China's Space Program News Thread

[delft]

Re: Chinese Satellites

There may well be problems with the translation. When talking about nuclear fuel I suppose they mean Pu oxide or U carbide or something similar as well as the material to encapsulate that fuel to provide the energy while I would call the other material the reaction mass. For ion engines this is most often an easily ionized metal.
For low mass vehicles photo-voltaic power might well be adequate to power ion engines. Megawatt class suggests use for manned vehicles travelling about 200 days from Earth orbit to Mars. Very large mass unmanned vehicles to transport the equipment to be used near and on Mars might well use solar sails and travel by way of Lagrange points, taking a very long time. Such trajectories would save on the weight of the solar sails.

 

[Equation]

Re: Chinese Satellites

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Here's a pic of what the Russian space craft might look like.

 

[bladerunner]

Re: Chinese Satellites

I think this is a pipe dream. Megawatt class nuclear engine? Ready by 2017? Good luck with that.

Hmmmm We...eell Isnt this Mars thing a joint Russia Chinese project?. So the Russians design it and China builds it.Respecting all IP rights of course. He He.

That way it might come in on budget and on time. There might even be some money left over for drinks all round.

---------- Post added at 04:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:53 AM ----------

There may well be problems with the translation. When talking about nuclear fuel I suppose they mean Pu oxide or U carbide or something similar as well as the material to encapsulate that fuel to provide the energy while I would call the other material the reaction mass. For ion engines this is most often an easily ionized metal.
For low mass vehicles photo-voltaic power might well be adequate to power ion engines. Megawatt class suggests use for manned vehicles travelling about 200 days from Earth orbit to Mars. Very large mass unmanned vehicles to transport the equipment to be used near and on Mars might well use solar sails and travel by way of Lagrange points, taking a very long time. Such trajectories would save on the weight of the solar sails.

Xenon gas as the propellent?and with a more poweful drive system you should get to Mars quicker......Yes?
.

 

[Lion]

Re: Chinese Satellites

Hmmmm We...eell Isnt this Mars thing a joint Russia Chinese project?. So the Russians design it and China builds it.Respecting all IP rights of course. He He.

.

after russia screw up the mars joint venture probe . i think china might as well go on its own...

 

[delft]

Re: Chinese Satellites

bladerunner wrote:

Xenon gas as the propellent?and with a more poweful drive system you should get to Mars quicker......Yes?

Yes, and yes. Xenon is the one non-metal proposed as propellant. And of course a stronger and heavier and more expensive drive system will get you there quicker. Sending a heavy load of equipment to Mars and landing on the surface among other things a tunneling machine that will provide people with protection against meteorites, cosmic rays and solar storms, following that with a load that includes a landing vehicle and then sending a crew by fast nuclear rocket in say two months would look attractive to me. As I expect that will happen around 2040 or later the travel time might even be shorter. The travellers will be very vulnerable to solar storms as they cannot escape back to Earth as is possible from ISS. We need a very good way of predicting solar weather for the whole time of the journey or accept this risk.

 

[escobar]

Re: Chinese Satellites

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[video=youtube;m9Bvm44cUH0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Bvm44cUH0&feature=player_embedded#at=13[/video]

The manned spacecraft Shenzhou-9 was delivered to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Monday, a spokesman with the country's manned space program said.

The assembly of the Shenzhou-9 and its associate vehicles was complete, but its carrier rocket, the Long March-2F, had not been delivered as it was undergoing tests, the spokesman said.

China will launch the manned Shenzhou-9 spacecraft between June and August this year and strive for a manned space rendezvous and docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module.

Preparations at the Jiuquan launch center are well underway, said the spokesman, adding that the Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, is orbiting without problems, and is capable of docking with Shenzhou-9.

The target module Tiangong-1, blasted off on Sept. 29, 2011, went into long-term operation in space awaiting docking attempts of Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 after completing China's first space docking mission with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in early November.

 

[asif iqbal]

Re: Chinese Satellites

man those Chinese space labs sure look awesome and well equipped!!

 

[escobar]

Re: Chinese Satellites

On March 30 the Brazilian company 'Opto Eletrônica' sent to China the MUX camera that will be used on the CBERS-3 satellite.This camera will be used to environmental monitoring and remote sensing of natural resources. MUX mass is 120 kg and has a 20 meter resolution (CBERS-3 will be orbited at 750 km altitude).

 

[bladerunner]

Re: Chinese Satellites

after russia screw up the mars joint venture probe . i think china might as well go on its own...

Im not so sure.We dont even know whether China has even seriously contemplated this option yet. IMO the advantage a spacecraft with nuclear power plant in tandem with a high efficiency ion drive using xeon gas as a propellent over the currently more conventional system,is greater than what steam power had over sail.
Journeying to Mars and back with bigger payloads is a great advantage.

 

[escobar]

Re: Chinese Satellites

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China has established its first national key lab in fundamental and applied studies of aerospace medicine, which is set to provide significant research support for astronauts' health during space missions, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The ministry signed off the lab as up to standard on Tuesday. Construction of the lab began in September 2009.

Built in the China Astronaut Center of Beijing Aerospace City, the lab is the country's first lab dedicated to aerospace medical research, said Li Yinghui, a senior scientist with the China Manned Space Engineering project.