China's Space Program News Thread

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Ultra

Junior Member
CNN is currently doing a piece on China's space program with rarely access to the Chinese "Space City" and interviews to the Chinese astronauts. Very interesting read!




China
The next space superpower?

China entered the space race late but it's now a force to be reckoned with. In a world exclusive, CNN sits down with three of the country's top astronauts and takes you inside its secretive space program.

Editorial: Katie Hunt, David McKenzie, Design: Nural Choudhury & Jason Kwok, Video: Ryan Smith, Development: Kevin Taverner, Nav Garcha

Inside Space City
If you stumbled into Space City, you probably wouldn't realize what it was.

The sprawling complex in the north west of Beijing shares the same nondescript character of government compounds throughout China.

But look closer. Guard posts over here; military sentries checking IDs over there.

This is no ordinary facility. Space City is home to the Chinese government's most ambitious and expensive mega-project ever. They've dubbed it "Project 921," the manned-space program.

And foreign journalists are almost never let in.

After more than a year of phone calls and faxes, here we are, inside the simulation room of the astronaut training center.

The astronauts stride into the room according to rank: Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping.

They're three of China's best-known astronauts and the crew of the 2013 Shenzhou-10 mission, China's longest manned spaceflight yet.

They're roughly the same height and build in their blue jumpsuits and black military boots.

That's no accident. Chinese astronauts are all People's Liberation Army pilots and officers, they have university degrees, they are Communist Party members. And they need to be around the same height and under a certain weight.

You don't need to be superhuman to be an astronaut, says Commander Nie.

"We are just ordinary people," he says, "But, yes, certain aspects make us more suitable to fly space missions."

China's space program was first announced in the early 1970s, but the chaos of the Cultural Revolution stopped it in its tracks.

The program accelerated again in the early 1990s and space administrators picked two classes of astronauts in 1998 and 2010.

All of the crew of the 15-day Shenzhou-10 mission was passed over for missions at least once.

"When I wasn't selected for a mission, there was nothing I could do about it, so I just kept looking forward," says Zhang.

Zhang is the self-described joker of the group, able to lighten the mood during high-pressure situations. Still, he says he had to live through years of disappointments.

"I trained in this simulator for 15 years and I was in space for 15 days. So literally a day in space was a result of a year of training on the ground."

Perhaps the most famous of the group is Wang Yaping. She conducted a live space lecture for 60 million students across China during the mission.

"I remember, I watched the launch of the first Chinese astronaut into space with my fellow pilots," says Wang, who flew a transport plane for the PLA.

"I saw the fireball come out of the rocket and a thought just popped into my head: 'The first Chinese man just flew into space. When will the first female astronaut from China get there?'"

After years of training, you would think that it is all about the mission. But what happens when the space lectures and experiments are over?

"We really enjoyed the zero gravity situation in our spare time," says Wang. "It allowed us to practice tai chi upside down, it allowed us to float around like fish."

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Race to the stars

China's space program started late and is only now passing milestones the U.S. and Russia clocked years ago.

But, with the backing of the highest echelons of the Chinese Communist Party, it's going into space at a time when other world powers have scaled back on space exploration because of budget restraints or shifting priorities.

U.S. space technology is still "hands down the best in the world," says Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, but she says the U.S. lacks the political will to fund an ambitious manned spaceflight program, China's is the pride of the nation.

"It would cost the US $140 billion for a true moon and Mars exploration mission but sticker shock would kill it instantly," she says.

"In terms of perception, America has already ceded its leadership in exploration to China."

Inside Space City, Commander Nie -- who leads the manned space mission -- is more diplomatic.

"The United States and Russia started their programs early. They are the pioneers," he says.

"Our space development is not because of some space competition or trying to overtake anyone."

But the modern race to the stars is not just about money, it's driven by technological advances and cooperation.

The International Space Station (ISS) houses a veritable United Nations in space with 15 countries contributing including the U.S., Russia and Japan.

But not China.

China's 21 astronauts are locked out of the ISS, largely because of pressure from U.S. legislators.

In 2011, Congress banned NASA from working bilaterally with anyone from the Chinese space program on national security concerns.

But a recent exhaustive report for the
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says China's improving space capability "has negative sum consequences for U.S. military security."

