Also True. Yet Saudi Crown Prince can get away with murder and US would not touch him. Too much money at stake with those Weapons.
Last edited:
China's Space Program News Thread
- Thread starter crazyinsane105
- Start date
- Status
Also True. Yet Saudi Crown Prince can get away with murder and US would not touch him. Too much money at stake with those Weapons.
On track for moon landing.
China's Chang'e-4 probe enters lunar orbit
Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-12 19:33:24|Editor: Liangyu
BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's Chang'e-4 probe decelerated and entered the lunar orbit Wednesday, completing a vital step on its way to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.
After flying about 110 hours from earth, an engine on the probe was ignited when it was 129 km above the surface of the moon, in line with instructions sent from a control center in Beijing at 4:39 p.m., and then the probe slowed and entered an elliptical lunar orbit with the perilune at about 100 km at 4:45 p.m., said CNSA.
The probe, including a lander and a rover, was launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket last Saturday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, opening a new chapter in lunar exploration.
As the rocket was able to send the probe into orbit precisely as planned, the control center only adjusted the probe's orbit once on Sunday and also canceled two pre-planned orbit trimmings before the near-moon deceleration, CNSA said.
Next, the control center will adjust the probe's orbit around the moon and test the communication link between the probe and the relay satellite "Queqiao," which is operating in the halo orbit around the second Lagrangian (L2) point of the earth-moon system.
Afterward, the control center will choose a proper time to land the probe on the far side of the moon, according to CNSA.
China's Chang'e-4 probe enters lunar orbit
Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-12 19:33:24|Editor: Liangyu
BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's Chang'e-4 probe decelerated and entered the lunar orbit Wednesday, completing a vital step on its way to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.
After flying about 110 hours from earth, an engine on the probe was ignited when it was 129 km above the surface of the moon, in line with instructions sent from a control center in Beijing at 4:39 p.m., and then the probe slowed and entered an elliptical lunar orbit with the perilune at about 100 km at 4:45 p.m., said CNSA.
The probe, including a lander and a rover, was launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket last Saturday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, opening a new chapter in lunar exploration.
As the rocket was able to send the probe into orbit precisely as planned, the control center only adjusted the probe's orbit once on Sunday and also canceled two pre-planned orbit trimmings before the near-moon deceleration, CNSA said.
Next, the control center will adjust the probe's orbit around the moon and test the communication link between the probe and the relay satellite "Queqiao," which is operating in the halo orbit around the second Lagrangian (L2) point of the earth-moon system.
Afterward, the control center will choose a proper time to land the probe on the far side of the moon, according to CNSA.
Chang'e-4 lander makes contact with Queqiao relay satellite from lunar orbit
The Earth and Moon imaged by a Saudi camera on the Chinese Longjiang-2/DSLWP-B microsatellite, a part of the Chang'e-4 mission. Harbin Institute of Technology
The Chang'e-4 spacecraft has made contact with the Queqiao relay satellite orbiting beyond the Moon, according to the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), which made the spacecraft.
The , positioned around the gravitationally stable Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2 beyond the Moon, is thus required to relay communications between the Chang'e-4 lander and rover on the lunar far side and terrestrial tracking stations. Chang'e-4 is expected to make its landing attempt in the South Pole-Aitken Basin in early January, with the targeted site understood to be the southern floor of the 186-km-diameter Von Kármán crater. The Von Kármán crater offers a relatively flat area on the far side, which is much more topographically variable than the near side. The landing will still for China's space engineers.
The relay satellite was launched in May and in June at the second Earth-Moon, some 65,000-80,000 kilometres beyond the Moon. Queqiao is equipped with a 4.2 metre diameter parabolic antenna to enable it to relay data between ground stations on the Earth using S-band and the lander and rover using X-band.
The satellite also carries the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer (), which has been developed by Radboud University in Nijmegen and other institutions in the Netherlands. It will attempt to look into the after the lander and roving section of the mission.
