China's Space Program News Thread

[voyager1]

LM-8R in 2022 perhaps. They will test something (suborbital launch?) in second half of 2021.
LM-6X is another one but so far no time plan published.

Regarding a starlink like system, I don't think reusability is a necessity considering the ratio of few more rockets with the whole system cost. In the same reasoning that the benefit of re-usability of payload penalty and extra fuel of outweighs the overall cost of rockets. No single technology is the best, everything has to be put into a perspective.

I am very worried with SpaceX Starship, the US Space Force is surely salivating for having such a rocket enter their arsenal. The possibilities are absolutely huge for military purposes and none of these are any good for China.

Anyway this is offtopic so I will stop here, I just mentioned this because I find this development very concerning as the Space Domain will become the next battlespace in the near future

 

[taxiya]

Slight correction the core modules will be joined at their larger aft sections, Central nodes would only be used to connect the lab modules, spacecrafts and EVA

I think what @Kejora posted is right. Here is a diagram from "我国空间站工程总体构想"/"Overview of China Space Station" by China Manned space program office in 2013. Module A is the extended core module, B and C are the labs.


compared with what @Kejora posted

The two core modules are connected head to tail through a central node.

 

[voyager1]

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China will hold discussions on building a defence system against near-Earth asteroids, a senior space agency official said on Saturday, as the country steps up its longer term space ambitions.

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[taxiya]

I am very worried with SpaceX Starship, the US Space Force is surely salivating for having such a rocket enter their arsenal. The possibilities are absolutely huge for military purposes and none of these are any good for China.

Anyway this is offtopic so I will stop here, I just mentioned this because I find this development very concerning as the Space Domain will become the next battlespace in the near future

I am far less concerned. Let's wait till the time when Starship successfully delivers 100t+ payload to LEO and then returns to earth before we revisit this subject. Besides, I am not convinced that one must have a Starship to maintain a weapon system of 100t in LEO. When needed an one-time rocket can launch such system as fast as a Starship. After entering such kind of war with another country, I don't think anyone has a second chance of continue launching again because such scale of war won't last long enough before going nuclear.

 

[by78]

ZeroG Lab's Magpie Constellation 2.0 Plan was announced at the 2020 China Aerospace Congress. The Magpie Constellation is a remote sensing network composed of multiple satellites with an optical resolution of 0.7 meters. After the constellation is fully deployed, it will form a high-resolution earth observation network, capable of 12-hour global coverage and revisits every 30 minutes. The constellation is capable of data fusion, combining data from Magpie-2 optical satellites and Magpie-3 radar satellites. ZeroG plans to launch the first 25 satellites in 2020, reach 132 satellites by early 2025, and complete the 378-satellite network at a later stage.

An update on the Magpie Constellation project. ZeroG Lab plans to launch 22 satellites this year.

 

[by78]

Official presentation on the roadmap for an international lunar base.

There will be three distinct phases for its construction:

- Phase 1 (by 2025): China and Russia will choose an ideal location for the lunar base by exchanging and examining the survey data gathered by China's Chang'e 6 and 7 missions and Russia's Luna 25, 25, and 27 missions.​

- Phase 2 (2026-2030): Coordinate China's Chang'e 8 and Russia's Luna 28 missions and land at the chosen location to begin construction.​

- Phase 3 (2030-2035): Multiple missions to the moon to complete the lunar base.​

 

[by78]

The planned Chang'e-7 and 8 missions will survey the lunar south pole. Chang'e-7 will land on the south pole and study the area's topography, soil composition, and space environment. Chang'e-8 will continue the exploration of the south pole and carry out some "key technical verifications".

 

[by78]

Lunar samples on display in Nanjing to celebrate China Space Day.

 

[Quickie]

An update on the Magpie Constellation project. ZeroG Lab plans to launch 22 satellites this year.

That's a whole lot of satellites. I figure most of them will be on the smaller mass side.

 

[AssassinsMace]

At the end... the kid gets into the shot.