"China is viewed as a foe, it is viewed as a government that seeks to take our intellectual property, national secrets and treasure and thus Congress is not willing to partner with them," says CNN space and aviation analyst Miles O'Brien.

"I think it is ultimately a mistake."

The Chinese government says its space program is peaceful and already cooperates with other nations.

The crew of the Shenzhou-10 seem keen to work with NASA.

"As an astronaut, I have a very strong desire to fly space missions with astronauts from other countries. And I look forward to the opportunity go to the International Space Station," says Nie.

He says foreign astronauts are welcome to visit China's own space station once it is launched.

China-space-station-medium.jpg



The Chinese expect to finish their space station by 2022 -- around the time the International Space Station runs out of funding, potentially leaving China as the only country with a permanent presence in space.

"They are on a slow steady campaign. I think in the end, tortoise versus hare style, they will probably win," says O'Brien.
 

Ultra

Junior Member
'Long March' into space
On October 15 2003, when China became the third nation to put a man into orbit, it wanted its entry to this elite club of space powers broadcast live to the world.

In the event, China lost its nerve and cut the feed. It needn't have worried -- the launch went off without a hitch.

A Long March 2F rocket carrying Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei in the cabin of the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft soared into the atmosphere.

The next morning, his acorn-shaped capsule landed with a thud on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.

Yang's 21-hour space flight transformed him into an instant hero for millions of Chinese and made the world take China's long-held space ambitions seriously for the first time.

Since then, Chinese astronauts have walked in space, launched an orbital space lab and sent a lunar probe to the moon in what is arguably the boldest space program in the world.

Commander Nie says Chinese people have yearned to fly into space since ancient times, giving China's accomplishments a "bigger and deeper meaning."

"We have many beautiful legends about this dream," he says.

Chinese folklore tells of Chang'e, a young fairy who flew to the moon, and Wan Hu, who attempted to blast off 500 years ago by sitting on a bamboo chair rigged with two kites and 47 rockets.

As 2015 unfolds, China is building a heavy-lift rocket, planning a second robotic mission to the moon and constructing a 60-ton space station.

But its path to the stars has not been hitch free.

China has so far avoided fatal accidents like the Challenger and Columbia disasters that killed 14 U.S. astronauts, but in 2007, it shot down one of its weather satellites 530 miles above the earth.

The strike, which resulted in tens of thousands of pieces of debris, has forced the ISS to maneuver several times to avoid collisions -- a scenario that played out to dramatic effect in the Oscar-winning movie "Gravity."

China's heavy lift Long March 5 rocket, which it needs to launch the space station, has been subject to delays, and a new spaceport on the island of Hainan has yet to go into operation.

These delays could potentially hamper its ambitions as other nations try to match or surpass China's accomplishments -- in what some observers are calling an Asian space race.

China's current space program doesn't commit to it, but many believe a manned mission to the moon is on the table, and after India successfully orbited Mars in 2013, China may also have the Red Planet in its sights.

"They don't rush, they are very cautious but China is in this for the long term," says Johnson-Freese, at the U.S. Naval War College.




Over the moon

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In December 2013, the Chang'e-3 spacecraft landed on the moon and released a gold-colored, six-wheeled, lunar buggy named "
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" for a three-month mission to study the moon's crust for resources.

While it made China only the third nation to soft land on the moon after the U.S. and former Soviet Union, the mission was not entirely successful.

The plucky explorer suffered from technical malfunctions but it captured the hearts of millions of Chinese, who followed the rover's ups and downs on its own social media account.

It also drew the attention of security experts, who say the country's lunar exploration program could mean a future of Chinese dominance over the moon's resources.

These include water (probably) and Helium 3 -- a clean-burning fuel that could potentially offer an alternative to nuclear power.

The substance, which accumulates on the surface of the moon, has been used as a justification for lunar exploration by both the U.S. and China, says researcher Kevin Pollpeter at the University of California -- San Diego, although such technology is decades away if possible at all.

When asked if China is preparing to put a man on the moon, Commander Nie laughs and won't be drawn on whether this is the ultimate goal of its space program.

For now, the focus, he says, is on launching the Tianggong-2, an experimental lab, and preparatory work for the space station.

