China's Space Program Thread II

[by78]

Mission logos for the upcoming Shenzhou-20, Shenzhou-21, and Tianzhou-9 missions.

 

[by78]

High-resolution images from the launch of Siwei Gaojing-1 03 and 04, which was carried out by a Long March 2C. This marks the 561st flight of the Long March series.

Gaojing-1 03 and 04 have beamed back first images. The two satellites have the highest resolution among all commercial remote-sensing satellites in China.

 

[by78]

Zhuque-3 is on track for maiden flight in the second half of this year. The launch vehicle is of stainless steel construction. It has a body diameter of 4.5 meters, a fairing diameter of 5.2 meters, a total length of 76.6 meters, a takeoff mass of 660 tons, and a LEO carrying capacity of 21.3 tons. The 1st stage is designed to be reused no less than 20 times.

An update on Zhuque-3 launch vehicle. Zhang Jinru, VP of LandSpace re-confirmed that the maiden launch of Zhuque-3 will take place in the 2nd half of this year (sometime in Q3). The company also expects to conduct a launch and 1st-stage recovery by the end of this year.

 

[by78]

Lightyear has shown off a 3.8m-diameter propellant tank bottom fabricated using a newly developed bulge forming process.

LightYear has begun applying its newly developed proprietary bulge forming process to the mass production of the company's 3.35-meter-diameter tank bottoms. The image below shows the first such tank bottom to be mass produced using the new process.

 

[by78]

One more private launch provider that I haven't heard of until now. The company is called AstronStone (宇石空间). It's currently developing the AS-1 (AstronStone-1) launch vehicle, a reusable LOX/Methane rocket of stainless steel construction with chopstick recovery. I have no information on its dimensions and performance parameters.

More information on Astronstone's AS-1 launch vehicle has been released by the company:
– Diameter: 4.2m
– Capacity (non-reusable, reusable): >15 tons (to LEO?), >10 tons (to LEO?)
– Launch cost (non-reusable, reusable): 20000RMB or 2800USD per kg, 10000RMB or 1400USD per kg.
– Turnaround cycle for the reusable 1st stage: 10 days.

According to AstronStone, the development of the AS-1 is progressing rapidly. The 2nd stage propellant tank will be finished this month. By the end of this year, the company expects to begin conducting 2nd-stage ignition tests, finish building the 1st stage for the maiden flight, as well as completing ground verification tests of the chopstick recovery system.

Sounds ambitious. We'll see.

 

[Asug]

Does anyone know why the CASC Blue Book has not been released yet?