China's Space Program News Thread

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On 1 November 2016, APT Satellite Company Limited and China Great Wall Industry Corporation entered into a Letter of Intent in relation to the construction and development of global high throughput satellite communication system. The HTS System is planned to consist of a total of four high-throughput broadband geostationary satellites together with their respective terrestrial communication networks.

The total investment amount of the HTS System is approximately RMB 10 billion. The HTS System, after its completion, will provide satellite broadband communication services for both fixed and mobile application over the world. The high throughput broadband satellites will use the multiple spot beams and frequency multplexing technology in Ku or Ka band

The first HTS Broadband Satellite will be named as APSTAR-6D and based on DFH-4E platform with a hybrid propulsion solution. APSTAR-6D is currently the most complex in design and the most advanced in technology in the whole DFH-4 series satellite. Launch in 2019
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As Long March-5 will be blasted off from Wenchang of south China's Hainan Province a series of tests and preps are being conducted in the run-up. Ground technicians are already starting to pump in the propellant - an unprecedented amount of liquid hydrogen fuel - into the rocket in the launching tower.

"We've done a lot of work for storing, transporting, pumping and securing the liquid hydrogen fuel. We're making sure about the safety of the entire facility as well as the people in and around the launching tower," says Gao Xu, a researcher of liquid hydrogen. The launching tower is 91.7 meters tall and 630 meters away from the launching pad for Shenzhen-VII's.

Being China's only launching site close to sea, the Long March-5 launching tower has to be a solid structure of steel and reinforced concrete with anti-corrosive coatings of various designs to fend off both hot and humid elements. Apart from its colossal water tank at the base for sound suppression as well as cooling effect, sprinklers are also installed along both sides of the launching tower to cool it down immediately after blast-off.

"The planned launch mission will test the accuracy and reliability of the design of both the Long March-5 and its launching tower.
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Hu Xudong, the commander of the Long March-5 carrier rocket launch mission, received an interview to CCTV before the launch.

"My job can be summed up in two words: organize and direct. The Long March-5 launch mission has 21 systems, including the control system, measuring system and power system. Each one has plenty of work to do. My job is to make every system work perfectly with the others according to the planned trajectory," Hu told CCTV.

When asked the most challenging part of his job, the commander cited the work to get all complicated systems coordinated. He said, "The most difficult part is that the Long March-5 is a new and complicated rocket. It adopted lots of new technologies, which leads to a big coordination problem. It's hard to make 21 men march without any missteps, not to mention 21 complex systems. But we have our own solutions, with the help of this command system and the detailed rulebook."

The commander added the latest rockets, like the Long March 6, 7 and 8 in the near future, are all derivatives of the Long March-5. Given the shape of the carrier rocket, the commanding team nicknamed it after "Fat 5".

Hu said his colleague and he felt proud in playing roles in China's rocket development. "There are opportunities along with risks. Few people can experience the same things as I do in my post. I feel very lucky to make my contribution to my country's aerospace projects. This is the first time for China to launch such a large carrier rocket. If it goes well, our 'Fat 5' will prove itself, China's aerospace industry will prove itself, and I will feel very proud."
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AlyxMS

AlyxMS

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Interesting.
The maiden flight of Long March 7 is a night launch and seems like for LM5 it will be the same.

Hope this is the last delay.

I went to sleep last 4AM EDT wishing I would get news of a successful launch this morning. And it's still on the launch pad now :(
 
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