But many space analysts think China is capable of pulling off such a feat.

The next step in its lunar exploration program is a robotic mission, which will land on the moon to collect samples and take them back to Earth. It's expected to take place in 2017.

If successful, it would serve as a proof of concept for a manned mission, as well as deepen China's knowledge of lunar science.

"China is following the Apollo playbook," says Johnson-Freese at the U.S. Naval College -- in reference to the U.S. manned spaceflight program that put the first man on the moon.

"It wants a high-prestige achievement that allows the Chinese government to say to its people 'Look, this is what the Communist Party has done for you.'"


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Equation

Lieutenant General
"China is following the Apollo playbook," says Johnson-Freese at the U.S. Naval College -- in reference to the U.S. manned spaceflight program that put the first man on the moon.

"It wants a high-prestige achievement that allows the Chinese government to say to its people 'Look, this is what the Communist Party has done for you.'"


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This is such an old and tired moniker. They don't think China space exploration could also benefit them from a technological and scientific point of view? As if the Chinese space is just a token project is just some kind of government propaganda.
 

Ultra

Junior Member
This is such an old and tired moniker. They don't think China space exploration could also benefit them from a technological and scientific point of view? As if the Chinese space is just a token project is just some kind of government propaganda.

It is all politically motivated propoganda. China contributed significantly to the science of rocketry - after all Chinese INVENTED IT. The west built on the foundation of the Chinese discovery, along with help from the chinese scientists and engineers who are often deny the limelight of their contribution due to their race and even being prosecuted for it.

Qian Xuesen is one of them. He was one of the top experts of rocketry of his time and contributed enormously to the theory of rocketry and aerodynamics, but he was prosecuted for being a chinese communist spy and went to jail for over 5 years - but he was eventually released and went back to China and became the "father of Chinese rocketry" - helped developed the infrastructures, schools and technologies of the Long March series rockets and the ballistic missiles, and helped Chinese to eventually became the third country to send men to outer space.

Wen Ho Lee is another one - a nuclear weapon scientist who is prosecuted for being suspected Chinese spy even though there is no evidence of such. He was fired and eventually released and received apology from US president Bill Clinton.
 

broadsword

Brigadier
"China is following the Apollo playbook," says Johnson-Freese at the U.S. Naval College -- in reference to the U.S. manned spaceflight program that put the first man on the moon.

"It wants a high-prestige achievement that allows the Chinese government to say to its people 'Look, this is what the Communist Party has done for you.'"


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Is this not emblematic of Communist haters who view China's program from a political perspective? But even some haters would not go far, but rather go with the view that a country like China, irrespective of its political system, could plot its own course, so to speak, in space exploration.

China bears no grudge over the fact that America's exceptional democracy gave it the means to explore or feels miffed that India could also do so despite being the largest democracy and has been so clean since Modi came to power.
 

escobar

Brigadier
China space news in 2014...

January 2014: A C/C-SiC (carbon-carbon, silicon carbide) exit cone of the nozzle for liquid fueled rocket engines passed a hot test fire lasting 780 seconds. It was the first time China had made a long duration hot test fire for a high temperature composite nozzle

April 2014: A large-scale facility of SAST, the dual-satellite movement simulation system, completed its acceptance review. It is able to simulate two satellites rendez vous, docking, accompanying flight, and in-orbit maintenance.

April 2014: China is developing a new FY-3 satellite equipped with rainfall radar. the requirement specification for the radar satellite was completed.

April 2014: the YF-75D cryogenic engine, to be used on the CZ-5 second stage, completed a review on reliability and technical status for its maiden flight. In early May, it was reported that the engine had completed all development tests and had entered the phase of certification and delivery. So far, the engine has accumulated 32,000 seconds of test firing. At the same
time, the bottom section of the CZ-5 booster, developed by SAST, completed a flight mode static load test

April 2014: the auxiliary propulsion system of CZ-6 made a successful full-system hot test firing

April 2014: the propulsion system of CZ-7’s first-stage made a successful hot test fire. The two YF-100 engines worked stable for 188 seconds. The first stage used in this test has a length of 20.08 meter and mass of 170 tonnes.

