China's Space Program News Thread

[port_08]

There is much less "ill" from the US towards china now then there was from the US towards the USSR in 1975, and yet the US cooperated with USSR in the Apollo-Soyuz mission. The issue is not cooperation itself. It is whether the US believed the partner stands to gain at the expense of the US technologically or politically.

US has much to gain with co-operation with USSR then as economically and militarily US is much stronger then and there are technologies transfer beneficial to US. This mean, US can take advantage of the relationship. Russia now is a shadow of its former self.

With China is a bit different, China has potential (population/size wise) and already projected to surpass US economically and with economic power, militarily as well. US would lose technology transfer now to China which help expedite China growth further. Therefore US is right to block from co-operating with China. It's a prudent decision but really it is a dilemma situation for US.

And in maybe a decade or more, it would be beneficial for China to block US from joining as possible US would steal technologies from China.

 

[kwaigonegin]

It all goes back to the MIC and the fear mongering politicians and defense lobbyists. Just like the 1960s and 70s in the case of the Soviets, I think a lot of folks today are making china to be more of the bogeyman than what it really is but unlike the former USSR, as far as I know the Chinese have not publicly made any threats about the annihilation of the US nor are they 100% capable. The USSR did but more importantly they possessed the ability to actually do it.

Either way until Obama starts asking our kids to rehearse hiding under their chairs or desk at school I'm not going to worry too much about it.

* to the moderators.. read my post in it's entirety... I'm not beating nuclear war drums ...I'm actually talking against it LOL

 

[chuck731]

It all goes back to the MIC and the fear mongering politicians and defense lobbyists. Just like the 1960s and 70s in the case of the Soviets, I think a lot of folks today are making china to be more of the bogeyman than what it really is but unlike the former USSR, as far as I know the Chinese have not publicly made any threats about the annihilation of the US nor are they 100% capable. The USSR did but more importantly they possessed the ability to actually do it.

Either way until Obama starts asking our kids to rehearse hiding under their chairs or desk at school I'm not going to worry too much about it.

* to the moderators.. read my post in it's entirety... I'm not beating nuclear war drums ...I'm actually talking against it LOL

Far from being the war drum, I am offering some more concrete historic comparisons for some posters here who otherwise might be inclined to beat the war drum and envision inexorably supremacy and heady territorial aggrandizements to further consider.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

Anyhow, this is off topic to China's Space Program. What China is doing is quite impressive in its own right and I expect we are gpoing to see a lot more of it. So let's get back on topic to the Chinese space program. If you would like to have a discussion about the Russian Program, start a thread in the Members Club Room aboiut the Russian Space Program, it's current status and history.

I did, it was merged into the Space thread.

China Targets on Heavy Launch Vehicles
2014-01-22 08:51:59 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Fu Yu



With China's space program still progressing, the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology is looking to build new heavy-launch vehicles which can carry payloads such as manned spacecraft and even space stations.

CRI's Alexander Aucott has more.






CALT's Liang Xiaohong says research on heavy launch vehicles is pushing toward project approval and the work of tackling key technology has started simultaneously.

Heavy launch vehicles refer to those capable of putting payloads up to 50 tons into orbit.

Currently, the US is the only country in the world, apart from China, to develop a research plan for heavy launch vehicles.

Military analyst Li Li shares her view about the reasons for China's efforts in this field.

"Each of the bay sections weighs up to 20 tons. Our current vehicles can carry 10 tons at most. As a result, we cannot accomplish the construction of the space station as planned."

Liang goes on to say that though China will have vehicles like the Long March 5 and 7 by 2015, it takes several rounds to finish the design of a 100-ton space station.

Vehicles able to carry up to 100 tons will better meet requirements in future.

Other functions of heavy launch vehicles include carrying humans to the moon, and space exploration. The US, relying on its Saturn V, is still the only country in the world that can make a manned moon trip.

Pang Zhihao, a researcher at the China Academy of Space Technology, says development of heavy launch vehicles will be a catalyst for further development in China's aeronautics industry, and for space exploration.

"Taking humans to the moon and other small planets is a fore step before making it to Mars. Heavy launch vehicles can offer adequate space for the facilities that make space exploration more safe. A country's power in aeronautics lies more in its level of space exploration than in its ability to make use of space.

For CRI, I'm Alexander Aucott.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[Jeff Head]

Okay, I tired to be subtle about it, now let's make it more direct.

