China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
escobar
Brigadier
Expansion of the "500km 35° LEO Constellation" with a launch of 6 new YG-43 Group 2 prototype satellites. A total of 100 satellites were launched into this orbit since 2017.
- 2018 - 2020: 8 XJS prototype sats from CAST, SAST, CAS, HIT
- 2017 - 2021: 30 YG30 from CAS
- 2021 - 2024: 47 YG35/36/39/42 from CAST & SAST
- 2024: 15 YG43 from CAST, SAST, CAS, HIT, MinoSPace, GalaxySpace.
escobar
Brigadier
by78
General
I just stumbled on yet another propellant tank supplier today: .
Like Jianyuan and LightYear, R.Space also focuses on supplying propellant tanks to launch providers. It has just completed the first phase of its production plant located next to the Oriental Spaceport in Yantai, Shandong. The plant now has the capacity for making more than 30 propellant tanks per year. The company is currently focusing on improving production efficiency of stainless steel tanks as well as on R&D of composite tanks.
R.Space has just produced its first cryogenic propellant tank with common-bulkhead design.
by78
General
Some updates on Hainan Commercial Spaceport.
An official confirmation that the first rocket to be launched from launchpad no. 1 will be Long March 8 Y5; the first rocket to be launched from launchpad no. 2 will the maiden flight of Long March 12. No surprises here.
Launch rehearsal for Long March 8 at launchpad no. 1 has been successfully completed. The Hainan Commercial Spaceport is fast approaching its first launches.
by78
General
Ten more partners have signed up for the international lunar research station project: Belgrade Observatory (Serbia), SpaceTalk (Switzerland), Orbital Space (UAE), Space Science Innovation Center (Panama), Bandar Lampung University (Indonesia), National University of Science and Technology of Pakistan, South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, African Space Development Foundation, Senegal, etc.
by78
General
A concise graphic (presented at the 74th IAC) that summarizes upcoming lunar and deep space exploration missions:
- Magpie-2 relay satellite to be launched in early 2024
- Chang'e-6 to be launched in 2024
- Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission to be launched in 2025
- Chang'e-7 to be launched in 2026
- Chang'e-8 to be launched in 2028
- Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission to be launched in 2028
- Tianwen-4 Jupiter probe to be launched in 2030
- China's manned lunar landing to be launched in 2030
Timeline for the Tianwen-3 mars sample return mission has been shifted to the right. It's now expected to be launched around 2030.
The Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission has now been shifted left, back to its original timeline of around 2028.
Writeup with more details on this spacenews article that just came out.
Fresh update per the article:
Last edited:
If China pulls this off it will truly be one of the greatest achievements in spaceflight in recent decades, it's one thing to get cargo to and from the moon or some astroid/comet, but to fly a space craft to another planet in the solar system, landing, gathering samples and still having enough delta v to return to Earth is an insanely complicated set of objective.
The success of this mission is crucial for proving the viability of a manned mission far in the future.