April 2014: An interface test for the ground-satellite link of the GF-3 satellite was completed in Sanya, Hainan. GF-3 is a one-metre resolution C-band SAR satellite.

April 2014: A plastic scintillation detector array and a power controller used on the dark matter detection satellite was delivered to a payload sub-system of the satellite

May 2014: China announced that the phase 1 construction of the CORS (Continuous Operational Reference System) for Pakistan has been finished. It includes a processing centre and five reference stations covering Karachi, and became the first CORS system outside of China. It is able to increase positioning accuracy to two centimetres.

May 2014: the first fairing of CZ-7 was completed and will be integrated with the second stage for later testing.

May 2014: the SJ-10 microgravity (recoverable) satellite completed the electrical integration test for its payload system. It included 33 payload support system units from 12 suppliers and 37 ground equipments.

May 2014: the high-resolution cartographic satellite, supposed to be GF-7, completed a review on its requirements and mission objectives

June 2014: the first flight model of the YF-100 engine, probably to be used in the maiden flight of CZ-7, completed a certification test fire. According the engine’s builder AALPT, all liquid oxygen/kerosene engines used on the new generation launch vehicles will have made a certification test fire before delivery

June 2014: the YF-115 staged combustion LOX/kerosene engine made a 1,500-second
long duration test fire, setting a new record for itself. YF-115 will be used on the second stage of CZ-6 and 7.

June 2014: SAST’s large facility, the KM5B thermal vacuum chamber, completed its first whole-satellite test. It is the largest such facility owned by SAST and is able to support large spacecraft, such as the FY-4 weather satellite in development.

June 2014: the large flow single nozzle of the planned 200-tonne class cryogenic engine to be used on the future super-heavy launch vehicle had made a successful hot test

June 2014: Asia’s largest Assembly, Integration and Testing (AIT) Building was topped-out in Tianjin, where China’s new generation launch vehicles and space station modules will be assembled. It is now also Asia’s tallest single-story building. The AIT building is key for the Chinese Space Station (CSS) programme.

June 2014: China’s RLV (reusable launch vehicle) technology had made a breakthrough recently. CALT is working on a fly-back booster using a parafoil. They were building a 1:4 scale model and will make a flight test in the near future.

June 2014: A magnetic focusing Holzer thruster completed a performance test in CAST lasting 1,000 hours. It is planned to be tested in space on a technology verification satellite.

June 2014: China Great Wall (CGWIC) signed a framework agreement with CAST to procure 5 remote sensing satellites from the latter. CGWIC is CASC’s commercial arm and provides commercial space products and services to the international market. All 5 satellites are for international customers. One of them is believed to be Venezuela’s VRSS-2. In April, CAST and the Venezuela customer agreed on the VRSS-2’s camera design, that will be an off-axis TMA (Three Mirror Anastigmat) camera.

June 2014: In Wenchang Space Launch Centre, Hainan, the CZ-7 mobile platform completed its first driving test.

July 2014: the YF-75D expander cycle cryogenic engine, to be used on the second stage of CZ-5, completed a high altitude simulated performance calibration test

July 2014: The newly developed 1,000N kerosene/hydrogen peroxide engine, to be used on the third-stage of CZ-6, made its final highaltitude simulated test firing before its maiden flight. The engine restarted in the test.

July 2014: the Huaijing 1C (HJ-1C) radar satellite was officially delivered to the users, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The satellite was launched on 19 November 2012. It was unusual to spend two years to conduct in-orbit testing. Official media disclosed that a high-power microwave switch on the antenna of the SAR satellite malfunctioned in April 2013 and affected image quality.

July 2014: China and Venezuela signed an agreement on the in-orbit delivery of the VRSS-2 remote sensing satellite. China Great Wall will be the prime contractor responsible for the satellite’s design, manufacture and launch, ground facilities and data processing system, as well as related training and service. The VRSS 2 is scheduled to be launched in July 2017 and has been named “Sucre” after South America’s independence leader Antonio Jose Sucre.

