you mean 2014 not 2013?
-
#2
by
beidou
on 31 Aug, 2014 20:38
-
Don't you mean 2014 not 2013?
Sorry, my big mistake... I have made the correction.
-
#3
by
Galactic Penguin SST
on 19 Nov, 2014 07:06
-
Well after
some confusion earlier on it looks like KZ-2 is indeed flying soon - on November 21!
First someone got a student's notice from the Harbin Institute of Technology (which already made several satellites, including KZ-1) that they are doing an aerospace quiz with the winner getting a chance to visit JSLC for a satellite launch,
with the trip starting around Nov. 18)....
.....and now we got a NOTAM at around ~07:00 UTC on November 21,
1 day after the potential launch of YG-24 also from Jiuquan!
A2347/14 - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED BY: N311518E0980452-N301131E0975042-N300929E0980256-N311316E0981713 BACK TO START.VERTICAL LIMITS:SFC-UNL. GND - UNL, 21 NOV 06:30 2014 UNTIL 21 NOV 07:11 2014. CREATED: 19 NOV 03:40 2014
A2346/14 - A TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA ESTABLISHED BOUNDED BY: N395338E1000329-N394019E1000040-N393925E1000734-N395244E1001023 BACK TO START.VERTICAL LIMITS:SFC-UNL. GND - UNL, 21 NOV 06:28 2014 UNTIL 21 NOV 07:11 2014. CREATED: 19 NOV 03:40 2014The closure areas (green lines) are very similar to that of KZ-1 last year (yellow lines).
-
#4
by
Galactic Penguin SST
on 21 Nov, 2014 05:26
-
Should be launching pretty soon so standing by....
-
#5
by
Galactic Penguin SST
on 21 Nov, 2014 06:04
-
Apparently successfully launched at 06:37 UTC.
-
#6
by
Chris Bergin
on 21 Nov, 2014 07:21
-
-
#7
by
Skyrocket
on 21 Nov, 2014 07:26
-
-
#8
by
Satori
on 21 Nov, 2014 08:16
-
From Xinhua,
China launches new disaster monitoring satellite
JIUQUAN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- A satellite for natural disaster monitoring was successfully launched into orbit at 2:37 p.m. Friday, China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center announced.
The satellite Kuaizhou II, or speedy vessel II, will be used to monitor natural disasters and provide disaster-relief information.
The satellite was carried by a small launch vehicle bearing the same name as the vessel Kuaizhou.
China launched the first Kuaizhou satellite in September last year.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-11/21/c_133805637.htm
-
#9
by
Liss
on 21 Nov, 2014 11:02
-
Initial orbit from the first elset: 96.56°, 293x298 km, 90.44 min.
-
#10
by
Chris Bergin
on 21 Nov, 2014 12:47
-
-
#11
by
Satori
on 21 Nov, 2014 13:09
-
-
#12
by
Satori
on 21 Nov, 2014 13:12
-
This was the 200th successful orbital launch for China.
-
#13
by
Star One
on 21 Nov, 2014 13:33
-
Rui's article!
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/11/china-launches-kuaizhou-2-second-launch-24-hours/
Little nitpicking: The first photo shows the Japanese Epsilon rocket.
I changed it shortly after seeing this from work, but there's VERY little around for this vehicle.
Any photos for this launch?
No photos at all. I was hoping this time would be different, but still no photos from the launch.
That's a touch unusual as we usually get something?
-
#14
by
Satori
on 21 Nov, 2014 13:40
-
Rui's article!
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/11/china-launches-kuaizhou-2-second-launch-24-hours/
Little nitpicking: The first photo shows the Japanese Epsilon rocket.
I changed it shortly after seeing this from work, but there's VERY little around for this vehicle.
Any photos for this launch?
No photos at all. I was hoping this time would be different, but still no photos from the launch.
That's a touch unusual as we usually get something?
The same happened with the first Kuaizhou launch.
-
#15
by
Satori
on 21 Nov, 2014 13:41
-
From 9ifly Chinese space forum...
-
#16
by
anik
on 21 Nov, 2014 14:11
-
This was the 200th successful orbital launch for China
Successful? I count this launch as 195th successful Chinese orbital launch. Other five launches were orbital but had wrong orbit. And there were 12 (or 13 if you count Kuaizhou launch in 2012) launches with a failure to reach a orbit.
-
#17
by
Satori
on 21 Nov, 2014 14:39
-
This was the 200th successful orbital launch for China
Successful? I count this launch as 195th successful Chinese orbital launch. Other five launches were orbital but had wrong orbit. And there were 12 (or 13 if you count Kuaizhou launch in 2012) launches with a failure to reach a orbit.
ok, this was the 200th space launch by China with some object reaching orbit.
