China's Space Program News Thread

[taxiya]

Yes, I understand that the semi-cryogenic fuel requires different plumbing and cooling schemes, but that did not preclude them from testing out their pad using a proven LM-6 rocket, which uses the same semi-cryogenic fuel as the LM-7.

I missed LM-6 apparently.

But, LM-6 had its maiden flight at Taiyuan, that means the same "new vehicle + new launching rig or pad" thing was done already in Taiyuan, making this time not much more risky than what they have already done. Of course, as you suggested, launching LM-6 (already tested once) in Wenchang would have been even more careful approach for Wenchang site, but won't have any impact to LM-7. I think China is just very confident after the success of LM-6 in Taiyuan so they don't see the New+New combo as a risk.

I suspect that Taiyuan or Jiuquan have everything to test out the new launchers because they are more of the core development center and tightly controlled by the government, while Wenchang is more like a final product which is only equipped to do what it is supposed to do, a pure launch site but much better for the purpose.

 

[Quickie]

It's looking like every other person across the island could get of the house and witness the launch from afar.

 

[escobar]

Chinese scientists will conduct a series of in-orbit experiments after the separation of Long March-7, China's new generation carrier rocket, and Yuanzheng-1A (Expedition-1A), an upper stage aircraft. As scheduled, the separation was carried out at 20:10 on June 25. After that, Yuanzheng-1A, dubbed the "space shuttle bus", will deliver several payloads to different orbits using its own power system.

"We need to monitor various kinds of payloads and aircraft after the orbit injection because there are many fly events, especially a great deal of events that need controlling such as separation, and engine ignition. First we need to ensure they are running normal; secondly we need to conduct precise calculation in the orbit to guarantee the returning capsule can go to the designated area," said Chen Hongmin, director of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

At 21:40, a Cube Satellite named "Aoxiang" (Hovering), which is independently developed by Northwestern Polytechnical University, was separated and sent into orbit, and the experiments on it will be conducted by the university's ground station.

"The payloads on the Cube Satellite are used to test the extra-atmospheric natural polarized modes. It will offer scientific basis for us to use natural polarized light to navigate in the future," said Zhou Min, researcher of Aoxiang.

The Beijing Aerospace Control Center will control several events simultaneously in the following hours including separation, orbit transference, test, and calculation, according to the plan.

"Our space station needs to run in its orbit in the space in the future, so we need to provide some supplies, shuttle between the space and the ground, and to dock with airships. So the successful launch of the Long March-7 rocket laid a good foundation for the construction of space station and space-lab," said Chen.

 

[escobar]

Yuanzheng-1A (Expedition-1A), the upper stage aircraft of China's new generation carrier rocket Long March-7, has completed orbit control for the second time and is running well, according to an orbital expert of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

As scheduled, Yuanzheng-1A, was separated from Long March-7 at 20:10 on June 25. It will deliver several payloads to different orbits for scientists to do experiments of various kinds.

"Based on our monitoring and judgment, the second orbit control was successful and the upper stage aircraft has been sent precisely into orbit. The condition of the entire machine is very good," said Liu Chengjun, the orbital expert.

Liu said that Yuanzheng-1A is now preparing for capsule returning, which is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Scientists has obtained the measured data needed for the returning, said Liu, adding that the flight this time made good preparation for the launch of next-generation's manned spacecraft.

 

[escobar]

The scaled-down version of the re-entry module of the Long March-7 carrier rocket will take a fresh new way to return by swirling slowly at a smaller angle on Sunday afternoon. China on Saturday successfully blasted off its new generation carrier rocket Long March-7 from the Wenchang space launch center in south China's Hainan province.

"The re-entry module of the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft did not return by swirling. It was controlled by lift force and was controllable. There was a control system of the re-entry module to ensure that it targeted at a certain object, which means that it flew towards the aiming point in accordance with the theory of returning back. It controlled the direction. However, this time it is uncontrollable. When it enters the atmospheric layer, it is uncontrollable and it relies on aerodynamic force to fly downward," said Liu Chengjun, assistant to the chief engineer of the Long March-7 rocket.

Such a way of returning is greatly affected by aerodynamic force and the ground tracking telemetry control station can not steadily lock the target, posing challenges to forecasting the landing point of the re-entry module.

The landing point is a square area with each side being 36 centimeters long, and the scope of the landing point is 17 times that of the re-entry module of the Shenzhou spacecraft. Considered the wind effect, the real scope of the returning site is much larger.

"The returning process is about 35 minutes from braking to landing. It is about five to six minutes for the reentry stage, and the time is very tight, and it does not allow any mistake. If there are some operational problems, we may lose the object and it will be very troublesome to find it again," said Liu Chengjun.

Liu said the flight control center has set up an error analyzing model and an aerodynamic model for the re-entry module and the atmospheric reentry module to accurately forecast the landing point.

"The flight control center made lots of trials, simulations and verifications as to building a model of the atmospheric environment, the master of aerodynamic characteristics of the re-entry capsule and the parameter setting of the software concerning trajectory computation," said Li Jian, deputy director of the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center.

"It is to ensure that under the new conditions of returning to the ballistic trajectory, our software can accurately calculate the returning to the ballistic trajectory and guide the search personnel to reach to the search site rapidly," said Li Jian.

