China's Space Program Thread II

Hyper

Junior Member
Registered Member
It worth noting of its excellent toughness and strengh and size. PICA-X is brittle and small. Brittle makes its unreliable and demanding more inspections after landing. Small makes more gaps to fill during assemble meaning more weak points and longer assembly time. One the other hand the Chinese new capsule is less than 5m in diameter, so the heat shield is a one piece, way more reliable and reusable.
X-37 uses TUFROC.
 

Taiban

Junior Member
Registered Member
In addition to the improvement of system service capabilities, the 56th Beidou satellite has also carried out some technical status upgrades and improvements to increase the precision point positioning signal landing power and signal broadcast rate, and optimize the precision point positioning through on-orbit test verification The service technology system, on the one hand, further improves the accuracy of precise single-point positioning services, and at the same time shortens the time for positioning solution convergence; on the other hand, it expands from the current two-system enhancement to four-system enhancement.

The 56th Beidou satellite was originally the network backup satellite of Beidou-3. Because the previous three satellites were successfully launched and operated stably in orbit, the satellite was converted into an operational backup satellite. "This is the identity change of the 56th Beidou satellite. In addition, it also undertakes the task of ground test verification and continuous improvement of satellite capabilities in orbit." Wang Dong, deputy commander of Beidou-3, said.

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taxiya

Brigadier
Registered Member
X-37 uses TUFROC.
Here is what I found about TUFROC
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Size

It is used as wing leading edges and nose cap of X-37. The dimensions of tested pieces are

TUFROC systems have been fabricated and tested in the various configurations as shown in the figure. The 5º blunt cone is 6.35 cm thick, and has a 1.27 cm corner radius. The sharp leading edge wedge has a 10º half-angle, is 10.2 cm wide, and has leading edge radii of 0.158 cm and 0.318 cm. The blunt leading edge wedge has a leading edge radius of 5.08 cm and is 20.2 cm wide. These configurations have thermocouples installed at the junction between the cap and insulator, and in the aluminum base-plate behind the insulation. Finally, to evaluate the flight performance of a TUFROC TPS on the wing leading edge of the X- 37, a pylon test article was created consisting of two tiles: a base tile (20.3×20.3 cm square) with a pylon protruding from it, and an upper portion 10.2 cm long. All test articles, except the pylon, contain a threaded aluminum-mounting ring bonded into their bases so that they can be attached to a water-cooled strut.

As can be seen, they are far smaller than tile of PICA-X largest being around 60cm. X-37B's height is 2.9m including the V-tails. The nose cap is in many pieces, presumably the same size as base tile of the pylon (20.3 cm).

Strength
I can not find any data about the strength (compressive and stretch pressure) of TUFROC, if you have anything, please share. Worth to note that China's latest tile is 3 to 6 times stronger than any other counter parts

Density
TUFROC is 0.4g/cm3 which is densier than PICA-X, it is at the level of Tianwen-1.

With the limited information, I can say that TUFROC is in the same league of PICA-X and AVCOAT, while China's latest is far ahead in terms of strength and size.
 

by78

General
High-resolution images of the ChinaSat-26 (Zhongxing-26) launch by a LM-3B rocket. This was the 463rd mission of the Long March series of launch vehicles.

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The more important part is this.
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So Chinasat-26 serves areas surrounding China, MiddleEast, ASEAN & North Pacific. So I'd imagine this includes Central Asia also. Basically the most immediate BRI countries.

Follow on satellites will have 300Gbps and cover BRI routes. That's quite significant. Their goal is to serve the world and provide this service to the world.

for all the aviation fans out there, a major competitor to this is Viasat, which launched Viasat-2 in 2017 which covers all the routes your typical US airlines would fly and give them high speed internet access
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properties of Viasat-2. Note it has 2.6x the capacity of Chinasat-26 and was launched more than 5 years ago.
  • Speed: Up to 100 Mbps
  • Capacity: 260 Gbps
  • Weight of satellite: 6,400kg or 7.4 tons
  • Service launch date: February 2018
Viasat-3 is suppose to launch this year.