-
#18
by
input~2
on 21 Nov, 2014 14:52
-
-
#19
by
weedenbc
on 21 Nov, 2014 15:19
-
I find the fact that they are being more open about the KZ-2 launch than the Yaogans on the LM rockets fascinating. Could this be some sort of an attempt by China at being more "transparent" regarding the KZ launch vehicle, which they know has generated a lot of concern in the US?
-
#20
by
Phillip Clark
on 21 Nov, 2014 16:19
-
A possible KZ failure in 2012? I seem to have missed that. Is there a link on here somewhere please?
-
#21
by
anik
on 21 Nov, 2014 18:20
-
-
#22
by
Phillip Clark
on 22 Nov, 2014 00:53
-
Thank you Anik! Revived the thread started in 2012 because it's not clear whether there actually was a launch or not.
-
#23
by
Phillip Clark
on 22 Nov, 2014 17:50
-
I think that this launch marks the first time that the Chinese have had two launches from the same launch site (albeit, not the same pad) within 24 hours.
-
#24
by
baldusi
on 22 Nov, 2014 20:23
-
It does imply a 24hs turnaround for the range, that's quite impressive, to say the least.
-
#25
by
Galactic Penguin SST
on 24 Nov, 2014 11:11
-
I find the fact that they are being more open about the KZ-2 launch than the Yaogans on the LM rockets fascinating. Could this be some sort of an attempt by China at being more "transparent" regarding the KZ launch vehicle, which they know has generated a lot of concern in the US?
...or maybe it was more of a prototype project a la similar ideas funded by DARPA.
-
#26
by
Galactic Penguin SST
on 24 Nov, 2014 11:17
-
-
#27
by
edkyle99
on 24 Nov, 2014 14:26
-
Google translation of
http://www.casic.com.cn/n103/n133/c2022698/content.html gives the following bit.
""fast boat" rocket is an important achievement "863 Program", a total of 132 patents, including 34
invention patents, with "more,
faster, better and cheaper"". (My underlining).
There is also mention of use of "grid rudder technology". Looks like China's "Start 1" to me.
So, is it DF-21 or DF-31 based? I'm leaning toward DF-21, based on the diameter which appears to be less than 5 feet (DF-31 is 6.56 feet diameter, DF-21 is 4.59 feet).
- Ed Kyle
-
#28
by
Kryten
on 24 Nov, 2014 15:57
-
DF-31 would be very unlikely; it's a product of CASIC's competitor CASC.
-
#29
by
Liss
on 16 Dec, 2014 08:30
-
It seems that this KZ launch inaugurated the western launch position. The eastern one was used in the 2012 attempt and the 2013 launch.
Here are two images from the 9ifly.cn forum and the Google Earth image attached. Photos were shot from the railway bridge in the left. One can easily see that the launch position is projected to the left position, not the right one.
-
#30
by
Skyrocket
on 16 Dec, 2014 08:42
-
It seems that this KZ launch inaugurated the western launch position. The eastern one was used in the 2012 attempt and the 2013 launch.
Here are two images from the 9ifly.cn forum and the Google Earth image attached. Photos were shot from the railway bridge in the left. One can easily see that the launch position is projected to the left position, not the right one.
Do you know the designation of the launch positions?
-
#31
by
Liss
on 16 Dec, 2014 09:39
-
Don't know.
-
#32
by
weedenbc
on 16 Dec, 2014 14:23
-
Google translation of http://www.casic.com.cn/n103/n133/c2022698/content.html gives the following bit.
""fast boat" rocket is an important achievement "863 Program", a total of 132 patents, including 34
invention patents, with "more, faster, better and cheaper"". (My underlining).
There is also mention of use of "grid rudder technology". Looks like China's "Start 1" to me.
So, is it DF-21 or DF-31 based? I'm leaning toward DF-21, based on the diameter which appears to be less than 5 feet (DF-31 is 6.56 feet diameter, DF-21 is 4.59 feet).
- Ed Kyle
Ed, in my analysis of the May 2013 ASAT test I reference a (now deleted) blog posting from kktt where he does a pretty convincing job of tracing the Kuaizhou launch vehicle back to the DF-21:
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2473/1
-
#33
by
Skyrocket
on 01 Sep, 2015 06:57
-
I found this illustration, which allegedly shows Kuaizhou-2.
The service module looks the same as the one shown on a Kuaizhou-1 illustration (
see Kuazhou-1 thread), but the imaging payload looks different.