GET BACK ON TOPIC TO THE CHINESE SPACE PROGRAM ...Take the Russian Rocket discussion to the other Space Program thread. I have moved that entire discussion there.

Thanks.

 

[Jeff Head]

Posters on the Chinese Space Program Thread:
Earlier today I moved a number of posts that were off topic in this thread, and which I had indicated needed to get back on topic here, to the NASA and World Space thread in the Member's Club Room. I moved three different groups of posts there that were dealing with different aspects of the Russian Space program.

Regrettably, while doing so, one of those groups of posts was inadvertently lost. Chuch731 brought this to my attention earlier today and I have tried to recover them but to no avail. I apologize and will do my utmost to be more careful in the future.

If one of your posts that was off topic here is no longer on this thread and is not in the other thread in the Member's Club Room, it is most probably included in the group I lost. There were probably six or so posts in that group. Again, I apologize for the error.

 

[Jeff Head]

Okay, then, continuing on with the Chinese space program.

Here's an outstanding picture of the Chinese Yutu rover, heading south from the Chang 3 lander.

It will be very interesting to see what type of longevity the Yutu has. For example, will it still be working and transmitting and performing experiments ten years from now like the NASA Opportunity Rover on Mars is after that long on the Martian surface? Time will tell.

​

 

[danielchin]

According to CCTV, there's a glitch or "abnormal" function found on the rover before they put it to sleep again for the second lunar night.

They are still trying to solve the problem.

Hope the rabbit can wake up and keep doing the good job...

 

[Quickie]

Okay, then, continuing on with the Chinese space program.

Here's an outstanding picture of the Chinese Yutu rover, heading south from the Chang 3 lander.

It will be very interesting to see what type of longevity the Yutu has. For example, will it still be working and transmitting and performing experiments ten years from now like the NASA Opportunity Rover on Mars is after that long on the Martian surface? Time will tell.

​

The moon environment is very much harsher than that of Mars. Besides having to deal with the much greater cosmic radiation due to the lack of an atmosphere, the moon's surface temperature can vary in the range of less than 100 degrees C and more than 100 degrees C between night and day on the moon. It seems like Yutu is already facing some mechanical problem a day or two before going through its second hibernation.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

English.news.cn 2014-01-25 15:01:46 More
BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's moon rover, Yutu (Jade Rabbit), has experienced a mechanical control abnormality, and scientists are organizing repairs.

The abnormality occurred due to "complicated lunar surface environment," the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said on Saturday, without giving further details.

The abnormality emerged before the rover entered its second dormancy at dawn on Saturday as the lunar night fell, according to SASTIND.

The lander, another part of the Chang'e-3 probe, also "fell asleep" earlier on Friday.

The pair went dormant for two weeks about one month ago when the first lunar night of the mission occurred.

One night on the Moon is about 14 days on Earth, during which the temperature falls below minus 180 Celsius. During the lunar night, there is no sunlight to provide power to Yutu's solar panel.

After the first dormancy, the lander's Moon-based optical telescope carried out observation of the sky, while its extreme ultraviolet camera observed the plasmasphere over the Earth, according to SASTIND.

An Ultra High Frequency communication test between the lander and the moon rover was also conducted.

The rover obtained scientific data through its radar, panorama camera, a particle X-ray device and infrared imaging equipment, said SASTIND.

The Chang'e-3 lunar probe soft-landed on the Moon on Dec. 14. Yutu separated from the lander hours later.

The success of the Chang'e-3 mission makes China the third country to soft-land a spacecraft on lunar soil after the United States and the former Soviet Union.

Humans have conducted a total of 130 lunar probe activities with a success rate of only about 51 percent, Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar probe program, said in an earlier interview with Xinhua.

China's lunar probe missions -- Chang'e-1, 2, and 3 -- have all succeeded, according to Wu.

Lunar probe mission failure is not rare. In April 1962, the U.S. lunar probe Ranger 4 crashed into the dark side of the Moon after equipment failure prevented it from returning pictures and scientific data.

Japan launched a lunar probe in 1990, which soon moved off course. It failed to transmit any data and crashed into the Moon in 1993.

India managed to send a lunar probe into space in 2008, but an equipment in the main craft malfunctioned several months later, leading to the loss of contact with the unmanned spacecraft.

 

[xiabonan]

The Yu'tu's official weibo suggested that it may not make it through this lunar night, although men on the ground are still working to do whatever they can.

My best hopes and wishes to the Yu'tu. And hopefully they can find out what caused the problem and improve in the next mission.