 

[escobar]

China's new generation carrier rocket Long March-7 made technological breakthroughs in its flight control system, an expert of Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center said on Thursday.

"The maiden flight of Long March-7 made technological breakthroughs in three aspects. One is multiple-target flight control. Another is the precise measurement and fast calculation of the orbit under the circumstance of multiple orbiting. And the last is the new re-entry mode of the brand-new re-entry module, which posed new requirement for return ballistic calculation and forecast on landing position," said Li Jian, deputy director of Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center.

One of the loads onboard the Long March-7 is Yuanzheng-1A (Expedition-1A), the upper stage aircraft dubbed the "space shuttle bus", which can send one or more payloads to the designated orbits.

The previous satellite systems used to be controlled by the flight control center when they entered the orbits. However, the Yuangzheng-1A has to do orbiting transfer automatically, posing new challenges to the ground flight control staff.

"For example, if you set the engine of the satellite to start at 01:01:01, it will start working precisely from that point. If you want it to work for five second, then it will work for five seconds, in a very accurate way. But the 1A uses the online calculation to determine its position before starting the engine by itself. It is very different from the previous satellites," said Liu Chengjun, assistant chief engineer of Long March-7 Maiden Flight.

Also onboard the Long March-7 is scaled-down multi-purpose re-entry module, an "Aolong-1" space debris clearer, two "Tiange" data relay spacecraft, a CubeSat designed to study Earth's gravitational field and space radiation, and a space refueling device that could be used to resupply satellites and space stations to extend their operating life spans.

The Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center developed a new system that can control four targets at the same time.

"Multiple-target control has its difficulties. The previous rendezvous and docking controlled two targets at most, but the simultaneous control of four targets raised higher requirements for the real-time control and controlling capability of the system," said Li.

 

[escobar]

The scaled-down version of the re-entry module of the Long March-7 carrier rocket landed on Sunday afternoon in a desert in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, close to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

The re-entry module took a fresh new way to return by swirling slowly at a smaller angle.According to related department with the landing site, the upper stage of the rocket and the re-entry module started their third orbit control and entered the return orbit after orbiting the Earth for 13 times.

The landing site started to tracking the re-entry module after it was separated from the upper stage at an altitude of 170 kilometers. The tracking showed that after the re-entry module passed through the atmosphere layer and the blackout zone, the main parachute opened. And then the search and recovery system started working until locating the landing point.

Four parachutes ensured the safe landing of the scaled-down version of the re-entry module of the Long March-7 carrier rocket on Sunday afternoon. By comparison, the Shenzhou spacecraft only used one parachute for its landing.

The four parachutes of the re-entry capsule will open one by one to slow down the speed of the capsule and ensure its safe landing, according to Lei Jiangli, chief designer of the landing system for the multipurpose re-entry capsule from China Aerospace and Technology Corporation.

Technically the most sophisticated parachute of the four is the first one, which is called supersonic speed stabilizing parachute and its main function is to stabilize the orientation of the capsule.

"The re-entry capsule is like a upside-down cup in the shape of cone. We added the stabilizing parachute as the re-entry capsule's smaller end may move ahead during the landing process and this position is detrimental to the main parachute's function. Therefore, the stabilizing parachute will adjust the capsule to a better position to facilitate the functioning of the parachuting system," said Lei.

The module returned at high speeds and generated huge amount of heat due to the air drag (friction between the module and the air). So the parachutes' strength and thermal endurance need to be strong enough to help keep the module in a stable position.

"We have developed special materials for the capsule this time to enable it to endure high temperature of over 300 degrees Celsius. The parachutes will produce about two tons of resistance, equivalent to the weight of an off-road vehicle, to stabilize the module's position," said Lei.

The area of the stabilizing parachute is only two square meters as there are many holes in it, facilitating its ventilation and stabilization. The parachute, specially made for the re-entry capsule, is highly reliable in terms of its technique and structure design, he said.

 

[escobar]

The scaled-down re-entry capsule of multipurpose spacecraft is the most eye-catching payload carried by the Long March-7 rocket in its maiden flight.The cone-shaped module, with a diameter of 2.6 meters and weighing about 2,600 kilograms, is "designed to test the aerodynamic designs of China's upcoming multi-purpose spacecraft," said Yang Lei, chief designer of the reentry module with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Some 20 hours after the Long March-7 launch, the module landed on Sunday afternoon in a desert in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, close to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The mission marks a breakthrough for China's space transport and has laid a solid foundation for future moon and Mars exploration as well as orbital transfer and space debris clearing, Yang said

"In the future, LM-7 will not only be the main carrier for low-orbit missions such as the Shenzhou spacecraft, but also be able to facilitate farther manned missions to the moon and Mars," he added. Data collected from the re-entry experiment will help with future research on a new generation of manned spacecraft.

 

[taxiya]

The satellite refueling device is interesting. I remember someone here talked about it or maybe somewhere else. But anyways, it is an interesting idea. That will be very economical for operating satellites.

 

[antiterror13]

The satellite refueling device is interesting. I remember someone here talked about it or maybe somewhere else. But anyways, it is an interesting idea. That will be very economical for operating satellites.

Wondering who will get done first ..... I'd bet China would do it first ...or probbaly Japan

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