China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
8th batch of Guowang Constellation has launched.
this is the 4th batch of satellites being launched in 18 days..
by78
General
High-resolution images from the launch of the 8th batch of Guowang/China Satnet satellites (also known as Xingwang, Chuangxin-20, CX-20, WHWD, Guangwang, China Sat, so on and on and on and on). The launch was carried out by a Long March 5B rocket. This marks the 588th flight of the Long March series.
by78
General
Hainan Commercial Spaceport Phase II expansion progress. Foundation piles are being drilled for launchpad no. 3, and ground is being excavated for the foundation of launchpad no. 4.
Progress update on Hainan Commercial Spaceport Phase II expansion: 1) foundation for launchpad no. 3 is coming along nicely, and the flame trench is being laid down; 2) main structural frames of various maintenance facilities for reusable rockets have been completed.
Is the long march 5 not too heavy and costly/wasteful to use for guowang satellite launches? Or there is a specific reason this particular group of satellites was used(like being of a certain size/weight)?High-resolution images from the launch of the 8th batch of Guowang/China Satnet satellites (also known as Xingwang, Chuangxin-20, CX-20, WHWD, Guangwang, China Sat, so on and on and on and on). The launch was carried out by a Long March 5B rocket. This marks the 588th flight of the Long March series.
Does LM-5B still have uncontrollable reentry problem?High-resolution images from the launch of the 8th batch of Guowang/China Satnet satellites (also known as Xingwang, Chuangxin-20, CX-20, WHWD, Guangwang, China Sat, so on and on and on and on). The launch was carried out by a Long March 5B rocket. This marks the 588th flight of the Long March series.
LM-5B is the specific variant of LM-5 that has this problem since its a rare 1.5 stage to orbit configuration. The core stage is sent directly into orbit and doubles as the insertion stage, after that it'll eventually deorbit and crash somewhere.
Thanks to the YZ-2 upper stage, the core stages of the LM-5B used for the Guowang launches can be jettisoned on a suborbital trajectory, and the YZ-2 will complete the orbital insertion, separate the payload then do a controlled reentry.
Furthermore CASC is working on improvements of the CZ-5B that will enable future version to have a controled reentry even when going entirely to orbit, for example on future Tiangong expansions launches
However, it is possible that the CZ-5B Y5 that is likely attributed to the Xuntian telescope whose launch has been delayed to 2027 may have neither YZ-2 upper stage or these improvements, so we could see one last stranded LM-5B core
It was announced yesterday that China Science and Technology Aerospace Co., Ltd (中科宇航技术股份有限公司) is planning to have an IPO, the company is the "mother/managing company" which makes up CAS Space (which is in fact made of several specialized subsidiaries) and it is partially owned by the Institute of Mechanics of CAS.
So CAS Space is following in the footsteps of Landspace in seeking to go public, they seemto be valued at ¥11B
此外，这一发火箭还拥有了一级火箭亚轨道受控离轨功能，火箭完成任务后可以迅速再入大气层，从源头上解决了空间碎片问题，同时也提升了落区安全性。
This report says that the core stage since 2024 already has controlled deorbit capability, but it only says deorbitting from suborbit. So todays' core stage is already capable of deorbitting burn and maneuver, but not confirmed if it has enough working gas/fuel from orbit. My personal feeling is that it can because deorbitting isn't necessary to abruptly take a nose dive, it is only needed to decelerate to a verlocity/altitude that air drag is enough to stop full circling of orbit.