China's Space Program News Thread

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Re:

The ZX-10 sat has been delivered to the main customer, and CASC the manufacturer will ensure that the sat lifespan reaches 15 years instead of its design life of 13.5 years. CASC is also working on a new generation sat platform and on an electric propulsion:

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Documentary series on JSLC. First episode:

* The episode begins on the road to JSLC, the only one linking the center to the outside world (except the railroad) at 2 hours by car

* The surface of the center is 20km²

* The construction of the city began in 1958

* The police officers not only ensure their normal role but also the protection of transport and astronauts

* The city TV studio

* The life of the infantry rail that protects and maintains the railway that connects the center to the outside

* the post office center, built in 1958 along with the city, which began sending mails since February 12, 1960

[video=youtube;cFCU2tC0P64]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFCU2tC0P64[/video]

 

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Second Episode:

* Guided tour in the assembly and evaluation building .

* See how the technicians train with a rod and a glass bottle, because for them it is a about the same accuracy required to assemble two stages of a CZ-2F rocket.

* See also the training of technicians in a virtual reality room. With the 3D helmet and gloves specially designed, operators can simulate assembly tasks in a virtual environment, it is very interesting.

* At the end we see the residence of the astronauts in the center.

[video=youtube;h0BxkZn5tOY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0BxkZn5tOY[/video]

 

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Meteorologists from the center were honored in the third episode. The center's Office of Meteorology is one of the few entities in the Chinese manned program which has veto power in the launch process. On October 8, 1998 upon transfer of the rocket's assembly building to the launch pad, the meteorologists have banned the transfer at 8am as the wind speed exceeds 16m / s. Part of this episode is devoted to this story.

[video=youtube;EGufK3t2eFI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGufK3t2eFI[/video]

 

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In this fourth episode we see two production farms exclusively dedicated to the City.

The first is a dairy farm that supplies milk and yoghurt to the city. There are currently 224 cows on this farm, cows foods like corn are grown directly on the farm prairie. Milk for astronauts of Shenzhou-9 also comes from this farm and comes mostly from a specially selected cow numbered 0822. The journalist joked at the end by saying that if all milk production in China were of such quality there would never been the milk scandal.

The second farm visited in this episode is located 30km from the JSLC, next to a radar tracking station. Forty types of fruits and vegetables thirty different wild are grown here to supply the city of JSLC.

[video=youtube;bZsM8LlBzvE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZsM8LlBzvE[/video]

 

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The fifth and final episode of this documentary talk about the family life of two couples working in the JSLC.

In the first couple, the man is an monitoring and tracking engineer while his wife is a teacher. They chose to marry on June 30 along with 6 other couples, one day after the return of the capsule of Shenzhou-9. They tell us how they met in the city space JSLC and their family life.

For the second couple, both are working in a radar tracking station and they are also colleagues.

[video=youtube;595JZEPUVyU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=595JZEPUVyU[/video]

 

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According to the CMSEO website, the TG-1's hyperspectral imaging camera has been in operation for over 6000h and has transferred a large amount of images :

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This

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talks about SAST(Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology) tasks for the 12th five-year plan. SAST is one of the CASC entities and the designer of the docking system and the CZ-4 rockets.

*The Institute is working on a docking system for the Martian program.

* It is responsible fo the manufacturing of 40 CZ-4x rockets and 20 sat.

*For the space station, SAST will not only make the usual parts like power, control and communication, and the docking mechanism, but will also be responsible for the design of one experimental module.

* SAST has accelerated investment in R&D, in 2008 the budget for was only RMB 20M, in 2012 this figure will reach RMB 280M. During the 11th Five Year Plan, SAST has invested nearly RMB 1.72 billion in R&D

* At the same time, SAST has taken steps to strengthen its human resources - From 2009 to 2012, the institute has recruited 2,300 engineers, 300 PhD students and 230 doctors and experts who are trained in the West. The goal by 2015 is to recruit between 300 to 400 doctors and 2,000 additional engineers.

* Under the incitement of the state, SAST has also transferred some of its intellectual properties to the civilian sectors - technologies of solar panels, lithium-ion battery and LED. These technologies have been integrated in electric cars and the subway system in Shanghai, for example.

 

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A Chinese fan had fun drawing the TL-1 (3) launch path on Google Earth

The first vertical white line starting from the left is the separation of the
boosters, the second is the separation of the first floor

From left to right, separation of the boosters, the first stage separation,
separation of fairing and separation of the second floor

The red square on the ground is the theoretical return fairing area

The last vertical line corresponds to the first 3rd stage engine shutdown

 

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YW-3,6 have left the port of Fiji where they have been refueled and arrived today in their respective areas for tracking duty