China's Space Program News Thread

[Hendrik_2000]

Whether or not they can have preferentially better coverage for one particular relatively low latitude area of the planet than others can be told by the inclination, altitude and eccentricity of their orbits. Anyone known their orbit attributes?

Henri K did some article on the subject quoting resource from

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Blanket​

Speaking of coverage, let's take a look at what the constellation can do. Given its inclination, it is optimized to observe the environment close to China, in particular the approaches to its Pacific coast. Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, is therefore a very representative area of interest, especially since the recent rearmament efforts of the Republic of China with the United States have heightened tensions in the region.

Based on the 3D models of the satellites that Chinese TV broadcast, they don't appear to carry radar or imaging systems, so they are probably used for electronic intelligence, possibly with a communications function as well. These types of sensors generally need to see their target at an angle of incidence of at least 5 °. Based on this assumption, we can calculate Taipei's coverage over a 24-hour period:



And even simulation using Taipei as a target

 

[weig2000]

A little more info:

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Yaogan series satellites are perceived by outside analysts to be designated for military purposes. The inclination of the Yaogan-30 constellation suggests it may provide frequent revisits for electronic and signals intelligence and optical and radar imaging in areas close to China.

 

[sheogorath]

The War Zone does its thing, talking about the worries of chinese "militarization" of space and no mention of the US exclusion of China on any project with NASA involvement.

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[taxiya]

That's pretty cool. The LEO version of the new crewed spacecraft has a smaller service module and can seat 7 people right? Using a core only 921 means in the future the big first stage will be reusable which should keep cost down. I imagine it would be used for keeping a bigger crew on the space station?

It is 6 max.

With 7 YF-100 in the first stage, 921 is in a good position to be reusable. However I won't expect CNSA to use a second hand first stage for crewed mission for a long time. It could be used for later cargo mission, that will certainly keep the operation cost down.

The design of Tianhe (3 modules) is for 3 crews at a given time, 4 perhaps during the change of crews. IF (a big if right now) Tianhe is expended to 6 modules, then 6 crew in a launch may be needed. Anyway the new spacecraft is prepared for it. For now, the extra room can be used to carry some supply.

 

[taxiya]

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CSS handbook for research resources. It is in Chinese though.

 

[Temstar]

The War Zone does its thing, talking about the worries of chinese "militarization" of space and no mention of the US exclusion of China on any project with NASA involvement.

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US: nooooo militarization of space is bad!
Also US: creates a branch of the military called Space Force

 

[davidau]

The War Zone does its thing, talking about the worries of chinese "militarization" of space and no mention of the US exclusion of China on any project with NASA involvement.

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Pretty biased reporting. Why always demonising China? If it were the US, the West, they are ok and heaping with glory. But not so for China. Reason, US and the West are perpetually critcal of China's scientific achievements and worry that China will overtake them.

 

[escobar]

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Zhang Zhi is the chief designer of the new manned launcher (AKA 921) and former chief designer of CZ-2F.

The (new) near earth orbit manned rocket is derived from the moon rocket. Near earth payload capacity close to 20t.

This seems to indicate that CZ-7 will not be developed to be manned rocket for the new spacecraft as planned before. This is natural because CZ-7's manned mission was planned before the decision of 921. Having the same line of rocket and spacecraft for both near earth and deep space mission is a better choice.

The near earth 921 would be the single stick version with a reduced 2nd stage (one YF-100M instead of two) and no 3rd stage.

An illustration from a 2018 presentation

 

[Gatekeeper]

I know all the focus is on the three astronauts and the mission at the moment. But let's not forget the missions success would not be possible without the important back room staff.

 

[Strangelove]

I know all the focus is on the three astronauts and the mission at the moment. But let's not forget the missions success would not be possible without the important back room staff.

Amen...