July 2014: Although Hainan Island was hit by the strongest-ever typhoon in its history, construction of the Wenchang Space Launch Centre was not influenced. In mid-September, the CZ-5 and CZ-7 launch platforms assembly was completed. The work took about 9 months

July 2014, the CZ-5 rocket transportation vehicle completed a test with the rocket stage container and the trailer. The vehicle and the container are specifically developed to transport the 5 m-diameter CZ-5 stages by highway. The container has a size of 36.2 m x 6.4 m x 6.6 m and was claimed as the world’s largest transportation container.
 

escobar

Brigadier
August 2014: the YF-115 LOX/kerosene engine, to be used at the second stage of CZ-6, made a 1,200-second long duration hot test firing successfully. The engine used in this test has accumulated 3,600 seconds of test fire time since it was installed at the test bed, which paves the way for its final qualification.

August 2014: the first hot fire test of the CZ-7 second stage propulsion system had a success. It was the last major module of the CZ-7 that made its propulsion test after the booster and the first stage. Also in August, the CZ-7 programme made an important test - the booster separation test. The test was conducted in Tianjin and was a success. The booster has a length of about 27 m and is the longest of the Chinese launchers. Another ground test of CZ-7, the explosion test of the booster oxygen tank, was also made successfully in early August.

August 2014: AAPT made progress in the development of a new type of rocket propellant. An ignition test using ammonia acetylene as propellant was made successfully. It was the first time for China.

September 2014: the 6th Academy (AAPT) conducted an extreme condition test with the
nozzle of the YF-220 cryogenic engine and achieved all objectives.

September 2014: the first CZ-7 launcher has started assembly in CALT. It will be transported to the Hainan launch site for rehearsal

September 2014: CALT has completed the design of a space robotic arm and an assembly test of its joint. The arm has six joints and is able to capture objects in space

September 2014: The payload sub-system of the Shijian 10 (SJ-10) recoverable microgravity satellite has completed electric system testing. CAS reviewed the Space Science Pioneer Programme and approved the flight model development of the Dark Matter Exploration Satellite. The SJ-10 and the Quantum Satellite would also start flight model development by the end of 2014.

The SCES (Smart Communication Experimental Satellite) launched to validate a global LEO communication system similar to Iridium and GlobalStar, based on the McWiLL technology. In in-orbit tests after launch, it achieved a bandwidth capacity of 600 kbps using hand-held terminals. It is planned to launch a 64-satellite constellation by 2020 to cover 100 % of the Earth’s surface. The 130 kg smallsat was jointly developed by Tsinghua University (satellite bus) andBeijing Xinwei Telecom Technologies (payload). During in-orbit tests after launch, it achieved a bandwidth of 600 kbps using hand-held terminals.

The lightning imager is a key payload of the FY-4 new generation geostationary weather satellite. Up to early September 2014, development of the dynamic load test model, the electric model and the qualification model of its camera have all been completed. The FY-4 ground system construction also went smoothly. The satellite is expected to be launched in 2016.

November 2014: the oxygen tank of the CZ-5’s second stage completed a low temperature destructive test. In early December, the YF-77 cryogenic engine made its last planned test in the Institute 101 of AAPT (Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology) in Beijing. Meanwhile in Shanghai, SAST made a successful static-load test of the nose cone for the CZ-5 strapon booster. The nose is in the shape of an oblique cone, which is used for the first time in Chinese launcher
design.

December 2014: the first stage assembly of the CZ-5 was completed for a propulsion system test - one of the new launcher’s most important tests.

A new 25 m diameter antenna of the Xinjiang Observatory was installed as planned. As part of China’s deep-space tracking network, the Xinjiang telescope has been reconstructed since early 2014.

The location of the planned QTT (Qitai Radio Telescope) was selected at 43°36’4”.03 N and 89°40’56”.99 E (the site is at an altitude of 1,760 m, and 46 km away from Qitai County Town). The 110 m diameter QTT will be the world’s largest movable antenna telescope.

