*On 10 December, the Long March 6 new generation small launch vehicle completed its first ever pad rehearsal lasting about two months in the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, paving the way for its debut in 2015. During the rehearsal, launcher testing, interface coordination, fueling and simulated launch sequence were drilled at a temperature as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius.
*Long March 5 development continued to make progress. In December, CALT completed the low-temperature static load test of the combination of the first stage hydrogen tank and the inter-tank structure. With a load of 300 tonnes and temperature of minus 196 degrees Celsius, it was the largest test on such a scale in Chinese space history. And also in December, the CZ-5’s first stage was moved into the vibration tower, and a joining of the boosters using a new type of strapping mechanism was achieved. The Oxygen tank and other components of CZ-5 will be moved into the vibration tower later to make the modal test.
In early December, the 6th Academy of CASC reported that its YF-75D expander cycle cryogenic engine for use on the CZ-5 second stage, made a successful test-firing, creating a working duration record.In January the YF-75D expander cycle cryogenic engine, to be used on the second stage of the CZ-5, completed its modal and vibration testing. This shows the further progress of the CZ-5 development following the destructive test of the first-stage oxygen tank completed at the end of 2013. Also, during the annual session of the National People’s Congress held in early March, Liang Xiaohong, told reporters that it plans to complete all major ground testing of CZ-5 during 2014, including the whole-rocket modal test, hot-firing of the first core stage propulsion system, and the 5.2 meter diameter faring separation test, in order to set a solid basis for its 2015 maiden flight.
*In early October, the first strap-on booster assembly of the Long March 7 launcher was completed. The 27 m long booster is the longest rocket stage ever built in China, and is the first rocket product totally designed and manufactured with digital technology. It was built to test the booster’s propulsion system. On 11 November, a successful test-firing lasting 170 seconds, was made. It was the first whole-rocket test-firing for CALT since 1993. On 17 December, the second test-firing, lasting 167 seconds, was also successful. In the two test-firings, all rocket and ground systems worked well and large amount of data was obtained. In parallel, assembly of the CZ-7’s core-stage was also started. It is built purposely for propulsion system testing.
In February, assembly of the first CZ-7 core stage started. In late March, assembly of another second stage, used for propulsion testing, also began. The first second stage, completed earlier, was stacked with the cargo ship developed for the space station, and started modal and vibration testing in mid-March. CZ-7 is also scheduled to make its maiden flight in 2015.
*It was reported in October that China’s new generation liquid Oxygen/Methane engine recently made its first successful fullsystem test-firing. It was developed by the Institute 11 of CALT. But there was no mention of the new engine’s specification in the report. It was China’s second Methane engine. In February 2011, China’s first liquid Oxygen/Methane engine with a thrust of 60 tonnes, developed by the Institute 11 based on its experience of cryogenic engines, made its first test-firing successfully. Another report in December indicated that the Institute 11 has
three models of cryogenic engines in its development plan of 2014. Apart from YF-77 and YF-75D, the 200 tonne thrust class large cryogenic engine prepared for a future Moon launcher, was suspected of being among the three.
*China’s advanced upper stage, named Yuanzheng 1 (means Expedition in Chinese) will make its maiden flight later this year. It will be sent to space by a CZ-3B, together with the first two experimental satellites for the Beidou global constellation planned to be completed by 2020. Yuanzheng 1 is China’s first liquid-fueled general upper stage with a multiple re-starting capability and will be able to work for 6.5 hours after launch.
*The first CZ-3C enhanced model will make its maiden flight by the end of the year, to send the Chang’e 5 pathfinder into a circumlunar orbit. This model will have a stretched core stage (1.5 m longer) and strap-on boosters (0.8 m longer) and will increase its GTO capability from 3.8 tonnes to 3.9 tonnes.
*In February, it was reported that the “large thrust solid motor” for the solid launch vehicle completed a review and entered the phase of engineering model development. It was supposed to be the 120 tonne, 2 m diameter solid motor to be used on the CZ-11 responsive mobile small launch vehicle. The motor is developed by the 4th Academy of CASC (or AASPT)
*In mid-November, development of the FY-4 geostationary meteorological satellite moved one step forward. Its bi-propellant unified propulsion system made a successful hot test-firing. This test set a foundation for the optimised design of the FY-4 flight
model. FY-4 has completed a critical propulsion system hot test-firing on 19 February. Later, a prototype of FY-4’s lightning imager completed its acceptance review on 5 March. The imager is able to capture 500 images per second, to make it possible to measure the frequency and strength of the lightning
*Within the framework of the Space Science Pioneer Programme, China’s science satellites made substantial progress in recent years. HXMT (Hard X-Ray Modulation Telescope) will become the first pure science satellite developed by China, not counting the Sino-European DoubleStar satellites. On 16 December, a review meeting approved the HXMT flight-model development. The spacecraft is expected to be shipped for launch in March 2015. HXMT is just a beginning. The first four projects in the Space Science Pioneer Programme (HXMT, SJ-10, QUESS QUantum Experiments at Space Scale, and DAMPE – DArk Matter Particle Explorer) were either in prototype or flight-model development. From 15-19 December, conducted in Sanya by CAS, the satellite-ground data link test for the QUESS and DAMPE were completed successfully. During 18 - 24 February, the data management sub-system of the DAMPE (DArk Matter Particle Explorer) completed its acceptance testing.
