China's Space Program News Thread

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China's forecasts of severe weather conditions are set to be improved after the Fengyun-2F was officially transferred to the meteorological authority on Monday.

The nation's fourth geostationary orbit weather satellite, has been operating smoothly during a test period, since it was launched on Jan. 13, 2012, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

A transfer ceremony of the satellite to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) took place on Monday.

With a life span of four years, the Fengyun-2F has higher accuracy and more flexible high-frequency measuring capabilities. The satellite is able to forecast a typhoon's position and intensity ten minutes earlier than current equipment, according to the CMA.

The Fengyun-2F will form a network with Fengyun-2D and Fengyun-2E to improve weather monitoring.

China announced its Fengyun-2 series project in 2001, which included the launch of three geostationary meteorological satellites, namely Fengyun-2C - China's first geostationary orbit weather satellite - Fengyun-2D and Fengyun-2E.

Fengyun-2D is capable of carrying out infrared analysis on the structure of clouds and can also analyze data about visible daytime light. Fengyun-2E is mainly designed for gathering meteorological, marine and ground weather data.

With the Fengyun-2 series and Fengyun-3 series, China is one of three countries and regions that has both GEO and polar-orbiting meteorological satellites.

 

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China plans to launch eight satellites providing ocean and land data before 2020, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"The planned satellite launches, including four satellites observing the color of the sea, two observing ocean currents and two maritime radar satellites before 2020, have been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission," Jiang Xingwei, director of the National Satellite Ocean Application Service, told China Daily at the third Digital Ocean Forum in Tianjin.

The new satellites will greatly improve China's ability to observe and supervise the marine environment, he said.

China already has three satellites that monitor its territorial waters and islands, including the Diaoyu Islands and Huangyan Island, but they cannot be used to focus on a fixed location, Jiang said.

The launch of the two maritime radar satellites will add that capability.

Pan Delu, of the State Oceanic Administration's Second Institute of Oceanography, said at the forum that it is urgent China moves forward with the satellite project because the country is at least 10 years behind the satellite technology of developed economies such as the United States.

China is accelerating its pace of research and development of satellite technologies and broadening international cooperation.

On Aug 30, China's National Satellite Ocean Application Service and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites in Germany signed an agreement allowing the exchange of data from their ocean-monitoring satellites. Jiang said that a US organization has shown interest in the data from the Haiyang-2 satellite.

China has three maritime satellites in operation, according to the NSOAS.

Under the country's previous maritime satellite plan, published on the agency's website, three additional series of satellites will be launched: the ocean color (Haiyang-1) series, ocean current (Haiyang-2) series and maritime radar (Haiyang-3) series. Together, they will provide the capacity needed to fully monitor the country's ocean environment and guarantee its maritime rights.

Satellite images and data have widely been used in marine environment monitoring and island protection.

Xia Dengwen, deputy director of the China Oceanic Information Network of the State Oceanic Administration, said the current sea-monitoring is done by some satellites and aircraft.

If more satellites are launched, the system will operate better, said Xia, who is in charge of the system.

After three years of operation, the national sea-monitoring system has gradually expanded its coverage from offshore waters to distant areas, covering about 300,000 square kilometers of ocean, according to the State Oceanic Administration.

Xia said satellite images and data provide important information used by China Marine Surveillance in monitoring the legitimate and illegal use of the oceans, helping authorities adjust the annual national sea-use plan.

 

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One of the two Compass MEO sat to be launched this month

It must be really cold and sterile in that room.

 

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China will develop the dark matter particle explorer (DAMPE) sat to help detect high-energy electrons and gamma rays, as well as a telescope to study the solar magnetic field and a Sino-French joint mission to study gamma ray bursts:

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EUMETSAT signed a cooperation agreement with the National Satellite Ocean Application Service (NSOAS) of the State Oceanic Administration of China (SOA) on the occasion of a bilateral meeting in Beijing.

The main aim of this cooperation is to contribute to the establishment of global oceanographic data sets for the international oceanography user community. This reinforces EUMETSAT’s role in the provision of oceanographic satellite data and is a direct means to implement the EUMETSAT strategy.

Initial contacts with NSOAS/SOA date back to 2009 and have now matured into a cooperation agreement on data exchange of oceanographic satellite data.

EUMETSAT will provide data from the Metop Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) instrument as well as from the Jason-2 and Jason-3 missions.

In return, NSOAS/SOA will provide data from the current Haiyang (HY) missions. HY-1A and -1B, launched in May 2002 and April 2007, respectively, were designed to measure the ocean colour and sea surface temperature with visible and infrared sensors. The main objectives are to detect the chlorophyll concentration, suspended sediment concentration, and dissolved organic matter, pollutants, and sea surface temperature.

The first of the second generation HY satellites, HY-2A, was successfully launched on 16 August 2011 to monitor the dynamic ocean environment with microwave sensors to measure sea surface wind, sea surface height, and sea surface temperature (the instruments include an altimeter, a microwave radiometer, and a scatterometer).

The data will support ocean state forecasting, storm warning, ocean topography and the study of ocean processes.

 

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A base for promoting technological innovations for China's Beidou satellite navigation system has been established in Shanghai, according to a Wednesday statement from the system's management office.

The base is intended to help make major breakthroughs concerning positioning technology research, as well as increase the number of related Chinese patents and establish three to five Beidou-related enterprises, the statement said.

The navigation and positioning service industry has maintained an annual growth rate of 50 percent in recent years, becoming one of the fastest growing information industries, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

However, inadequate technology has contained the development of the domestic industry, the statement said.

The base will be one of five bases established by the government to accelerate innovation concerning key technologies and products for the navigation and positioning service industry, it said.

The base will also drive the restructuring of the transportation, telecommunications and electronics manufacturing industries, the statement said.

 

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China will develop the dark matter particle explorer (DAMPE) sat to help detect high-energy electrons and gamma rays, as well as a telescope to study the solar magnetic field and a Sino-French joint mission to study gamma ray bursts:

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Alright...it's about time!

 

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SZ-9 has been put into a high precision orbit using Iterative Guidance Technology. It is an advanced method of guidance based on the current measurement of information in real time to calculate the optimal flight trajectory in order to put the rocket into orbit accurately. However, the technology is accompanied by risks and challenges as its algorithms relative to the existing methods are more complex (ex: how to ensure the safety of rockets in a variety of unusual circumstances).

These are the challenges overcome by the Beijing Institute of automatic control of space after hundreds of technical discussions:

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YF-77 the new hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine has successfully completed his first simulated altitude heat test:

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Foundation stone laying ceremony has been held the 7th in Tianjin Binhai Area for the CASTC Very Large Spacecraft Assembly and Testing Center. The center will be responsible for the production and test of the next-generation large remote sensing sat, large com sat and very large spacecraft. It will have a capacity of 6-8 large spacecraft per year and covers an area of about 100,000 square meters, is divided into the final Assembly area, thermal test area, 9 functional modules such as mechanical test area, scheduled for completion by August 2014.