China's Space Program News Thread

[Dante80]

That's ok. Expace might have been cutting corners

No, that is not how it works, and Expace is essentially a branch of CASIC now. The LV has had 9 flights without any problems, so this one is certainly not a result of suddenly "cutting corners".

Or at least, you cannot ascertain that from just the failure itself without conducting a root cause analysis, which is coming.

 

[Xizor]

Then Expace needs to fail and be replaced or overhaul their entire structure and practice. Achieving cheaper launches by cutting corners isn't how SpaceX has done it or how it should be done. Expace simply doesn't have the innovative tech yet to make cheaper launches. Hopefully it will along and the competition in this field in China alone is going to help it adjust towards the right track. Having access to cheaper rockets and cutting more corners would be a terribly stupid way of doing things and I hope this isn't the case. Repurposed "surplus" ICBMs may have certain limits in commercial applications even if launch costs are a fraction of would be prices. They're developing new Kuaizhou classes and we'll see how well they do.

That was and still is my position. I don't like the fact that CNSA is concerning itself with things like Exspace but I'm not a decision maker so this is the best one can do - Cheer for them.
Can't sneer. There is no use

 

[SpicySichuan]

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China's launch of new satellite fails
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-12 18:45:59|Editor: huaxia

JIUQUAN, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Optical remote-sensing satellite Jilin-1 Gaofen 02C, which was launched aboard the Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 13:02 p.m. (Beijing time) on Saturday, failed to enter the preset orbit.
Abnormal performance was identified during the rocket's flight, said the launch center.
The cause of the failure is under investigation.

Too many launches in one year... lack of focus on minor (but still important) projects like Kuaizhou rockets. These rockets are key to maintaining a workable satellite network during wartime.

 

[by78]

CZ-11 sea launch is imminent, sponsored by a liquor brand.

Earlier illustrations of the sea launch platform:

 

[by78]

Re-posting more lost images of the Lunar lander and rover.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Today’s CZ-11 launch (ocean platform) is a success.

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[anzha]

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[localizer]

Is there a better way to protect the payload in case of rocket failure?

 

[SciNews]

Long March-11 launches Jilin-1 Gaofen-03-1 from a ship at sea

 

[Temstar]

Long March-11 launches Jilin-1 Gaofen-03-1 from a ship at sea

Long March-11 is a solid fuel launch vehicle based on DF-31. It has been specifically designed as part of China's capability to rapidly replace lost satellites in war time, with the ability to go from storage to launch in under 24 hours. The ability to be launched at sea also means it may be launched in such a way as to avoid interception during boost phase. This launch carried 9 payloads.