China's Space Program News Thread

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Earth photos taken by the Chinese astronauts

 

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That's kind of a surprise. There was no report of him having health issues.

RIP.

I know...I was hoping that he could live another 10 more years to see the next man lunar exploration.

 

[In4ser]

First the Space Shuttle, then Sally Ride and now this...sad year for NASA. Fortunately, the MARS mission was a success.

 

[jackliu]

Great pics man, there are almost more than 1 team preparing for a mission, and they decide who will go only days before the mission launches. I just thought that for the team that didn't made it, how would they feel.

They are all trained hard and qualified for the mission, so it is pretty much given no matter who is selected will be successful, and then they would go on to TV, interview, goes to HK, receive rewards, money, fame etc... but kinda sad for the ones that didn't get chosen.

I hope they will eventually give everyone who trained hard a chance to fly up... of course given that they must all be qualified first.

I know there were like 6 astronauts trained for the 1st SZ human flight, does anyone know they all had the chance to fly up there?

 

[Quickie]

I know there were like 6 astronauts trained for the 1st SZ human flight, does anyone know they all had the chance to fly up there?

Probably. Shenzhou-6 was followed by Shenzhou-7, 8 and 9 carrying eight astronauts. Only Jing HaiPeng flewed again in SZ-9, the rest of the crew being women astronaut Liu Yang and astronaut Liu Wang who is known to have trained in earlier mission. So, anyone of the 6 male astronauts could have trained for the first manned mission but only flewed in later missions.

 

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BEIJING, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Chinese scientists say they are looking for a site to built the world's largest solar telescope to gather data to help understand solar activities.

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A senior Chinese astronomer on Friday revealed a timeline for China's planned program of space research.

In an interview with Xinhua, Zhang Shuangnan, an astrophysicist at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said key developments will include China launching its first space telescope around 2015 and the country's space station being completed around 2020.

Speaking at the sidelines of the 28th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union, being held in Beijing from Aug. 20-31, he said the space station will become a platform to study black holes, dark matter and dark energy.

With the accelerating pace of China's manned space program, time is on the side of the country's space astronomers (who conduct studies from spacecraft, as opposed to land-based astronomers), who are planning to put telescopes and other astronomical experiment in space, as a complement to large telescopes on Earth.

Under a national plan, China plans to launch the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), the country's first astronomy satellite, around 2015. Already 20 years in development, it will observe black holes, neutron stars and other phenomena based on their X-ray and gamma ray emissions, according to Zhang, the HXMT project's leader.

The astronomer added that China plans to launch its Tiangong-2 space lab in 2014, aboard which there will be a Sino-Switzerland experiment, called "POLAR," a gamma ray burst detector.

The first such experiment on the international stage, it is part of China's Black Hole Probe Program to gain understanding of the physics of extreme conditions, Zhang explained.

Tiangong space labs have become a fundamental part of China's space station. Tiangong-1 was launched into space last September, and it docked with the Shenzhou-8 and -9 spacecraft in November 2011 and June 2012, respectively, paving the way for assembling a space station and ferrying supplies and equipment to the new facility.

The orbiting Tiangong-1 module was mainly used for testing docking procedures, without any astrophysical experiments on board. But space astronomers are seeking opportunities to assemble scientific payloads for the Tiangong-2 and -3 modules to be launched in the next three years.

They are designing astronomy experiments for the space station such as a Dark Matter Detection Program, designed to identify much-hypothesized matter that can't be seen directly with telescopes.

The installation and maintenance of space telescopes will need the assistance of astronauts, Zhang said, as has been required for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronomical experiments that have been approved to be part of the payloads of the space station include the Cosmic Lighthouse Program to study basic scientific questions such as the origin of the universe and stars, according to Zhang.

Also among the plans is the Portraits of Astrophysical Objects Program, intended to obtain pictures of extrasolar galaxies such as black holes, by using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) -- observations based on the use of multiple telescopes.

"It's a pity that as a country mastering space technologies, China has not launched any astronomy satellites yet," Zhang said, adding that its only astronomical experiment conducted in space was one testing gamma rays in the Shenzhou-2 spacecraft launched in 2001.

The astronomical satellites, as well as China's space astronomical plans, will offer large quantities of important data for astrophysical studies in a few years and elevate the country's scientific credentials to international frontiers, Zhang predicted.

According to a report of the Paris-headquartered Committee on Space Research, most orbiting or to-be-launched space observational facilities will terminate between 2018 and 2020, and there are few space astronomical projects being approved at present around the world.

This situation creates "both an opportunity and challenge for China's astronomical development," Zhang said.

 

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I wonder if the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) could detect black matter in space.

 

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August 30, Tiangong 1's controllers raised its orbit by 11 kilometres, indicating that a target date for the Shenzhou 10 mission has probably been set. As August 30 dawned, Tiangong 1 was following a 344 x 356 kilometre orbit at 42.8 degrees inclination. Soon after noon UTC, a firing of its thrusters raised perigee to create a new apogee. The orbit became 355 x 366 kilometres at the same inclination as before.

It was back to the same height that had been produced by a similar manoeuvre after Shenzhou 9 departed. Before this latest adustment, Tiangong's orbit decay would have brought it back to the 330 kilometer Shenzhou operating altitude before the end of 2012. Controllers had been experimenting for a few weeks with thruster firings to control Tiangong's rate of decay very precisely.

It seemed to be heading for a rendezvous with Shenzhou 10 around November 26 during one of two launch windows covering the last few days of November and the first couple of weeks in December.

It was probably a 'holding pattern' based on an estimate of how long it would take to review Shenzhou 9 and prepare a new vehicle for launch with a crew.

Plans may now have firmed up a little with an aim to fly the mission early in the new year. Tiangong 1's new orbit will decay to Shenzhou altitude early February, during the next pair of launch windows that extend through January to mid-February. A current estimate of the likely Shenzhou launch date can be found here.

Shenzhou 10's mission is unlikely exceed Shenzhou 9's by anything significant in duration.

Where Shenzhou 9 was used to test and develop the logistics and mechanics of getting a crew aboard a space station, the next flight has the aim of introducing operational routines and simulating space station life.

It is set to be the final mission to Tiangong 1 which will reach the end of its two year rated lifetime next October.

Its docking unit is rated for use on six occasions, and four of them have already passed with two dockings each by Shenzhou 8 and Shenzhou 9.

Tiangong 1 will then steer itself to a safe re-entry and China will turn its attention to Tiangong 2. The new laboratory will be used to build more experience of space station operation so China is ready for the challenge of operating the 20-tonne core module of a more-permanent outpost towards the end of the decade.