Edit: took a look at it a little more. Looks like Viasat and ChinaSat are actually partners for IFC. For example, Sichuan Airlines recently just added Viasat IFC that connects to ChinaSat.
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I guess their main competitor here is Gogo and Intelsat which uses the older Ku band satellite technology.

According to CASC's official Weibo account, on May 23rd, China Satcom successfully demonstrated broadband internet connectivity in Jakarta, Indonedia using Zhongxing-26. During the demonstration process, the portable terminal completed the process from equipment assembly to satellite network connection within 120 seconds.

5月23日,我航所属中国卫通在印度尼西亚首都雅加达利用我国首颗超百Gbps容量的Ka高通量卫星——中星26号,首次在境外实现国际互联网业务应用。业务演示过程中, 0.6米口径高通量卫星国产化自动便携终端,120秒内完成从设备组装到对星入网全过程。利用Ka卫星网络实现Whatsapp、Instagram等国际主流社交软件的高清视频通话,Google、Youtube等网站的流畅访问浏览等功能

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by78

General
A published
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of Mr. Yang Yiqiang (杨毅强), the chief of the private launch provider Zhongke/CAS Space. Zhongke has moved its headquarters to Nansha district of Guangzhou and is looking to establish an extensive R&D and manufacturing base there, including the building of 200-ton and 400-ton engine test benches.

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At the 2023 Greater Bay Area Science Forum, Yang Yiqiang, the first commander-in-chief of the Long March 11 rocket, director of the Space Flight Technology Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chairman of Zhongke, revealed the latest plans of Zhongke in the Greater Bay Area (i.e. Guangzhou/Pearl River Delta) with with Southern + reporters.

Southern +: Zhongke is the first mixed-owner commercial aerospace enterprise in China. What do you think of the current situation of domestic commercial aerospace development?

Yang Yiqiang:
2015 should be the first year of China's commercial aerospace. After 8 years of development, we have gone through the initial "1.0 era" of technology manufacturing and product research and development, and ushered in the "2.0 era". The 2.0 era is dominated by the market and takes scale as the basic feature. At present, the carrying capacity of commercial rockets can reach more than one ton, which can undertake both commercial satellite launch missions and some national missions.

In July 2022, the "Shenjian-1" carrier rocket developed by the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Aerospace Company was successfully launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The rocket is currently the largest solid launch vehicle in China. It has entered the world's advanced solid launch vehicle field in terms of carrying capacity, orbit accuracy, design reliability, cost performance, etc. In early June, we will launch the 26 stars with one arrow.

Nanfang+: In June last year, Zhongke Aerospace officially moved its headquarters to Nansha District, Guangzhou, becoming the first commercial aerospace unicorn enterprise in Guangzhou. What is the current layout of Zhongke Aerospace in the Greater Bay Area?

Yang Yiqiang:
Our layout in the Greater Bay Area is mainly three: the company's headquarters has been moved to Nansha, which is our financing and listing platform in the future; Zhongke Aerospace (Guangzhou) Equipment Industry Co., Ltd. is also established in Nansha District, which will carry out rocket manufacturing and final assembly testing; in addition, we are in Guangzhou Conghua The construction of the research and development, testing, manufacturing and test of liquid engines is under construction, preparing to build a 400-ton thrust power system test platform and a 200-ton thrust engine test platform.

South +: Why choose Nansha and the Greater Bay Area?

Yang Yiqiang:
First of all, the Greater Bay Area has an outlet. In the future, we will launch at sea, especially near the equator. There are location advantages here. At the same time, it also has good port and shipbuilding capabilities.

Secondly, Guangzhou itself has strong industrial strength and outstanding scientific and technological strength. It has well-known universities and scientific research institutions, and is also a gathering place for talents, which provides talent support for us to carry out technology research and development. It turns out that the company's move to the Greater Bay Area is a very correct decision.

