China's Space Program News Thread

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From tianjin

 

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A mini-report on the space program's technology spillover for the public sector: We see the fruits and vegetables naturally mutated through grains that traveled in space. these crops have very interesting characteristics without being artificially and genetically altered by man. Currently these fruits and vegetables are planted in over 1.5 million hectares.

In a second report the rocket's solid propellant has been used to solve a technical problem on deep-oil exploration underwater's pipes.

Finally, a responsible from CASC said that so far over 2000 space technology have been pushed into civilian areas. The economic "boost" is about 1 to 10 (1 RMB invested in the space sector can generate 10 RMB gain in civilian areas).

Now where is that article again by wsj that said there is no point for China doing space exploration

 

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To move SZ-8,9 and TG-1, they use suspended air-cushion transport platform. This platform is developed by the 8359th Institute; today the transporters proposed by the Institute are able to carry objects weighing between 1 and 300t.

 

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On July 2, 2012, during a television interview, the Director General of CALT (China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology) confirms that China is studying a heavy rocket for manned lunar program. We also learn that CALT has over 30,000 personnel; the average age of the designers is less than 30 years and 81% of employees are under 40 years.

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During the 11th Five-year Plan period (2006-2010), China's spatial information and software industry has witnessed a rapid development, thanks to the support of the National 863 Program and National S&T Infrastructure Program. A range of systems, including grid geographic information system, real three-dimensional geographical information system, high confidence geospatial database management system, statistical remote sensing, and multi-source remote sensing data processing and service system, have been granted with government support.

Chinese scientists and engineers have mastered an array of core and key technologies needed for massive data spatial analysis and processing under a grid environment, quick access to spatial information and associated automated processing, network distribution service, the construction and integration of long time state and true three dimensional geographical information database, multi-source spatial data integration and application, adaptive spatial data engine, scalable spatial data modeling, multi-source high-resolution satellite remote sensing, satellite navigation and positioning data acquisition and service, high-precision smart navigation and positioning for special areas, along with 120 patents and 550 copyrights.

With the sustained support of the National 863 Program, China has established its own spatial information programming system, and developed a range of proprietary computer software, including MapGIS, SuperMap, BeyonDB, GeoBean, GeoGlobe, Titan, GeoWay, and DPGRID.

The home made spatial information software has found extensive applications in some 30 areas, numerous industrial sectors, and in people’s daily life. For example, computer software for geological information survey, and for potential iron ore resources prediction/grid evaluation have been diffused in a systematic manner in some priority fields.

The efforts have resulted in the establishment of a remote sensing application framework with air based remote sensing as a major player, and a public service system featured with smart navigation and positioning. Digital China, a proprietary nationwide space information sharing platform, has also been created to gather and share the space information resources at the national, provincial, and municipal levels.

In recent years, the spatial information software industry has witnessed a significantly raised scale and return. The enhanced utilization of spatial information resources has spurred up the development of upper stream industries, including computer, networking, mobile communication, and surveying instruments, which in turn promotes the development of geographic information system, remote sensing, and satellite navigation/positioning in the downstream industries.

The spatial information industry has reportedly generated an output exceeding RMB 100 billion, with a growth rate over 300%. 60 industrial centers have been established at the provincial and municipal levels for the purpose.

 

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A name solicitation event, sponsored by China Manned Space Project Office, was held on April 25 at the Great Hall of People in Beijing. Starting from April 26, 2011, Chinese all over the world can submit their proposals to the website of China Manned Space project or to the website of China Space Network.

One may also submit his or her proposal by e-mail, or send the proposal by regular mail in the form of CD-ROM or written materials. According to a briefing, China's manned space station will be completed of construction around 2020. By then, the winner name and logo will be flying in space along with the space station.

 

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Interesting reporting on the capsule team

[video=youtube;gK-52wklxEg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK-52wklxEg[/video]

 

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Info about TG-1 and SZ-9 on-board computer:

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* The control computers, for TQ-1 and Shenzhou-9, are designed entirely by the 502nd Institute(CAST)
* The price of each computer is "500 times" more than a general public computer
* The boxes are designed to support "a few thousand kg of shock", "various changes" and "radiation"
* The computer on board Shenzhou-9 has the same architecture and the same structure as that of TG-1 but is slightly larger
* A specific "plug-in" type OS called SpaceOS, has been specially developed
* Each control computer comprises a main module, a reserve module and 2 error tolerance zones.
* Each module includes a ERC32 processor(SPARC format compatible) with a primary frequency of 10MHz. Computing capacity is a little stronger than 386
* The memory is a 2Mb SRAM, has a very strong anti-radiation ability. All programs are stored in a 256Kb PROM.
* The consumption of each control computer is 15W
* The lifetime of each computer is 15 years, and during these 15 years no shutdown, no reboot and no reset is allowed
*The SpaceOS-1 comprises about 8000 lines of code with 12.9 K in size and was designed in five years. This OS is already installed and running on 33 satellites/spacecraft and has accumulated 40 "satellite-years" of use without failure
*According to data sent by TG-1, on-board computers have all suffered and resisted this year to 6 SEU (Single Event Upset) including once a few hours before the manual docking.
*TG-1 on-board computers are part of the second generation of products developed. The Institute is working on these products since 1998. The first generation of sat computing is called RISC2000 and uses foreign processors and operating systems. The team of 133 people plans to release a wholly Chinese on-board computer, including processors, in the next 5 years
*During the interview, the reporter saw the two on-board computers for the lunar missions being tested.

 

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Re:

According to an article published in a chinese aerospace journal, the engineers have planned and modeled nearly 600 failure and breakdown modes for the SZ-8 mission . Each failure and breakdown has necessarily a principal and several alternatives solution. The fact that these cases of failure are modeled and included in the process and then stored in the control programs, automates the incidents handling. For the SZ-9 mission, twenty cases of failure have been added in control programs for the manual docking:

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Re:

According to an article published in a chinese aerospace journal, the engineers have planned and modeled nearly 600 failure and breakdown modes for the SZ-8 mission . Each failure and breakdown has necessarily a principal and several alternatives solution. The fact that these cases of failure are modeled and included in the process and then stored in the control programs, automates the incidents handling. For the SZ-9 mission, twenty cases of failure have been added in control programs for the manual docking:

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I wish the thorough and meticulous approach of the engineers towards the operation and safety of the mission will set as an example for China made goods. Because if they can, a double digit growth rate is possible and so becoming number one will be earlier.