China's Space Program News Thread

[dingyibvs]

The end of the carrier has long come, though as is the case with all outdated weapons systems, only when they're used and failed in a war will people realize it.

 

[AndrewS]

@antiterror13

I wouldn't put Russia in the same category as China or the USA.

These days, they just don't have the financial capacity or technological capability to build the sort of satellite constellation required for global near real-time imaging.

And if/when satellites and rockets do become that cheap, then everyone else would be able to launch their own satellite constellations. So in peacetime, there would literally be a thousand satellites which would mean continuous video monitoring over all of the earth's surface without any time or location gaps.

 

[antiterror13]

@antiterror13

I wouldn't put Russia in the same category as China or the USA.

These days, they just don't have the financial capacity or technological capability to build the sort of satellite constellation required for global near real-time imaging.

And if/when satellites and rockets do become that cheap, then everyone else would be able to launch their own satellite constellations. So in peacetime, there would literally be a thousand satellites which would mean continuous video monitoring over all of the earth's surface without any time or location gaps.

Thank you ....... welll ...
First : don't underestimate Russia. Russia still has some technologies more advanced than China or even the USA
Second : Even if the Sat and Rocket cheap enough, you will need advanced technology to develop and to keep up (all the time)... I don't believe outside big 5 + India anybody else would have the resources and technologies

 

[AndrewS]

Just look at the size of the Russian economy and the level of military spending it can support.

So it doesn't matter if they have some advanced technologies, because they don't have the money to launch enough satellites. Plus remember that electronics has always been a Russian weak point.

In terms of technology, you have to look at it as the US, China, EU, India in terms of having the financial resources and technology. Brazil/Japan/Russia just aren't there.

And remember that China will be perfectly happy to sell rockets/satellites to anyone who wants them, as it has a lot of strategic benefits. So it should become widespread if/when the tech becomes cheap enough.

 

[Skywatcher]

The most interesting thing about the Jilin-1 is not that shipyard picture, it is this:

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(click to download the 93MB video, totally worth it)

You can compare it to this:

According to Jilin-1's manufacturer Chang Guang Satellite Tech (CGST), their pair of 95kg microsats (launched together with the Jilin-1 main sat) can each shoot 4k full-color video at a ground resolution of 1.13m, it can also track moving subjects such as a plane, as shown in the first video clip.

In comparison, the only other currently available high resolution video-sat are Terra Bella's Skysat-1/2 (a Google subsidiary), as shown in the second video clip. Skysat-1/2 are 100kg microsats that can shoot 1080p monochrome videos at a resolution of 1.1m.

It was also remarked by CGST that they plan to deploy 14 similar sats during 2016, which will allow them to obtain similar visuals anywhere on the planet with a 3-4 hour reaction/refresh time.

By 2020, they plan to deploy 60 of these things so they could see anywhere on the planet with a 30 minute reaction/refresh time.

By 2030, they plan to deploy 138 sats to form an extensive constellation, which will give them 24/7, all-weather, full-spectrum and global observation capability with a staggering 10 minute reaction/refresh time.

I wouldn't be surprised if the 2030 Jilin satellites had a much higher resolution quality.

 

[antiterror13]

I wouldn't be surprised if the 2030 Jilin satellites had a much higher resolution quality.

thats would be as clear as diamond

 

[escobar]

Beidou-2 G7 launched...

 

[escobar]

China's first geosynchronous orbit high-definition (HD) optical imaging satellite, or Gaofen-4, was officially put into operation on Monday after a six-month test run in the orbit. The satellite has passed all tests during its trial operation. The data it collects will be used in disaster prevention and relief, meteorologic forecast, and forest fire surveillance and detection, earthquake forecast, environmental survey and monitoring.

"We have tested the four working modes of the satellite and its time resolution as a key part of the trial operation. The Gaofen-4 is featured with high time resolution. It has made breakthrough in our test of temporal resolution. It has met all the requirements for its tasks, especially the key ones including resolving capability, observation swath and the timeliness of data transmission," said Zhao Wenbo, an official of China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

Equipped with a huge Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) camera, the remote-sensing satellite is able to "see" an oil tanker at sea and send back HD images to the ground command center in Beijing every few seconds.

"Gaofen-4 is like a single-lens reflex camera hanging in space, capable of producing continuous imaging over a single location at any time. An optical imaging system is able to capture a photo every five seconds at its fastest, while an infrared one does so every other second," said Wang Bingbing, deputy director ofthe China Center for Resource Satellite Data and Applications.

"Currently we receive 270 gigabytes of data on a daily average, and produce 100 to 200 standardized images every day. Our customers have been quite satisfied with the responsiveness and imaging quality of Gaofen-4," he added.

Gaofen-4 is used for weather forecast, disaster prevention and relief, and surveillance of geological disasters and forest disasters.

"Previously, it was almost unlikely to get the images of a disaster-affected area in one day; we had to wait until at least a day later. But Gaofen-4 is capable of sending back images hours after a disaster, which is of great help to our emergency monitoring," said Li Suju, deputy director of the Ministry of Civil Affairs' department of remote sensing.

 

[escobar]

China Manned Space Programme: Its Achievements and Future Developments -

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The Progress of Beidou Satellite Navigation System -

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[escobar]

Scientists and meteorologists have established a multi-dimensional meteorological detecting system to guarantee that the Changzheng-7 Carrier Rocket will be successfully launched in the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province in late June.

The launch center, which consists of two multi-directional carrier rocket launch towers, has a number of advantages including low latitude, high launch efficiency and high security compared with the other three centers in Jiuquan, Taiyuan and Xichang. However, the meteorological environment in the region is rather complicated and volatile.

"As Hainan Island is surrounded by water, its weather evolves complicatedly, bringing about bad weather conditions including 'three highness' and 'three strongs'. 'Three highs' refer to high temperatures, high humidity and high salt content, while 'three heaviness' refer to strong typhoons, strong thunderstorms and strong rainstorms. The difficult point of reporting weather in Hainan is that weather systems at sea form so fast that it may affect the zone in one or two hours or even dozens of minutes sometimes," said Guo, senior engineer of the Meteorological Office of the Hainan Wenchang Space Launch Center.

The Changzheng-7 Carrier Rocket uses the method of vertical transportation and assembly, which requires precise weather reports for the five days ahead of the launch, while it will be the first time for the meteorologists to cope with the wind speed of 20 meter per second at a space launch center.

"The rocket has a high requirement for shallow wind during its transport and launch, so it's very important for us to forecast the wind. The other three launch sites are basically located in mid latitude or mid and high latitude, while Hainan is located in low latitude. Moreover, those three are all in inland, while Hainan launching site is in a high sea region. We are the first to start forecasting shallow wind in high sea region. The difficult point is that we lack forecasting experience and precedents and also have few observation materials," said Guo.

Meteorologists has started to prepare for the launch since the initial stage of building the site. They have drew on experience from the Hainan Meteorological Bureau and compared all meteorological records since 2006 in order to better learn meteorological and hydrological conditions in Wenchang and reestablish a set of meteorological analyzing procedure different from that of inland launch sites.

"We have conducted a complete conclusion and analysis on the data of the previous ten years and then completely analyze real-time materials, the systems bringing about severe weather conditions and circulation situations, and concluded some rules and ways to forecast. In view of the forecasts of the recent years, we have basically made clear major elements affecting shallow wind at launch sites," said Guo.