October 2014: More than a hundred Chinese rocket engine scientists and experts gathered in Beijing for an academic symposium on the topic of “liquid fueled rocket engine”, organised by the China Space Society. The focus of the symposium was on engines for the super heavy launch vehicle. On 7 December, Lei Fanpei, Chairman of CASC revealed a rough schedule. He told Xinhua that it may take 4-5 years from now to break through fundamental technologies including the overall design, the 460-tonne thrust kerosene engine and 220-tonne thrust cryogenic engine, as well as design and manufacture technologies for the 8.5 m diameter rocket stage. The schedule hints that governmental approval is expected around 2020. He also expects that the super heavy launcher will make its maiden flight around 2030. Fundamental work on the
super heavy launcher has been underway since a few years. A related news in this quarter was that CALT worked together with some Chinese heavy machinery companies to develop aluminium alloy rings whose diameter is larger than 8 metres and that could be used on tanks of the super heavy rockets. According to reports, at least two companies, Paike Forging and Guoguang
Heavy Machinery, completed the forging of the ring. The one completed by Paike, made of 2219 aluminium alloy, has an outer diameter of 8.7 m and inner diameter of 8.3 m. Guoguang owns the world’s largest 19,500-tonne free forging hydraulic press that was used to make the 8.7 m outer diameter ring.

November 2014: Institute 502 of CAST completed a ground demonstration system for in-orbit satellite refueling. CAST had successfully tested the full procedure of satellite refueling using this system. It was a project in parallel with the Tianzhou cargo ship refueling system in the manned space programme.

December 2014: China announced the development of three more oceanic satellites HY-1C/D and HY-2B. Development would start in 2015. The HY-1C/D are ocean colour observation satellites that will replace the HY-1B in extended service, while the HY-2B is an ocean dynamics satellite to replace HY-2. In addition, it was revealed that early studies of a new generation of ocean colour satellites are also underway.

December 2014: CAST completed an environmental test of the DFH-4E bus that is an enhanced model of DFH-4 using electric propulsionwith a maximum mass of 6 tonnes. It was publicly displayed for the first time in the Airshow China 2014 in November. The first comsat using DFH-4E is the ZX-16 (or Ka-band Broadband Multi-media Telecommunication satellite) due for launch
in 2017. Another electric propelled comsat bus, the smaller DFH-3B, is also in final development. In October, the DFH-3B completed an ignition test of electric thrusters integrated with the satellite in vacuum status. The first satellite based on DFH-3B will be the SJ-13 communication satellite, according to a report in early December.

December 2014: Tiangong 2 development has entered its final phase. the Tiangong 2 space laboratory completed payload installation and was delivered for electrical testing. The Tiangong 2 began assembly about one year before and is planned to belaunched in 2016.

December 2014: The Tianzhou cargo transportation vehicle, to be launched to Tiangong 2 for its maiden mission, also made progress. The semi-pressurised model of the cargo ship completed the thermal equilibrium test in the KM6 chamber, lasting 40 days. The semi-pressurised model consists of a pressurised section and an exposed section to carry space components or external payloads. The mass characteristics test of the semi-pressurised model was also reportedly
completed in the same timeframe. It becomes more and more clear that the first Tianzhou ship to be docked with the Tiangong 2 will be a semi-pressurised model.

December 2014: the development of the modular Chinese Space Station sped up. The first major test of the CSS, the static load test on the structure of the Tianhe resource module, was completed successfully.

December 2014: Institute 508 of CAST had completed six air-drop tests of the parafoil used for the fly-back rocket boosters. Precise landing achieved in these tests marked a major breakthrough in China’s reusable launch vehicle development.

December 2014: A new large thermal vacuum chamber was completed in the Aerospace Dongfanghong Development Ltd Shenzhou, a joint venture by CAST, HIT (Harbin Institute of Technology) and Shenzhen City Government to develop small satellites. The new chamber marks that Shenzhou becomes the third city after Beijing and Shanghai to have a facility at such a level.

China has formally started development of a new generation of manned spacecraft. CAST started the study in June 2013. After three months of technical reviews and refining of the design, it was finally approved by the government in October 2014. In December, CAST revealed that they are preparing an air-drop test of a scale model of the new manned capsule, reusing the back-up parachutes of Shenzhou 10. According to information revealed earlier, the new manned spacecraft is similar to Apollo or Orion.
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
Wow, GF-4 will be perfect to provide C4ISR in westpac and to support naval surveillance (namely to support carrier tracking).

Geosynchronous orbit means they can maintain watch over the westpac permanently without having to wait for other satellites to orbit overhead. I'm sure resolution will be steadily improved over the years and newer rockets will mean heavier satellites lofted into orbit as well
 
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