China's Space Program Thread II

[by78]

Long March 8 Y5 has been transferred to launchpad No. 1 of Hainan Commercial Spaceport. She will be the first rocket to be launched from launchpad No. 1.

A peek at the Long March 8 Y5 inside the enclosed launchpad No. 1, showing the payload fairing containing the next batch of Qianfan/SpaceSail satellites to be launched.

 

[Michael90]

A peek at the Long March 8 Y5 inside the enclosed launchpad No. 1, showing the payload fairing containing the next batch of Qianfan/SpaceSail satellites to be launched.

Looks like spacesail is quite ahead of the central government one despite starting a few years later.
Will be interesting to see which private space launch company will be the first to win contract to start launching these megaconstallations.

 

[taxiya]

Looks like spacesail is quite ahead of the central government one despite starting a few years later.
Will be interesting to see which private space launch company will be the first to win contract to start launching these megaconstallations.

That is all wrong. You sounds like repeating this "private" vs. SOE non-sense.

G60 (spacesail) is 2 to 3 years ahead of GW (SatNet) both in terms of founding and launching. G60's owner company Shanghai Hengxin was established in 2018. GW was established in 2021. G60's first 2 test sattelites were launched in November 2019, while GW's first 3 launches were in 2023.

Most importantly, G60 is as much SOE as GW. G60's founding investment company is fully SOE just like GW's founder. Although G60's invester is under the direct control of Shanghai government (State asset administration), it is ultimately owned by the state (central government).

To put things in a good analog, G60 is like the CASC 8th institute located in Shanghai and actting like a miniturized CASC out of Shanghai, GW is like the rest of CASC located in Xi'an and Beijing. It is a setup made decades ago due to political reasons.

So far, both programs are mainly state sponsored, implemented and operated, there is nothing of the "magical more efficient advanced private entrepreneur" in them.

 

[tphuang]

The first SpaceSail satellites are 300 kg each. I wonder if the latter ones will get to below 150 kg. Which will allow them to launch more per launch. It's possible the first ones are more powerful so that they can more quickly establish initial coverage across Asia

 

[Taiban]

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Jilin is now providing 0.5m resolution images on its nation wide app

 

[by78]

Zhongke's Lijian-1 Y6 being transferred to launchpad. The mission is set for December 27th.

 

[by78]

102V

An informational video on the YF-102V, which will be use in a flight for the first time in 2025. It's a 72-ton LOX/Kerosene vacuum engine based on the YF-102 but with extensive use of 3D printed parts. It has a vacuum thrust of 710kN, with a thrust adjustment range of 70-100%

In other Zhongke related news, the company has carried out a long-duration hot test run of the TF-102V and its servo swing system. The test marks the end of the engineering development phase, and the engine is now ready for flight test.

 

[by78]

An image of Mars (near its south pole) taken by the Tianwen-1 orbiter in April of this year.

 

[by78]

Tianhui has successfully completed the second full-system ignition test of its 85-ton LOX/Kerosene Qiaolong-1 (巧龙一号) engine.

Tianhui has successfully completed the last in a series of planned full-system ignition tests of its LOX/Kerosene Qiaolong-1 engine. All performance parameters have met design expectations. The company will now move on to long-duration hot tests.

 

[by78]

A recent satellite image taken of Wenchang launch site, showing the construction progress on the launch infrastructure for the Long March 10 moon rocket.