China's Space Program Thread II

[by78]

Another week, another VTVL test. This time, ExPace (a subsidiary of CASIC) successfully conducted a hop test of a test rocket powered by the company's reusable LOX/Methane engine (likely Mingfeng-1). Total flight time was 22 seconds, with 9 seconds of hovering time.

 

[taxiya]

I have a feeling that CZ-8R may be abandoned considering the CASIC is going to LHO/CH4 rocket in the lower payload range and CASC has CZ-10A for higher payload range. The current CZ-8R design that we know of uses 4 YF-100K which is too powerful and expansive, if it ever goes live it may look very different from what we know today, so different that it can't be called CZ-8 any more.

 

[sunnymaxi]

China eyes building its most powerful spectroscopic telescope, the Jiaotong University Spectroscopic Telescope (JUST), at NW China's Lenghu astronomical observation base. Set to start service by 2026, the 4.4-m caliber JUST will have a primary mirror with 18 hexagonal sub-mirrors..

AIMS telescope has used an ultra-narrowband Fourier spectrometer to achieve the expected goal of directly measuring the Zeeman split distance to obtain the intensity of the solar magnetic field in the mid-infrared band, breaking through the bottleneck problem in the measurement of the solar magnetic field in the century-old history, and realizing the change of the solar magnetic field from ' The leap from indirect measurement to direct measurement." Wang Dongguang said, "The Zeeman split distance is proportional to the square of the wavelength. Before the AIMS telescope, the solar magnetic field was mostly observed in the visible light or near-infrared band. Since the split distance is very small, the observation It is difficult for instruments to distinguish. The operating wavelength of the AIMS telescope is 12.3 microns. Under the same magnetic field strength, the Zeeman split distance increases hundreds of times, making 'direct measurement' possible."

The AIMS telescope is the world's first equipment dedicated to mid-infrared solar magnetic field observation, and will reveal the mystery of the sun in the mid-infrared band.

"By eliminating stray light optical design and vacuum refrigeration and other technologies, we have solved the problems faced by infrared solar observations in this band such as high environmental background noise and reduced detector performance." Feng Zhiwei, a senior engineer at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the infrared imaging terminal is made of infrared It consists of three systems: optics, focal plane array detector and vacuum refrigeration. All components including the detector chip are made in China. This terminal system is mainly used for solar monochromatic imaging observations in the 8 to 10 micron band to study the material and energy transfer mechanism during the violent explosion of the sun.

 

[by78]

The Sino-French Space-based Multi-band Astronomical Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) has finished environmental and electromagnetic compatibility testing, as well as vibration and thermal environmental testing. Solar panels have been installed on the satellite. Launch is expected in March 2024.

An update on the Sino-French Space-based Multi-band Astronomical Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) satellite. The assembled satellite has passed expert review. The launch is officially scheduled for June of 2024.

 

[by78]

The latest on China's manned mission to the moon. The mission is planned for 2030. The manned spacecraft and manned lunar lander will be sent separately on two different LM-10 rockets. The manned spacecraft and the lunar lander will rendezvous and dock in lunar orbit. Once docking is complete, taikonauts are to exit from the manned spacecraft and enter the lunar lander. From there, the lander will descend onto the moon.

The lunar lander is designed to land two taikonauts to the lunar surface. It also carries a lunar roving vehicle weighing 200kg, which is capable of carrying two taikonauts at the same time (the last two images below).

By the way, the lunar spacesuit will provide life support for up to eight hours.

Here's a nice graphic to go with my previous description of the flight scheme for the manned lunar mission.

 

[CasualObserver]

For that China needs to offer the whole spectrum of services. Not just launches, but also launch insurance, satellites, etc.

As an interesting, somewhat related example, China launched Turkey's (a NATO ally) Gokturk 2 Earth observation satellite back in 2012. I'd always thought both sides would refrain from something like that because of data leak sensitivity or whatnot but somehow it happened.

 

[siegecrossbow]

As an interesting, somewhat related example, China launched Turkey's (a NATO ally) Gokturk 2 Earth observation satellite back in 2012. I'd always thought both sides would refrain from something like that because of data leak sensitivity or whatnot but somehow it happened.

US sanctions hit in 2013. Anything with any American component can’t be launched by Chinese rockets.

 

[Asug]

Why do you think something like that is a business based on price and quality? Satellite and launch service is 100% NOT market/commercial matter among China and US and Europe.

It is like Russian natrual gas and EU, Huawei/ZTE equipment and US/EU, Lithography/Semiconductor trade. Price/Insurance/tech spec do not matter. US will NEVER allow any country to have China launching a satellite with even just an American screw, even if the launch is free. A NATO country will never have China to launch their satellite even if it is free of American bolts and nuts.

Never say never again... China did it in the 1990's,China is not doing it in the 2020's, who knows what will happen in the 2040's.

 

[by78]

A high-resolution image of Hainan taken by a Gaofen-4 observation satellite on January 18, 2024.

 

[by78]

A satellite laser communication ground station. I'm not sure if this is the same type of ground station used in the recent satellite-to-ground laser communication test that reached a transmission speed of 10Gpbs.