China's Space Program News Thread

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China is facing an entirely new challenge in calculating the orbit and docking of the new combined body of Shenzhou-11 and Tiangong-2.Shenzhou-11 spacecraft is scheduled to be docked with China's second space lab Tiangong-2, after the latter is put into space. This space rendezvous is expected to gather data for the operation of the future space station.

"In order to really verify the docking between Shenzhou-11 and Tiangong-2, we have to raise the orbit 50 kilometers higher than Shenzhou-8, 9 and 10," said Wang Wei, deputy director of the manned space flight department of China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). A distance of 50 kilometers is not long on earth, but in space, it means a new challenge in docking.

"To put in a vivid way, we used to shoot at a fixed target, but now, we have to shoot at a moving target. Only by having a long-time orbit prediction of Tiangong-2 or the space station, is it possible for us to give an accurate calculation of the launching window. During the time when the spacecraft enters the orbit and before docking, it is controlled from the ground. We will control the change of orbit five times before making it find the entry points independently," said Li Jian, deputy director of Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

During the flying time of the combined body of Shenzhou-11 and Tiangong-2, Shenzhou-11 is in a state of parking. It requires Tiangong-2 to control the whole operation, acting as the parent. It does not only carry Shenzhou-11 on the scheduled flight but also carry out scientific experiments. No mistake is allowed in each step.

"Through this space experiment, we can verify the docking technology and pre-verify some other technologies for the space station," said Yang Hong, chief designer of CAST's space station department.

The space station China plans to build will have to dock with a number of spacecraft, including not only manned spacecraft but also cargo spacecraft. The Tiangong-2 combined body will verify the technologies of how to control these objects so that they will work in a harmonious and orderly manner.

 

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TG-2 will be accompanied by a small Banxing-2 satellite for technology demonstrations. BX-2 (Companion Satellite) is a small technology development satellite that will capture images of the new station in orbit.

 

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China on Monday decided to build its first national commercial aerospace industrial base in Wuhan City in Hubei Province to drive the development of the commercial space industry. A special cooperation agreement on building the national aerospace industry base in Wuhan was signed Monday at the opening ceremony of the 2nd China Commercial Aerospace Forum.

The base will have some leading businesses to manufacture space launch vehicles, provide launching service and satellite platform, and manufacture aerospace ground equipment.

"Our country has been developing aerospace technologies for more than 60 years. It is the time now for these technologies to repay society. We need to apply a large number of space technologies and achievements in our national economy and create benefits for our people," said Zhang Di, vice president of the fourth research institute of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.

According to Zhang, the base will focus on developing five key commercial projects which cover all the aspects of the aerospace industry."There is a word called 'aerospace+', which means the aerospace technologies can become a new driver or a new mode of economic growth. We are very confident about this," said Zhang.

 

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The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation released its five commercial aerospace projects involving a total investment of over 100 billion yuan on Monday at the Second China Commercial Aerospace Forum in central China's Wuhan City.

The five projects include building cloud-based networks in the unmanned plane operating zone and the near space where airships operate, building spaceborne narrowband and wideband mobile Internet of Things, and developing space aeroplanes.

"These projects aim to form a grand four-in-one industrial system covering the space, near space, air and the earth, which can make them connected and thus truly realize global coverage, or a kind of wide range coverage," said Liu Shiquan, vice president of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.

Data have shown that the global aerospace industry has been growing by six to seven percent annually over the recent years, and the total output value of the industry reached 360 billion U.S. dollars in 2015. Of these satellite applications and services took 75 percent.

According to Liu, China's aerospace industry will also focus on extending the scope of services and applications of space products."The investment on rockets and satellites is just a small thing. Yet there is a huge room for the system built with the rockets and satellites to serve the national economy, serve our livelihood and even serve every individual," said Liu.

 

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China's second space lab Tiangong-2 consists mainly of two parts, the resources module and the experiment module, according to the chief designer of Tiangong-2. The resources module is an unclosed cylinder, providing power to the whole space lab. The experiment module has a circular entrance, through which the astronauts will get into Tiangong-2 from Shenzhou-11 manned spaceship.

"Tiangong-2 space lab is 10.6 meters long. The diameter of the experiment module is 3.35 meters and the resources module 2.8 meters. Tiangong-2 weighs 8.6 tons. The space lab looks similar to Tiangong-1 in shape but has different equipment inside," said Zhu Zongpeng, chief designer of Tiangong-2.

Compared with Tiangong-1 launched in 2011, Tiangong-2 will make three breakthroughs. First, it will enable two astronauts to live in space for 30 days; second, it will accomplish on-orbit refueling of propellant; third, it will also be involved in experiments on space sciences and the technological feasibility of space station maintenance, added Zhu.

 

[delft]

When the world questions China's quantum satellite invention, someone post this in his comment. I have never seen such an article and here you go:

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OT
I remember finding all of Needham's "Science and Civilisation of Chine" as far as it was then published - the Books I to IV - in my University library nearly half a century ago. I read with much pleasure the volume "Civil Engineering and Nautics", one of the three volumes of Book IV, and planned to read all but soon got discouraged when I understood that one of the following Books was to consist of seven volumes.

 

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An observation station that would track the Tiangong-2 is ready as China's second space lab is scheduled to be put into space at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, northwest China. The station would track the launching of the Tiangong-2 and send out in real time pictures and data to a commanding post for experts to make decisions. With the quick approaching of the date, staffs with the station are occupied with maintaining all equipment in best condition and training their tracking capabilities as they have often tracked the International Space Station

 

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Of the 14 experiments to be conducted by China's Tiangong-2 space lab, one has to double up also as a photographer and cameraman to document the docking of the country's prototype space station and a manned spacecraft. The researcher of micro-satellite innovation institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has offered a lay-people metaphor as Chen Hongyu describes the companion satellite as this photo taking and video taping witness of the docking marriage.

"Some of us would like to describe as marriage in space the docking of Tiangong-2 with our manned spacecraft. There has to be a photographer out there to document this event, hasn't it? The companion satellite released for formation flight is this photographer who records the docking of the two spacecraft," says Chen Hongyu.

According to this researcher, the companion satellite will use a high-resolution full-frame camera with a resolution of 25 million pixels, as against the 1.3 million-pixel camera carried and used by China's Shenzhou-7 spacecraft.

 

[sangye]

9/1, CZ-4B failed to deliver the GF-10.

Wikipedia says it was a CZ-4C not B (also known as CZ-4BII maybe that's why the confusion)

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[tidalwave]

Time to get more aggressive and make landing at the moon instead of just orbiting around the earth.