China's Space Program Thread II

[ZachL111]

We have the 83rd launch of the year too.

The eighth TJSW satellite this year was launched on a Long March 3B/E, TJSW-22, from Xichang. We also have some interesting information on the rocket and launch itself. The Long March 3A series vehicles are being prepared at the same time now, in parallel. This means more teams working at the capital and launch center in tandem. China has also set a national launch record with three orbital flights within 18 hours. I thought this was the case prior but just got confirmation.

This was the 615th launch of the Long March series and the 83rd launch in 2025.

https://imgur.com/a/j79MJ3M

 

[ZachL111]

Also no news on Shenzhou 21 1st EVA (which was suspected to include a Shenzhou 20 capsule inspection), maybe there was a delay (CME risks?), or maybe it did happen and they're going back to the secrecy of some of the earlier missions (like Shenzhou 15)

Luckily this changed.

The first SZ-21 spacewalk has occurred, where they inspected the damaged areas of the spacecraft, and installed more protective hardware (this is standard).

The spacewalk took over eight hours, concluding around 10:45 UTC, with Wu Fei being now the youngest spacewalker from China at 32 years old. Inspections and photos of the SZ-20 spacecraft were conducted, though this was already done prior by robotics, it is still good to get human eyes on it. The crew attached to the robotic arm in order to inspect the spacecraft from the outside. It is also expected that the SZ-20 will be repaired with materials delivered on the SZ-22, to protect the onboard experiments. This is good news, they have the means to repair it, and the ability likely to send it back once fully repaired.

https://imgur.com/a/1vOomq1

 

[ZachL111]

Some more news, will just group it here since it is miscellaneous stuff.

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The Ceres-2 rocket is possibly going to make its maiden flight December 15th, but as far as I know this cannot be fully verified. The payload should be a few remote sensing satellites, and a few other commercial satellites of various types. Either way, hopefully before the end of the year this flight takes place, they should be verifying the upper stage recovery process too.

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We should also see the launch of the Lijian-1 from Jiuquan in about six hours. There are several payloads, this one highlights the one built by Nepalese university students, a group of nanosats. We will be up to 84 launches attempted at this point, and then 85 (which is pictured below, Long March 12 carrying the 16th group of Guowang satellites) will be a day later.

https://imgur.com/a/mgiKSYo

 

[davidau]

Some more news, will just group it here since it is miscellaneous stuff.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The Ceres-2 rocket is possibly going to make its maiden flight December 15th, but as far as I know this cannot be fully verified. The payload should be a few remote sensing satellites, and a few other commercial satellites of various types. Either way, hopefully before the end of the year this flight takes place, they should be verifying the upper stage recovery process too.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

We should also see the launch of the Lijian-1 from Jiuquan in about six hours. There are several payloads, this one highlights the one built by Nepalese university students, a group of nanosats. We will be up to 84 launches attempted at this point, and then 85 (which is pictured below, Long March 12 carrying the 16th group of Guowang satellites) will be a day later.

https://imgur.com/a/mgiKSYo

LM or CZ?

 

[ZachL111]

LM or CZ?

What do you mean? I use both CZ and LM, they're the same rocket, the CZ-12 and the LM-12 are just the Chang Zheng 12 or the Long March 12, Chang Zheng is the pinyin version of Long March.