China's Space Program Thread II

[tankphobia]

High-resolution images from the successful first flight of the Gravity-1 launch vehicle.

That looks like a ton of debris getting launched off the barge into the sky, looks to be fencing on the barge itself, are they worried that it might hit the rocket on the way up?

Anyhow, the ability to launch solid fueled rockets off a barge means you can just stockpile a bunch of them and mass launch when needed, good capability.

 

[by78]

That looks like a ton of debris getting launched off the barge into the sky, looks to be fencing on the barge itself, are they worried that it might hit the rocket on the way up?

Anyhow, the ability to launch solid fueled rockets off a barge means you can just stockpile a bunch of them and mass launch when needed, good capability.

It's improbable for the debris to be ejected in such a way that they are in the path of the ascending rocket. What you're seeing are debris being ejected in both upward and outward direction away from the rocket. The angle from which the images are taken (using telephoto/zoom lenses) gives the illusion that some are directly in the way of the rocket, but in reality they are on a parallel plane.

 

[Franklin]

High-resolution images from the successful first flight of the Gravity-1 launch vehicle.

From these hi-res photo’s you can see how interesting the shape of the head of the rocket is.

 

[by78]

China Manned Space Agency is now

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a low-cost cargo transport system to the Chinese space station from both private and public sector companies.

The requirements are:
- Cargo capacity is ≥1.8 tons.
- Internal volume is ≥7 cubic meters.
- Must be capable of autonomous rendezvous and docking with the Chinese space station and stay in orbit for at least three months.
- Must be capable of controlled atmosphere re-entry.
- Launch prep time ≥30 days.
- Cost per trip ≤120 million RMB

An

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from the Manned Space Office. Of the 10 proposals submitted, those from the Micro-satellite Innovation Institute, the Fifth and Eighth Institutes of CASC, and Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute of AVIC have been selected for detailed design study.

The Micro-satellite Innovation Institute –– whose proposal for a low-cost cargo transport system to the Chinese space station was among the submissions selected for detailed study –– has

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to use its Lijian-2 rocket to launch a verification cargo spacecraft in 2025. This could well refer to the scheduled maiden flight of Lijian-2.

Separately, Zhongke/CAS

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through its Twitter account that Lijian-2 (a.k.a. Kinetica-2) will achieve first-stage + booster reusability by 2028.

 

[Taiban]

China realized its first inter-satellite laser transmission of remote sensing images with ultra-high speed of 100Gbps and high resolution. It was achieved by two independently developed "Jilin-1" satellites operated by Changguang Satellite Technology, showing China's new development in space laser communication technology

 

[by78]

China realized its first inter-satellite laser transmission of remote sensing images with ultra-high speed of 100Gbps and high resolution. It was achieved by two independently developed "Jilin-1" satellites operated by Changguang Satellite Technology, showing China's new development in space laser communication technology


View attachment 123818

This was posted already... literally on the last page.

 

[pipaster]

Tianzhou-6 separated from the space station on 12 Jan.

 

[gpt]

6.5t to LEO, capabilities aren't bad at all
The Short + fat SRBs give it that funny ksp look
it'd actually look alright if they used 'long and thin' solids like the Atlas V ones

 

[by78]

According to this

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, 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).

The 3.35m-diameter final stage (driven by the 10-ton Lox/LH2 YF-75H engine) of the improved Long March 8 has recently completed a full-system test run.

The 3.35-meter-diameter final stage of the improved Long March 8

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.

 

[taxiya]

View attachment 123845

6.5t to LEO, capabilities aren't bad at all
The Short + fat SRBs give it that funny ksp look
it'd actually look alright if they used 'long and thin' solids like the Atlas V ones

View attachment 123844

Once again, there is no place for "look funny, or look nice" in science and technology.

Solid booster's diameter determines burn time, length determins thrust. It's is determined by technical reasons (number of stages, thrust/mass ratio, payload mass etc.) and can not be changed to look "nice".