China's Space Program News Thread

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Hmm, will china transfer all launches to weichang? i mean its closer to equador, and doesnt overflown land. Or is there any reason why would china keep its inland launch sites?

WSLC can only launch LM-5/7 and former rockets will not be withdrawn from service any time soon. Else, LM-6/11 will be launched from inland site.

 

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GF-9 is an optical satellite with sub-meter resolution imagery for city planning, land ownership marking, road network planning...

 

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GF-9 launch vid

 

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The inaugural flight of LM-6 rocket with 20 payloads will take place on September 19.
CZ-11 will also be flying on the 25th.

 

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The flight model of GF-4 completed the mechanical test and the satellite-launcher separation test, paving the way for its launch in late 2015.

 

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China's Chang'e-5 lunar probe will achieve a series of new technologies including automatic sampling, ascending without launching tower, unmanned docking and return at high speed, a Chinese astronomer said during the Second Beijing International Forum on Lunar and Deep-Space Exploration.

"The Chang'e-5 will collect samples automatically on the lunar surface and ascend from the moon without a launching tower for the first time. More importantly, the probe will achieve an unmanned docking on the moon orbit. It will be the first docking 400,000 kilometers away from the Earth. The probe will return at high speed - the Second Cosmic Velocity," said Li Chunlai, deputy director of the National Astronomical Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief engineer of the ground application system of China's lunar probe program.

China plans to launch its Chang'e-5 lunar probe around 2017. The lunar probe will be composed of orbiter, return vehicle, lander and ascender. Li said Chang'e-5 will have brand new systems in its launch site, launch rocket and probe.

China will finish the last chapter in its three-step (orbiting, landing and return) moon exploration program after it launches Chang'e-5. The country will make more efforts on analyzing the samples collected from the moon.

"We are doing researching to build a system similar to the environment on the lunar surface. With the system, we can ensure the samples taken from the moon will not be polluted, oxidized and corroded by water," said Li.

 

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The government approved funding for the engineering development of the DFH-5 new generation com-sat bus. It was planned to complete the prototype development in 40 months with at argeted maiden launch in 2018.

 

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The Chang'e-5 will .....ascend from the moon without a launching tower for the first time.

What does it mean?

 

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China is planning to become the first country to land a lunar probe on the far side of the moon, a Chinese lunar probe scientist said.

The mission will be carried out by the Chang'e-4, a backup probe for the Chang'e-3, and is slated to be launched before 2020, said Zou Yongliao, deputy director of the moon exploration department under the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the three-day Second Beijing International Forum on Lunar and Deep-Space Exploration.Based on the data sent back from the Chang-e 3 probe, Chinese scientists managed to make achievements regarding lunar soil, lunar structure and earth plasmasphere.

"We conducted the research on the geological evolution of the landing and patrol areas of the lunar rover based on the analysis on the minerals composition, especially the superficial layer obtained using radar and discovered that there are three layers of the area which we think may have connections with the three volcanic eruptions that happened in the Mare Imbrium," said Zou.

The far side of the moon, or "dark side of the moon" as it is more commonly known, is never visible to Earth because of gravitational forces. According to Zou, the far side of the moon has a clean electromagnetic environment, which provides an ideal field for low frequency radio study for scientists. "If we can place a frequency spectrograph on the far side to conduct the low frequency radio study, we can fill a void," said Zou.

 

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The AIT (Assembly and Integration and Test) centre in Tianjin was put into use when a undisclosed spacecraft moved in. The centre was newly built for china’s space station programme and other large spacecraft. It has some state-of-the-art facilities including the KM8 thermal vacuum chamber and the 140-tonne vibration test stand.