The Earth and Moon imaged by a Saudi camera on the Chinese Longjiang-2/DSLWP-B microsatellite, a part of the Chang'e-4 mission. Harbin Institute of Technology
The Chang'e-4 spacecraft has made contact with the Queqiao relay satellite orbiting beyond the Moon, according to the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), which made the spacecraft.
The , positioned around the gravitationally stable Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2 beyond the Moon, is thus required to relay communications between the Chang'e-4 lander and rover on the lunar far side and terrestrial tracking stations. Chang'e-4 is expected to make its landing attempt in the South Pole-Aitken Basin in early January, with the targeted site understood to be the southern floor of the 186-km-diameter Von Kármán crater. The Von Kármán crater offers a relatively flat area on the far side, which is much more topographically variable than the near side. The landing will still for China's space engineers.
The relay satellite was launched in May and in June at the second Earth-Moon, some 65,000-80,000 kilometres beyond the Moon. Queqiao is equipped with a 4.2 metre diameter parabolic antenna to enable it to relay data between ground stations on the Earth using S-band and the lander and rover using X-band.
The satellite also carries the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer (), which has been developed by Radboud University in Nijmegen and other institutions in the Netherlands. It will attempt to look into the after the lander and roving section of the mission.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Now private companies are entering rocket industry
Nation's 1st private rocket factory begins operation
via Taishang
(China Daily) 10:55, December 21, 2018
Construction for LandSpace got underway earlier this month. [Photo provided to China Daily]
The first privately owned carrier rocket factory in China, and the largest of its kind in Asia, recently began operations and is set to build what is expected to be the country's biggest privately designed rocket.
Zhang Changwu, founder and CEO of LandSpace, a rocket-maker in Beijing, said on Thursday that the factory in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, is currently being used to conduct technical tests of the company's newly developed TQ-12 rocket engine.
He said production of the engine and the ZQ 2 liquid-propellant carrier rocket will begin in 2019 at the factory, adding that the ZQ 2, which will be propelled by the TQ-12, is scheduled to carry out its first flight in 2020. Except for the Huzhou facility, all carrier rocket factories in China belong to State-owned space entities such as China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
According to publicly available information, before LandSpace there was only one private rocket-maker with its own production facility in Asia－Japan's Interstellar Technologies. The Japanese company's plant is in Taiki, Hokkaido, and is much smaller than the Huzhou factory.
Zhang said his factory now occupies about 4.7 hectares and will be expanded to 8 hectares. The facility will be able to produce about 15 ZQ 2 rockets and 200 TQ-12 engines starting in 2022, he said.
Zhang Chen, a senior manager at LandSpace, said the reasons behind the company setting up a factory in Huzhou include the fact that the city has been a testing base for State-owned space contractors for a long time. The local government is supportive of private businesses and is eager to upgrade local industries, and it is easy to find component suppliers in neighboring regions.
LandSpace launched its first carrier rocket－the 19-meter, solid-fuel ZQ 1－in late October at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, planning to place a mini-satellite into orbit. The mission failed because of technical malfunctions in flight.
Zhang Changwu said the company now focuses on the development of the ZQ 2, calling it "the largest and most powerful carrier rocket designed and built by a private Chinese rocket company".
The 48.8-m ZQ 2 will have a diameter of 3.35 m, the same as those in most of China's Long March rocket series, and a liftoff weight of 216 metric tons. It will be capable of placing a 1.8-ton payload into sun-synchronous orbit 500 kilometers above the earth or a 4-ton spacecraft into a low-Earth orbit with an altitude of 200 km, LandSpace said.
President Xi Jinping has personally requested that the nation's long-insulated space industry open its doors to private participants and take advantage of their participation to boost sustainable growth.
Meanwhile, several government departments have published policies and guidelines that encourage private enterprises to take part in space-related businesses.
There are nearly 10 private rocket firms in China and all of them were founded over the past three years. Of those, LandSpace, OneSpace and i-Space, all based in Beijing, are the leaders when it comes to research and production capabilities and funding. The three companies have all conducted launch missions.
