China's Space Program News Thread

[Tam]

China's roadmap on space for the next ten years.

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It would be ironic as the ISS goes down, the Chinese space station goes up, and it maybe the only space station at the end of the decade.

 

[by78]

The 7500N variable thrust engine used for landing Chang'e 3, 4, and 5 landers on the moon.

 

[Temstar]

The 7500N variable thrust engine used for landing Chang'e 3, 4, and 5 landers on the moon.

Is this engine the same one that will be used on the new manned spacecraft service module (where they will be four engines)?

 

[by78]

Is this engine the same one that will be used on the new manned spacecraft service module (where they will be four engines)?

I don't know.

@taxiya, can you answer this?

 

[Temstar]

Finally found pictures of this meme going around in China:

News paper from 2005, regarding statement from State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense made on February 2004 on China's lunar exploration plan:

• Orbit: within 3 years, a Chinese satellite will begin orbiting the moon, this satellite has been named "Chang'e 1" (Chang'e 1 reached lunar orbit on 2007)
• Land: Within 6 years, Chinese robotic lunar rover will soft land on the moon and begin exploration on the surface (Chang'e 3 and Yutu landed on the moon on 2013)
• Return: by 2020, Chinese robotic spacecraft will return lunar soil samples back to earth

The same paper also has a section on lunar exploration plans by rest of the world:

• Japan - establishment of robotic surface base by 2025
• India - launch of first robotic lunar lander - Chandrayaan-1 by 2008 (achieved, but landing failed)
• Russia - test flight of new lunar lander by summer this year
• USA - landing on by moon by 2015, or no later than 2020. Establish multinational lunar orbit space station.

 

[Temstar]

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Sounds to me like a rehash of the old Galileo GNSS strategy to me.

 

[jimmyjames30x30]

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Sounds to me like a rehash of the old Galileo GNSS strategy to me.

Trust me, we are much more shrewd this time around. Galileo ended up like that because the Chinese leadership and elites back then believed in the whole "Western World honors the spirit of the contract", "Western leader are held accountable by their political systems", and other public intellectual (公知) bullshit. Now, we look at these as a joke.

 

[taxiya]

Is this engine the same one that will be used on the new manned spacecraft service module (where they will be four engines)?

And @by78,

The answer is no. The manned landing module need 8t class deep throttling engine (10:1). 7500N X 4 = 3t, not powerful enough, it is also limited to 5:1 throttling, not deep enough. Note, the actual range is 6.87:1.

There is at least a study since 2016 about 8t (10:1) engine which is Kerosene/LOX closed cycle draw experience from the work of YF-100 (65% throttling).

For comparison, the Apollo decent engine LMDE is 4.5t 10:1. So the Chinese manned lander is twice the mass of Apollo program.

 

[by78]

And @by78,

The answer is no. The manned landing module need 8t class deep throttling engine (10:1). 7500N X 4 = 3t, not powerful enough, it is also limited to 5:1 throttling, not deep enough. Note, the actual range is 6.87:1.

There is at least a study since 2016 about 8t (10:1) engine which is Kerosene/LOX closed cycle draw experience from the work of YF-100 (65% throttling).

For comparison, the Apollo decent engine LMDE is 4.5t 10:1. So the Chinese manned lander is twice the mass of Apollo program.

Thank you for the thorough explanation.

 

[Temstar]

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Due to exceptional precision of all orbital manoeuvres during the mission Chang'e 5's orbiter module has some 200kg of propellent remaining post mission. It is now heading to Sun-Earth L2 point.