Southern +: What impact can the layout of commercial space have on the development of the Greater Bay Area?

Yang Yiqiang:
Aerospace is a comprehensive discipline that can drive the development of materials, software, chips and many other scientific fields. The breakthrough of rocket research and development and the development of the satellite industry can drive the progress of scientific research in related fields in the Greater Bay Area.

In terms of industry, the development of commercial aerospace can promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries and drive the development of emerging industries. In addition, as a technology and talent-intensive industry, commercial aerospace will also drive talent gathering.

Southern +: What suggestions do you have for the development of commercial aerospace industry in Guangzhou and Nansha?

Yang Yiqiang: At present, many regions of the country have successively introduced measures to promote the development of commercial aerospace, and Nansha District has also issued the "Nine Articles to Explore the Sky" (Support Measures for Promoting the Development of Commercial Aerospace Industry in Guangzhou Nansha New Area (Free Trade Zone)). In the future, we hope that Guangzhou will have a clear development goal and positioning, and strive to become the "first pole of China's commercial aerospace" with the advantages of the Greater Bay Area. Guangzhou can clearly propose the construction of "Southern Space Port", gathering rockets, satellite application enterprises and supporting industrial chains, and also contribute to the development of the national space industry.
 

by78

General
Another supplier (LightYear Exploration Technology) for stainless steel propellant tanks.

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LightYear Exploration Technology recently held a seminar on stainless steel propellant tank technology, which was well attended, with experts and representatives from three separates institutes of CASIC, the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, and even the shipbuilder CSIC in attendance.

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by78

General
The Chinese prime minister recently toured Beijing GalaxySpace (a.k.a. Galaxy Aerospace), a private company that develops LEO broadband communications satellites.

Of interest is a presentation slide that shows the company's
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5G broadband satellites (top left), which will be stackable (similar to Starlink). It looks like prototype(s) already exist.


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It's been confirmed! The next-generation 5G broadband satellites developed by Beijing GalaxySpace will be launched sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year (2023).

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Artist's impression of GalaxySpace's stackable 5G communications satellites (accuracy is not guaranteed). The company is currently busy preparing for the launch scheduled for Q3 of this year.

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loviscort

Banned Idiot
Registered Member
Some presentation slides on the heat resistant material used on the
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(à la Sino X-37B). The material has been applied to the leading edge and the landing gear doors of the spacecraft.

The Chinese heat resistant material has a density of between 0.32 and 0.54 grams per cubic centimeter, which falls somewhere between
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and
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, but its thermal conductivity is significantly lower (only 0.08 W/mK) compared to AVCOAT (0.16) and PICA-X (0.3). It's also easier to manufacture and has far superior compressive and tensile strength as well as superior toughness. The material can be fashioned into far larger parts/tiles than foreign competitors.

The third slide states that the reusability of the material is greater than 77%, presumably meaning that more than 77% of heat-resistant/ablative tiles can be reused for another mission. This was demonstrated in August of 2018 when the spacecraft returned to Earth, and out of the 1275 tiles(?), only 286 needed to be replaced.

By the way, the first image below is the very first close-up photo of the mysterious Chinese spaceplane that I have come across.

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Can the admin please delete this? Causing lot of trouble and trouble to the author of the PPT. He is asking to delete it.
 

Overbom

Brigadier
Registered Member
Can the admin please delete this? Causing lot of trouble and trouble to the author of the PPT. He is asking to delete it.
Deleting it would solve nothing. Published on the internet = the people who are seriously looking for this kind of info have already downloaded it 10 times over, and stored its copies offline in different locations.

Good luck to the author, next time he should be more careful.
 

BoraTas

Captain
Registered Member
Deleting it would solve nothing. Published on the internet = the people who are seriously looking for this kind of info have already downloaded it 10 times over, and stored its copies offline in different locations.

Good luck to the author, next time he should be more careful.
And those who hadn't done, did that after seeing the deletion request. The requester should have messaged the mods.
 
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