China's Space Program News Thread

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schenkus

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I found this image via twitter, in your opinion is this the product of GF geostationary earth observantion satellite? If the answer is yes, i think that chinese can in many circustances attack us carriers in south china sea with asbm and hypersonic weapons without many "kill chain arguments" in between

I think the resolution is much higher than what the geostationary satellite is supposed to be able to do (50meter resolution for colour image, 400meter for thermal image).
 

davidau

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a new communication satellite...China sent a new communication technology experiment
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into orbit with Long March-3B carrier rocket in SW China's Sichuan late Thursday 17 October

EHGLtc3XUAAw_MY.jpg
 

taxiya

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New fuel tank insulation coating material and application technology for heavy lift launcher (CZ-9) was successfully developed. It can be applied to the fuel tank in vertical posture which is better than horizontal in that it makes the thickness even on all sides.

Unlike SLS's orange color, this material is white.
20988.jpg

20989.jpg


Bit by bit, CZ-9 shape is forming.
 

supercat

Major
SD-1 is just the first in a series of new rockets.

Rocket-maker unveils new blueprint

ChinaRocket, a commercial space wing of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the country's leading rocket-maker, has unveiled its plans to develop a number of carrier rocket models to tap the space launch market.

The company announced on Saturday that its researchers are designing two types of solid-propellant carrier rockets — Smart Dragon 2 and Smart Dragon 3 — and at least one liquid-propellant type, the Flying Dragon 1.

The SD-2 will be 21 meters tall with a diameter of 2 meters, and will have a liftoff weight of 60 metric tons. It will be capable of carrying a 500-kilogram payload to a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers. Flight tests are to begin next year.

The SD-3, with a total length of 31 meters, a diameter of 2.6 meters and a liftoff weight of about 116 tons, will be capable of sending more than 1.5 tons to the same orbit. Its maiden flight is penciled in for 2021.

Tang Yagang, president of ChinaRocket, said at a news conference in Beijing that the company will strive for annual production of up to 10 SD-2s and eight SD-3s to meet demand from the burgeoning commercial space industry.

The SD-1, the first in the series and the youngest member of China's carrier rocket family, made its debut flight in August from northwestern China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, successfully placing three satellites into an orbit about 550 kilometers above Earth.

The mission gave China its fourth brand of carrier rocket alongside China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp's Long March series, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp's Kuaizhou and the SQX, made by the privately owned space startup iSpace in Beijing.

The SD-1 is 19.5 meters tall, has a diameter of 1.2 meters and weighs 23.1 tons. The rocket can place multiple satellites with a combined weight of 200 kg into a sun-synchronous orbit 500 km above the ground. It is China's smallest and lightest carrier rocket.

The SD series is designed to provide reliable, convenient and economic launch services for commercial satellite enterprises to build their networks or test their equipment, Tang said.

The FD-1 will be a medium-lift, liquid-fuel rocket that is reusable. It is currently in the detailed planning phase. Designers expect the rocket to ferry medium-size and large satellites, or several small satellites. The first flight is planned for 2021, he said.

In another development, iSpace, the first private company in China to have fulfilled an orbital mission, said last week that it is designing a reusable rocket that will be the first of its kind in the country to be built by a private enterprise.

The SQX-2 will be 28 meters tall, have a diameter of 3.35 meters and a liftoff weight of about 90 tons. It will be capable of sending a 1.9-ton satellite to a low-Earth orbit or a 1.1-ton payload to a 500-km sun-synchronous orbit.

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Quickie

Colonel
Can't help thinking this has a racism dimension to it. If the issue was political in nature, one would expect the Russians to face the same problems in trying to attend such a conference.

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Spotlight: China's absence from global space conference due to "visa problem" causes concern


138494376_15717882774371n.jpg



Photo taken on Oct. 21, 2019 shows a plenary of the International Astronautical Congress in Washington D.C., the United States. "I miss an important space agency in this panel. Where is China?" Attendees at the plenary of the ongoing weeklong International Astronautical Congress (IAC) here brought the question atop the panel voting system. (Xinhua/Zhou Zhou)



WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- "I miss an important space agency in this panel. Where is China?" Attendees at a plenary of the ongoing weeklong International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Washington brought the question atop the panel voting system and demanded an answer.

