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.

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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.

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.

 

[ZachL111]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1998575314990219660

According to Ace and other sources I have seen, we will get the NOTAM for the LM-12A by the weekend. The ZQ-3 recovery/landing pad was nearly 100 km further back, compared to the LM-12A, so we will probably see a boost-back burn from the LM-12A. This complicates things, but SAST, if anyone, is likely to succeed on first attempt.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1998587304064295043

And this literally just came across my feed, the Tianlong-3 is now vertical. For those who don't know, the TL-3 is planned to be reusable, at least the first stage, but they're not testing this capability on the maiden launch. They're likely going to verify the rocket's capabilities first, and then possibly on a second or third flight, test reusability, at least that is the working theory.

Many of you will remember the mishap they had during testing last year of the first stage, unintentionally broke free of the test stand, and exploded. Hopefully this first launch does go well, and may they succeed in their mission when it occurs.

 

[ZachL111]

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

84th launch is here. The Lijian-1 Y11 rocket launched 9 payloads, I will list them below as well as nation of origin:

Alianqiu 81 (UAE)
Jilin-1 Gaofen 07B01 (China)
Jilin-1 Gaofen 07C01 (China)
Jilin-1 Gaofen 07D01 (China)
Dongpo-15 (China)
Yuxing-2 09 (China)
Yixian-A (China)
SPNEX (Egypt)
Slippers2 (Nepal)

I will provide more information on payloads if more info comes out, for now enjoy some nice pictures of the launch. 85th launch is right around the corner.

https://imgur.com/a/DARAJBP

Edit: We potentially have a NOTAM for the LM-12A or some other rocket? It's for December 13th. Could be a Long March 2F or something like that too, from Jiuquan. Just going to have to look into it tomorrow.

Edit 2: Regarding this below:

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.

We do have a new NOTAM, it is for December 15th, 4:10 UTC, so it has been confirmed.

 

[Michael90]

Tianlong-3 is now vertical. For those who don't know, the TL-3 is planned to be reusable, at least the first stage, but they're not testing this capability on the maiden launch. They're likely going to verify the rocket's capabilities first, and then possibly on a second or third flight, test reusability, at least that is the working theory.

When do you think Tianlomg 3 will launch ? I thought their timetable had slipped to January.

 

[ZachL111]

When do you think Tianlomg 3 will launch ? I thought their timetable had slipped to January.

Not quite sure to be honest. I've not heard any news of the timetable slipping to next year officially, but it very well could be the case. I don't want to speculate quite too much, I am starting to think it may be next year though.