China's Space Program Thread II

[by78]

An

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on a new launch vehicle being developed by the 805th Institute of CASC. Unfortunately I don't have access to the paper. The rocket has two stages. Diameter is 3.8m. The first stage has four LOX/Kerosene engines.

Does anyone know its possible designation?

 

[taxiya]

An

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on a new launch vehicle being developed by the 805th Institute of CASC. Unfortunately I don't have access to the paper. The rocket has two stages. Diameter is 3.8m. The first stage has four LOX/Kerosene engines.

Does anyone know its possible designation?

There is no designation. It is a medium sized rocket that 8th is working on for some time. The payload 700km SSO 5t means that it is competing with CZ-8 single stick. Being 3.8m diameter means it is aimed to be launched from Hainan only. While CZ-8 is capable to be launched in inland sites.

 

[taxiya]

An

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on a new launch vehicle being developed by the 805th Institute of CASC. Unfortunately I don't have access to the paper. The rocket has two stages. Diameter is 3.8m. The first stage has four LOX/Kerosene engines.

Does anyone know its possible designation?

BTW, you can get the full paper in PDF format by clicking this link (in green) from the link in your post

 

[by78]

On April 17, Changguang Satellite Technology and OrienSpace held a signing ceremony for the "Jilin-1" high-resolution 05 satellite launch project in Beijing. OrienSpace will use its Gravity-1 rocket to launch Changguang's Jilin-1 05 remote-sensing satellite. OrienSpace will also provide Changguang with launch services for its next generation of remote-sensing satellite constellation.

 

[tacoburger]

Kinda depressing that the long march 9's first flight is still around a decade away considering Starship.

 

[Kalec]

Allegedly top academic Tong Qingxi said:

“从北京一号，到现在的北京三号。其分辨率和性能不断提高，北京一号小卫星最高空间分辨率是4米，现在的北京三号空间分辨率已经发展到了0.3米。可以说是我国研制的国际最高水平的民用卫星之一。”

"From Beijing-1, to the current Beijing-3. Its resolution and performance have been continuously improved, the highest spatial resolution of Beijing No. 1 small satellite is 4 meters, and now the spatial resolution of Beijing No. 3 has been developed to 0.3 meters. It can be said to be one of the best international civilian satellites developed by China."

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[CMP]

Kinda depressing that the long march 9's first flight is still around a decade away considering Starship.

Considering starship's what? Rapid unscheduled disassembly? Not to mention the massive damage to the clearly under-specced launch pad. They spin it as a success and you gobble up the lies. This is a massive failure. The only way it could have gone worse is to explode on the launchpad itself or fail to launch at all.

 

[Blitzo]

Considering starship's what? Rapid unscheduled disassembly? Not to mention the massive damage to the clearly under-specced launch pad. They spin it as a success and you gobble up the lies. This is a massive failure. The only way it could have gone worse is to explode on the launchpad itself or fail to launch at all.

The comparison between LM-9 and Starship's first launch yesterday can only really be done in retrospect after Starship's first successful launch actually occurs, and after LM-9's first successful launch actually occurs.

SpaceX approaches the development of their rockets in a way when iteration and failure is part of their process, something which they theoretically are better able to absorb and approach as a private company rather than a government agency. If they have the warchest for it, they can continue to fail multiple times in rapid succession so long as they get closer and closer to success, and if that means they can approach a first successful launch faster than their competitors then in theory that would be money well spent.

After all, no one is going to remember your first dozen consecutive failures if you are able to eventually launch and recover hundreds of rockets per year decades into the future.


Calling the starship launch a failure is too simplistic and calling it a success would also be untrue. At the end of the day, few people expected it to succeed on the first all up launch, but if anything having the bravery to accept failure as part of their development process is arguably one of SpaceX's strengths.

That isn't to say the SpaceX approach is one that government agencies should wholesale adopt, but at the same time I think waiting for everything to be satisfactory on the first launch may also result in some delays that might otherwise be ignored if they could do a half dozen "test launches" prior to approximate closer and closer to a first proper test flight.

 

[Overbom]

Calling the starship launch a failure is too simplistic and calling it a success would also be untrue

Its a success just being able to lift off and hitting max q. These are important milestones for their testing plans.

And you also saw the acrobatics, doing 6 spins lol, of the starship in the end, right? That's also going to be a goldmine of data on how the rocket performed (flight control software) and withstood extreme aerodynamic forces.

Given that this was their first test with a fully assembled Starship rocket, that it even lifted off from the launch pad is a success by itself. From my POV, this was a successful test for all intends and purposes.
SpaceX is doing R&D on its programs with a test fast, fail fast mentality. They are not national space agencies where they spend 10 years on the drawing room, and then they have a perfect test launch. Instead, they prefer doing faster iterations on their R&D activities with more experimental tests.
That's a different philosophy (and arguably more superior if we take into account SpaceX's record)

I will be more blunt than you, people laughing at this Starship test, and dismissing it as a disaster or a massive failure, are coping hard.

 

[Blitzo]

Its a success just being able to lift off and hitting max q. These are important milestones for their testing plans.

And you also saw the acrobatics, doing 6 spins lol, of the starship in the end, right? That's also going to be a goldmine of data on how the rocket performed (flight controlled software) and withstood extreme aerodynamic forces.

Given that this was their first test with a fully assembled Starship rocket, that it even lifted off from the launch pad is a success by itself. From my POV, this was a successful test for all intends and purposes.
SpaceX is doing R&D on its programs with a test fast, fail fast mentality. They are not national space agencies where they spend 10 years on the drawing room, and then they have a perfect test launch. Instead, they prefer doing faster iterations on their R&D activities with more experimental tests.
That's a different philosophy (and arguably more superior if we take into account SpaceX's record)

Yes, I think there's a lot that can be taken away from SpaceX's approach to development.

I unironically believe that it should be normal for space launch companies to factor into their development and accept that the first ten launches of a new rocket should be done within relatively quick succession (like over a period of 3 years or something) and that they will likely result in crashes and failures (or partial successes at best), which would give them much more leeway to accelerate development and get more data to speed things along rather than waiting for all the ducks in a row for a "successful" first maiden flight test.


Formalizing it into development so that it is policy/expectation for failures and crashes to occur may relieve pressure and help re-orient government and funding expectations.

I will be more blunt than you, people laughing at this Starship test, and dismissing it as a disaster or a massive failure, are coping hard.

Well, it may be a reflection of some people not recognizing the way in which SpaceX approaches development of rockets as well.