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The French built radon detector for the Chang'e-6 mission has been completed and will be shipped to China sometime next month. The instrument weighs about 4.5 kg.
China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
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The French built radon detector for the Chang'e-6 mission has been completed and will be shipped to China sometime next month. The instrument weighs about 4.5 kg.
by78
General
DongfangFour interviews Zhongke/CAS Space at Paris Air Show.
– Zhongke is actively developing the re-usable Lijian-3/Kinetica-3 (LOX/Kerosene fuel). The first few launches will be expendable, but it's expected to be re-usable within two to three years after the first launch.
– Lijan-2/Kinetica-2 has been cancelled because the market demand is predicted to be too small to support its development.
– The company will rely on the YF-102 engine (developed by the 6th academy of CASC) for the time being while it develops its own in-house equivalent (Xuanyuan-2).
– The company is also developing sub-orbital space tourism and aiming for first manned flight in 2028.
– Zhongke is actively developing the re-usable Lijian-3/Kinetica-3 (LOX/Kerosene fuel). The first few launches will be expendable, but it's expected to be re-usable within two to three years after the first launch.
– Lijan-2/Kinetica-2 has been cancelled because the market demand is predicted to be too small to support its development.
– The company will rely on the YF-102 engine (developed by the 6th academy of CASC) for the time being while it develops its own in-house equivalent (Xuanyuan-2).
– The company is also developing sub-orbital space tourism and aiming for first manned flight in 2028.
by78
General
The French built radon detector for the Chang'e-6 mission has been completed and will be shipped to China sometime next month. The instrument weighs about 4.5 kg.
A few more images of the radon detector for the Chang'e-6 mission. Dimensions are 25x27x42cm.
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A new research base for space environmental simulation has been handed over for initial operations. The base is located in the great city of Harbin, and it holds various equipment used to simulate multiple types of space and extraterrestrial environmental factors such as vacuum, space radiation, extreme temperature swings, martian and lunar dust environments, etc. The base is a major piece of infrastructure for verifying environmental compatibility of satellites and other space-based hardware, and it can also be used to carry out experiments that otherwise would need to be conducted in space.
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An update. The prototype design of the Sino-European has passed the final review by a joint team of Chinese and European experts.
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DeepBlue has conducted another whole-system test run of the reusable Thunder-R1 LOX/kerosene engine, with a duration of 30 seconds. The engine will now enter a more intensive test phase focused on multiple ignition and reliability testing in order to prepare for the first orbital VTVL test of the Nebula-1 rocket in the second half of this year.
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The mission patch for the 7th launch of Ceres-1, which will be a sea launch from the Haiyang Spaceport. The patch was the winning design from a public competition.
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An that gives a good overview of the Long March 8 launch vehicle and its variants.
1) Long March 8 basic version:
- Length is 50.3m, takeoff mass is 358t, and takeoff thrust is 480t. Payload capacities to 700km SSO are 5.5 tons (with boosters) and 3 tons (without boosters).
- The basic version can meet the requirements of more than 90% of China's medium- and low-orbit launch missions.
2) Long March 8 improved version (LM-8G):
- LM8-G differs from the basic version by its larger payload fairing and a more powerful final stage. Its increased payload capacity meets the urgent launch needs of China's future communication, navigation, and remote sensing constellations.
- Take-off mass is 371 tons, take-off thrust is 480 tons, and payload capacity to 700km SSO is ≥6400kg.
3) "Three vertical" rapid launch turnaround for Hainan commercial spaceport (4th image):
- LM-8 will considerably improve launch turnaround time (7 to 10 days only), making it suitable for rapid commercial launches.
4) LM-8 will be assembled at a pulse production line, with an annual output of 50 rockets (last image).
According to this , the improved Long March 8 variant will have its maiden flight in June of 2024.
Compared to the basic LM-8, the improved variant will have a larger diameter final stage (increased from 3m to 3.34m) and a larger fairing (increased from 4.2m to 5.2m).
by78
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At the Paris Air Show, the Swiss engineering firm NanoSpace AG signed a cooperation agreement to participate in the International Lunar Research Station. Not sure what the agreement entails, but NanoSpace apparently is a component and engineering solution provider for the European Space Agency and has previously cooperated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
