China's Space Program News Thread

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Vid & Pics

[video=youtube;brzO8UtnXEM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brzO8UtnXEM[/video]

 

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A senior scientist working on China's lunar orbiter project said Wednesday that China has not yet created a timetable for its manned moon landing program.

"Putting a man on the moon involves a very complicated systematic program with many technical challenges to solve, including those related to conducting space walks, docking, staying on the moon and returning," Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist for the lunar orbiter project, said at a conference of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World held in north China's city of Tianjin.

"China won't carry out a manned moon landing until it masters all of these crucial technologies," said Ouyang, who is also an academician with the Chinese Academy of Science.

Ouyang said China's lunar probe projects currently consist of unmanned moon exploration, a manned moon landing and the building of a moon base.

"China is currently in the first stage," Ouyang said, adding that the first stage involves the orbit, landing and return of lunar spacecraft.

China launched its Chang'e-1 orbiter in 2007 and Chang'e-2 in 2010. The first probe retrieved a great deal of scientific data and a complete map of the moon, while the second created a full high-resolution map of the moon and a high-definition image of Sinus Iridium, a lunar landmark.

China is scheduled to send its third probe, the Chang'e-3, to the moon in 2013 and retrieve it in 2017 after sampling the moon's surface, Ouyang said.

The completion of the three steps will pave the way for a manned lunar mission in the future, he said.

 

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Senior Scientist Discusses China's Lunar Orbiter Challenges:

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China to Complete Unmanned Lunar Mission by 2017:

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A mission for the Chinese moon program would be for them to do something like Luna 24 (

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) and / or something like

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. That would be impressive

 

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A mission for the Chinese moon program would be for them to do something like Luna 24 (

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) and / or something like

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. That would be impressive

That would be kind of boring. A man space flight to the moon is more challenging and at the same time more rewarding, because you can bring home actual samples and data of the moon to study, like the Apollo program. NOW..a lunar base would be something to get excited about.

 

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That would be kind of boring. A man space flight to the moon is more challenging and at the same time more rewarding, because you can bring home actual samples and data of the moon to study, like the Apollo program. NOW..a lunar base would be something to get excited about.

unmanned moon landing can bring back sample...
they need to assure that they can land on the moon and return to earth safely.

 

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Environment Sat HJ-1C has completed thermal balance, thermal vacuum and thermal magnetic tests.

 

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After three years of research, Beijing Aerospace Machinery Company has developed an Automatic Welding Machine employed to make 3.3m diameter booster tanks. It use the single-sided two-layer welding technique to made the process fully automated:

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I think this thing is related to longitudinal and circumferential Friction Stir Welding (FSW) method. It has been used to make the Space Shuttle tanks. FWS can appear simple but it is'nt because the parts must be prevented from moving as welding progresses. This requires very high forces.

 

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LM-5 project switch to prototype development and large-scale ground test phase:

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The YF-77 LOX/LH2 engine has acomplished a 500s test successfully on August 17, 2012. Cumulative test reached 22,000 seconds. YF-220 LOX/LH2 engine dev continues on schedule:

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