The crowd-sourced question popped up after the audience found that Wu Yanhua, vice administrator of China National Space Administration (CNSA) scheduled to speak at the IAC kickoff event on Monday with officials from five other national space agencies, was conspicuously absent.

Pascale Ehrenfreund, the incoming president of International Astronautical Federation (IAF), which is IAC's organizer, attributed Wu's no-show to "time conflict," but some attendees at the meeting hinted at "visa problem."

The difficulty for Chinese scientists in obtaining a U.S. visa has been an issue of concern for a while. At a press conference on Sunday, the IAC organizing committee co-chair Vincent Boles said they started working with the U.S. State Department 18 months ago to ensure timely grant of visas for attendees. But such efforts seemed to be of little avail.

QHYCCD, a telescope maker, is among a small number of Chinese companies that made it to this year's IAC exhibit hall. Bi Tingting, the startup's sales manager, told Xinhua all technicians with her company had failed to get a U.S. visa.

"Also, all applicants from another Chinese space company called Spacety were refused," said Bi. Though still listed on IAC's official guidebook, Spacety's booth is now empty.

China hosted the IAC in 2013 and has always been an active participant in the conference which championed international collaboration in space exploration. At IAC 2018 in Bremen, Germany, China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation and China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp, two rocket-making giants, made quite an impact when they showcased their latest technologies, but they didn't appear at the ongoing Washington conference either.

The United States has for some time been denying visas to, delaying processing visa applications of, revoking long-term visas for, and searching and harassing Chinese scholars, students, entrepreneurs and scientists, Geng Shuang, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told media on Oct. 9.

Observers say that the U.S. authority has increasingly attempted to block or disrupt normal people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States. At the opening ceremony, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence claimed that his country would only "work closely with like-minded, freedom-loving nations, as we lead mankind into the final frontier."

"Why not work with China on the 'international' Gateway (a U.S. moon-orbiting lab to be built) like we have with Russia for decades?" "If international collaboration is dependent on being 'freedom-loving,' who should decide on what level of 'freedom-loving' is sufficient?" Those two questions from the audience were also spotlighted in the voting system on Monday.

Pence's apparent attempt to politicize science collaboration is not welcome even in the United States. About 200 people from the country's astronautical community signed a letter condemning the inclusion of Pence at the opening ceremony. They considered his attendance at odds with the IAC's mission of global collaboration.

Jan Woerner, director general of European Space Agency (ESA), also disagreed with Pence. He told Xinhua that no one should forsake collaboration altogether just on account of potential problems or risks.

"I'm not stopping cooperation with others because they don't think like me. On the contrary, because they don't think like me, so I'm going into cooperation," said Woerner.

His view was echoed by Buzz Aldrin, one of the first two humans to land on the Moon and who received IAF World Space Award in 2019. Aldrin said at a pre-conference seminar on Sunday that he is not a fan of "Gateway," but this program should include China as part of the international collaboration.
 

Jiang ZeminFanboy

Senior Member
Registered Member
I wonder if the rocket like a Long March 9 is still a way to go. It won't be reusable, and there is a monster SpaceX Starship on the way. Costs will go down further.
 

taxiya

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Can't help thinking this has a racism dimension to it. If the issue was political in nature, one would expect the Russians to face the same problems in trying to attend such a conference.

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Spotlight: China's absence from global space conference due to "visa problem" causes concern


138494376_15717882774371n.jpg



Photo taken on Oct. 21, 2019 shows a plenary of the International Astronautical Congress in Washington D.C., the United States. "I miss an important space agency in this panel. Where is China?" Attendees at the plenary of the ongoing weeklong International Astronautical Congress (IAC) here brought the question atop the panel voting system. (Xinhua/Zhou Zhou)



WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- "I miss an important space agency in this panel. Where is China?" Attendees at a plenary of the ongoing weeklong International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Washington brought the question atop the panel voting system and demanded an answer.

The crowd-sourced question popped up after the audience found that Wu Yanhua, vice administrator of China National Space Administration (CNSA) scheduled to speak at the IAC kickoff event on Monday with officials from five other national space agencies, was conspicuously absent.