In the annual meeting of the Space Science Pioneer Program held by CAS on 24 February, In addition, two batches of the background projects (each has four), have been reviewed and selected (First batch: SPORT, XTP, MIT, Space VLBI; second batch: Einstein Probe, STEP – Search for Terrestrial Exo-Planets, ASO-S – Space-borne Solar Observatory, WCOM - Water Cycle Observation Mission).
*In March, the 3D digital model of the experimental satellite for the Beidou global constellation was delivered. It marks a major progression for China in the field of satellite design and manufacturing. The first of the five experimental satellites is expected to be launched in October this year by an enhanced CZ-3C.
*It was reported in February that the 200 mm diameter LIPS-200 ion electric thruster had undertaken a long duration test-firing of more than 10,000 hours. LIPS was developed by the Institute 501 of CAST and was successfully tested in space on the SJ-9 satellite. The LIPS-200 is planned to be used on China’s new generation communication satellites, including DFH-3B, 4, 5 and 7. To further verify its performance and working life, a new long duration test for its evaluation model started on 25 December 2013, and is expected to last 11,000-15,000 hours with 6,000-8,000 cycles of ignition and shutdown.
*In February, it was reported that the full-system hot test-firing of the propulsion system of the Tianzhou cargo spaceship was made successfully. The test simulated orbit maneuver, rendezvous and docking, attitude control and de-orbit operations. Tianzhou
is based on the Tiangong 1 module, and will be in-orbit tested with the Tiangong 2 space laboratory, and will service the future Chinese Space Station (CSS) to be completed around 2020. It was the first time that any particular development progress of the cargo vehicle was reported. In mid-March, a cargo vehicle was stacked on top of the CZ-7 second stage, and modal and vibration testing carried out.
*In March, the Tiangong 2 space laboratory, formerly the back-up of Tiangong 1, completed a leak inspection, marking the completion of the final assembly of the vehicle. According to Zhou Jianping, Chief Designer of the Chinese manned space programme, it will be launched by the end of 2015.
*In late December, it was reported that CAST has completed the design and optimisation of a “high-power nuclear space electric propulsion system”. The system is specially designed for future human Mars exploration. It will make a relatively short round trip
to Mars possible. However, the report did not mention what type of nuclear electricity generation system it is and what type of electric propulsion will be used.
*CAST made progress on the development of a new type of electric engine – the magnetic focusing Hall-Effect thruster. The thruster, developed by the Institute 502 of CAST, completed a full-system test in November. It was turned on and off for more
than 30 times and accumulated 20 hours of firing time. It will be tested on a new technology demonstration satellite later on.
*It was reported in early March that China’s largest space camera, developed by CAST, completed thermal vacuum testing. However, there were no details given, such as its aperture and ground resolution, or which spacecraft will carry it.
*In mid-February, Chinese media captured a few news reports about the companies and universities involved in a mystery project, and concluded that a successful high-speed autonomous approach and landing test of an unknown vehicle was made in late 2013. These reports were consistent with messages revealed by some CALT staff via Weibo (a Chinese twitter-like service) in late September 2013, that a CALT developed vehicle, code-named Aotian 1, completed a remarkable test. As the event was linked to CALT, the mystery vehicle is supposed to be space-related, probably a winged or lifting body re-entry vehicle.
*On 22 February, an air-breathing engine, developed by AAPT and involved with the Institute 11 of CALT, made a successful free jet shakedown, marking AAPT and CALT’s leading position in the area of hypersonic propulsion in China, and showed great progress in the development of an important engine model.
*In early November, CAST started construction of the KM8 thermal-vacuum chamber in its new AIT (Assembly, Integration and Test) site in Tianjin. The KM8 has a height of 32 m and an inner diameter of 22 m. It will become the third largest of its kind in the world. Once completed in later 2014, it will be used to test the space station modules, DFH-5 based communication satellites and larger remote sensing satellites. One month later, the foundation for CAST’s other large-scale ground facility, the assembly and test building for ultra-large optics was laid in Tangjialing, Beijing.
*On 4 December, a large-scale sun simulator, the largest one in China and developed by CASIC, was put into use.
*In Wenchang, Hainan, construction and equipment installation of the launch facility in the new launch centre has entered its final
phase. In February, the CZ-5 and CZ-7 mobile launch platforms completed assembly. The CZ-5 platform has a length of 27.5 m, width of 23 m and height of 8.7 m. While the CZ-7 platform is 26 m long, 23 m wide and 8.7 m tall. They were transported to Hainan before the end of 2013. The complete assembly took about two months. The 58 m tall umbilical towers, to be installed on the platforms to provide support of fueling, gas, air conditioning and electric power to the launcher vehicle, have also been transported to the launch centre in January
