China's Space Program Thread II

[by78]

An

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that the Einstein probe will be launched in January of 2024 from Xichang.

Final preparations are underway for the launch next month.

High-resolution images from the launch of the Einstein probe, a joint EU-China project. The launch marks the 506th flight of the Long March series.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Do Chinese SOEs only hire the best of the best engineers? does it mean that the private only able to hire the extremely good engineers but not the best of the best ? I just wondering ..... or is there any other consideration for the Chinese SOEs to hire engineers? (e.g ethnicity, gender, age, etc)

LMFAO no. Private firms get the best and brightest everywhere in the world. To be work in Aerospace/Defense you need to have security clearance, and that weeds out a lot of otherwise really bright people.

 

[AndrewS]

Did Starlink just say so or presented some cost breakdown, profit over a time period, what time period would it be? Remember LEO sats have very short life span and need to be replaced regularly. Starlink hasn't enterred the time frame of such regular replacement, how could they tell they are already profitable if the major operational cost hasn't happened yet?

It was just a verbal comment that the Starlink portion of SpaceX has just become profitable.

I did a napkin calculation a few years ago, which suggested that Starlinks would be profitable once fully utilised. That was based on a 5 year lifespan where all the costs have to be recovered before that 5 year period.

 

[taxiya]

Some images of the vacuum insulated cryogenic liquid oxygen storage tanks that will be used by Hainan Commercial Spaceport's propellant fueling system. Each tank is 37 meters long, weighs 180 tons, and has an internal volume of 400 cubic meters. They are designed by Beijing Institute of Space Launch Technology and fabricated by Zhejiang Dachuan Equipment Corporation (浙江大川设备有限公司).

The tank is labeled as being built by CMIC 中集 Zhangjiagang 张家港 Sanctum 圣达因 Special 特种 Equipment which is in Jiangsu province.

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[taxiya]

It was just a verbal comment that the Starlink portion of SpaceX has just become profitable.

That is the tricky part. Without recovering their initial investment (all the sats launched so far, lauch cost, factory building, land acquisition cost and all the R&D cost etc.) there is no profit. However a yearly positive cash flow (income vs. cost within a specific year) is possible even before break-even because you exclude the huge investment before that year. It would be accountant trick or cheating to call it profitable.

I did a napkin calculation a few years ago, which suggested that Starlinks would be profitable once fully utilised. That was based on a 5 year lifespan where all the costs have to be recovered before that 5 year period.

I think SpaceX has not met that projection yet. According to a report from marketing consultant that I read a month ago they need another 2 to 5 years depending how optimistic the estimation is.

 

[AndrewS]

Do you know the speed difference between the equally priced fiber and a starlink dish? Fiber has much higher bandwidth than coper wire which is much higher than satellite link. This is physics, there is no trick to cut the price without cut the performance.

I work in the industry, I read report both from my own company and external marketing consultant company, Satelite internet service is a niche market, in some area the only choice, but it is never going to compete with cable based network. This is not about Starlink, it is about the technology limit.

There is also hard technology limit also in terms of [land area] versus [satellites]

At most, there could be 70K? LEO satellites.
That means each satellite would cover 7000km2 of land area on average. That equates to a spot which is 90km across, which will cover a city and have 10+ million people in many places.

It just isn't feasible for a single satellite to provide even a fraction of the internet bandwidth required.

 

[taxiya]

There is also hard technology limit also in terms of [land area] versus [satellites]

At most, there could be 70K? LEO satellites.
That means each satellite would cover 7000km2 of land area on average. That equates to a spot which is 90km across, which will cover a city and have 10+ million people in many places.

It just isn't feasible for a single satellite to provide even a fraction of the internet bandwidth required.

That's why LEO sat is complementing landbased network serving a specific market sector. Landbased net always serves a much larger portion of user and traffic volume (in bandwidth). LEO sat's future should not be blow out of proportion.

 

[2=GT]

Chang'e-6, first attempt to return lunar samples from the far side, arrives at Wenchang

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1744910040958685376

 

[iantsai]

国家航天局10日消息，2024年1月8日、9日，探月工程四期嫦娥六号任务探测器产品分别搭乘安-124和运-20飞机，抵达海南美兰国际机场，随后通过公路运输方式运送至中国文昌航天发射场。后续按计划进行发射前各项测试准备工作。

嫦娥六号任务将突破月球逆行轨道设计与控制、月背智能采样和月背起飞上升等关键技术，实施月球背面自动采样返回，同时开展着陆区科学探测和国际合作。

目前，发射场设施状态良好，各项准备工作正按计划有序进行，嫦娥六号计划于今年上半年实施发射。

The Chang'E-6 parts were sent to Hainan by an Antonov An-124 and a Y-20 respectively and then transfered to Wenchang Space Launch Site.

 

[by78]

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Beidou-1 satellite navigation project, which was China's first attempt at a global positioning system and one that has been replaced by the present (Beidou-2 Beidou-3) constellation.

EDIT: Thanks for the correction from @antiterror13.