Pascale Ehrenfreund, the incoming president of International Astronautical Federation (IAF), which is IAC's organizer, attributed Wu's no-show to "time conflict," but some attendees at the meeting hinted at "visa problem."

The difficulty for Chinese scientists in obtaining a U.S. visa has been an issue of concern for a while. At a press conference on Sunday, the IAC organizing committee co-chair Vincent Boles said they started working with the U.S. State Department 18 months ago to ensure timely grant of visas for attendees. But such efforts seemed to be of little avail.

QHYCCD, a telescope maker, is among a small number of Chinese companies that made it to this year's IAC exhibit hall. Bi Tingting, the startup's sales manager, told Xinhua all technicians with her company had failed to get a U.S. visa.

"Also, all applicants from another Chinese space company called Spacety were refused," said Bi. Though still listed on IAC's official guidebook, Spacety's booth is now empty.

China hosted the IAC in 2013 and has always been an active participant in the conference which championed international collaboration in space exploration. At IAC 2018 in Bremen, Germany, China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation and China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp, two rocket-making giants, made quite an impact when they showcased their latest technologies, but they didn't appear at the ongoing Washington conference either.

The United States has for some time been denying visas to, delaying processing visa applications of, revoking long-term visas for, and searching and harassing Chinese scholars, students, entrepreneurs and scientists, Geng Shuang, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told media on Oct. 9.

Observers say that the U.S. authority has increasingly attempted to block or disrupt normal people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States. At the opening ceremony, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence claimed that his country would only "work closely with like-minded, freedom-loving nations, as we lead mankind into the final frontier."

"Why not work with China on the 'international' Gateway (a U.S. moon-orbiting lab to be built) like we have with Russia for decades?" "If international collaboration is dependent on being 'freedom-loving,' who should decide on what level of 'freedom-loving' is sufficient?" Those two questions from the audience were also spotlighted in the voting system on Monday.

Pence's apparent attempt to politicize science collaboration is not welcome even in the United States. About 200 people from the country's astronautical community signed a letter condemning the inclusion of Pence at the opening ceremony. They considered his attendance at odds with the IAC's mission of global collaboration.

Jan Woerner, director general of European Space Agency (ESA), also disagreed with Pence. He told Xinhua that no one should forsake collaboration altogether just on account of potential problems or risks.

"I'm not stopping cooperation with others because they don't think like me. On the contrary, because they don't think like me, so I'm going into cooperation," said Woerner.

His view was echoed by Buzz Aldrin, one of the first two humans to land on the Moon and who received IAF World Space Award in 2019. Aldrin said at a pre-conference seminar on Sunday that he is not a fan of "Gateway," but this program should include China as part of the international collaboration.

I don't think it has anything to to with politics at all (Russia is there), nor racial (Japan is there). It is IMO simply competition motivated to hinder anyone to overtake in a race. China is the only one who has that potential (money and forward speed). One can say this competition is also kind of politics, but certainly not the kind of politic of ideology.

The Russians collaboration with US has a long history stretching back to the 1990s when they are more advanced and capable in producing, launching and operating a space-station long before ISS, but also short of money to keep going. US wanted and needed Russian tech while Russia want a job, that's all. Then STS retired, US has to hitchhike on Russian Soyuz to visit ISS, and the RD180 engines to this day. Most importantly we have Boris Yeltsin who really thought the west would embrace a westernized Russia.
 

taxiya

Brigadier
Registered Member
I wonder if the rocket like a Long March 9 is still a way to go. It won't be reusable, and there is a monster SpaceX Starship on the way. Costs will go down further.
Let's wait and see. I don't believe things like BFR based on my limited study of space rocketry, unless SpaceX' physics is different from the physics I learned.

P.S. Falcons are real deal to give SpaceX credit it deserves.
 

taxiya

Brigadier
Registered Member
About the US denying China's attendance to IAC. To be honest, it is a good thing for China. For one, it removes any wish/hope among some Chinese who always wanted to join the "international family" which is essentially "kissing the back-end". That is a lesson that Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin had made Russia to pay dearly. I don't want China to be so foolish to go that way.

Science does not have border, but Scientist has to have, and the outcome of science certainly has. Collaboration must serve the purpose of the country.
 
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