Nation's 1st private rocket factory begins operation
via Taishang
(China Daily) 10:55, December 21, 2018
Construction for LandSpace got underway earlier this month. [Photo provided to China Daily]
The first privately owned carrier rocket factory in China, and the largest of its kind in Asia, recently began operations and is set to build what is expected to be the country's biggest privately designed rocket.
Zhang Changwu, founder and CEO of LandSpace, a rocket-maker in Beijing, said on Thursday that the factory in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, is currently being used to conduct technical tests of the company's newly developed TQ-12 rocket engine.
He said production of the engine and the ZQ 2 liquid-propellant carrier rocket will begin in 2019 at the factory, adding that the ZQ 2, which will be propelled by the TQ-12, is scheduled to carry out its first flight in 2020. Except for the Huzhou facility, all carrier rocket factories in China belong to State-owned space entities such as China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
According to publicly available information, before LandSpace there was only one private rocket-maker with its own production facility in Asia－Japan's Interstellar Technologies. The Japanese company's plant is in Taiki, Hokkaido, and is much smaller than the Huzhou factory.
Zhang said his factory now occupies about 4.7 hectares and will be expanded to 8 hectares. The facility will be able to produce about 15 ZQ 2 rockets and 200 TQ-12 engines starting in 2022, he said.
Zhang Chen, a senior manager at LandSpace, said the reasons behind the company setting up a factory in Huzhou include the fact that the city has been a testing base for State-owned space contractors for a long time. The local government is supportive of private businesses and is eager to upgrade local industries, and it is easy to find component suppliers in neighboring regions.
LandSpace launched its first carrier rocket－the 19-meter, solid-fuel ZQ 1－in late October at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, planning to place a mini-satellite into orbit. The mission failed because of technical malfunctions in flight.
Zhang Changwu said the company now focuses on the development of the ZQ 2, calling it "the largest and most powerful carrier rocket designed and built by a private Chinese rocket company".
The 48.8-m ZQ 2 will have a diameter of 3.35 m, the same as those in most of China's Long March rocket series, and a liftoff weight of 216 metric tons. It will be capable of placing a 1.8-ton payload into sun-synchronous orbit 500 kilometers above the earth or a 4-ton spacecraft into a low-Earth orbit with an altitude of 200 km, LandSpace said.
President Xi Jinping has personally requested that the nation's long-insulated space industry open its doors to private participants and take advantage of their participation to boost sustainable growth.
Meanwhile, several government departments have published policies and guidelines that encourage private enterprises to take part in space-related businesses.
There are nearly 10 private rocket firms in China and all of them were founded over the past three years. Of those, LandSpace, OneSpace and i-Space, all based in Beijing, are the leaders when it comes to research and production capabilities and funding. The three companies have all conducted launch missions.
Long March-11 launches Hongyun-1
A Long March-11 carrier rocket launched the Hongyun-1 satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China, on 21 December 2018, at 23:51 UTC (22 December, 07:51 local time). Hongyun-1 is the first satellite of the planned Hongyun (虹云, “rainbow cloud”) constellation, which seeks to establish a low-orbit broadband communication satellite system to improve internet connectivity. China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) plans to launch another four experimental Hongyun satellites before the end of 2020 to form a small network for Hongyun’s trial run.
Quickie
Colonel
China's 39th and last launch for the year 2018.
China launches six Yunhai-2 satellites for atmospheric environment research
A Long March-2D rocket carrying six Yunhai-2 satellites and a test communication satellite blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Dec. 29, 2018. The six atmospheric environment research satellites will be used to study atmospheric environment, monitor space environment, prevent and reduce disasters, and conduct scientific experiments. (Xinhua/Hao Wei)
JIUQUAN, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China successfully sent six atmospheric environment research satellites and a test communication satellite into orbit Saturday.
They were launched by a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 4:00 p.m.
The six Yunhai-2 satellites will be used to study atmospheric environment, monitor space environment, prevent and reduce disasters, and conduct scientific experiments.
Last edited:
- Status