CNSA news, Updates and Discussions

[skywatcher]

A nice documentary of YF100 LOX/RP-1 engine. Stories behind the scene

 

[skywatcher]

A Chinese Long March 11 rocket launched two satellites on 30 May 2020.
It is the 332 flight of Long March series.

 

[skywatcher]

A Chinese Long March 2D rocket launched a Gaofen-9-02 Earth observation satellite and a Hede 4 satellite on 31 May 2020. It is the 333 flight of Long March series.

Coming up next:
A Chinese Long March 3B rocket will launch a Beidou-3 G3 satellite for the country’s Beidou Navigation System(BDS). on 14 June 2020.

 

[skywatcher]

China outlines intense space station launch schedule, new astronaut selection

China is preparing to carry out 11 missions in two years to construct a space station and will soon select a new batch of astronauts for the project.

spacenews.com

HELSINKI — China is preparing to carry out 11 missions in two years to construct a space station and will soon select a new batch of astronauts for the project.

The first module for the Chinese space station will launch next year, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program, on the sidelines of a political conference in Beijing Tuesday.

Launch of the Tianhe core module on a Long March 5B could take place at Wenchang in early 2021. This will be followed by a crewed Shenzhou flight, from Jiuquan, and a Tianzhou cargo mission. The first of two experiment modules will then launch for docking with Tianhe.

In total 11 launches will be conducted to complete the construction of the space station by around 2023, Zhou said (Chinese). These will be the launch of the core and two experiment modules, as well as four crewed spacecraft and four cargo spacecraft.

The intensive launch plan was revealed following the successful test flight of the Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket May 5. The missions will be conducted using Long March 5B, Long March 2F and Long March 7 launch vehicles.

China will launch its Tianwen-1 Mars mission in July and Chang’e-5 lunar sample return in the fourth quarter before proceeding to launch the space station core module.

The three-module, 66-metric-ton space station will host three astronauts for six month rotations. Planned experiments include international projects in the areas of astronomy, space medicine, space life science, biotechnology, microgravity fluid physics, microgravity combustion and space technologies.

The outpost will orbit at between 340-450 kilometers for at least 10 years. Orbital inclination will be around 43 degrees to allow crewed launches to the station from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert. The station could potentially be expanded to six modules, using apparent backup modules.

A co-orbiting two-metre-aperture space telescope will also be launched following completion of the basic station configuration. The ‘Xuntian’ optical module will be able to dock with the space station for maintenance and repairs.

“Its resolution ratio will be equivalent to the well-known Hubble telescope, but its field angle will be 300 times larger than the Hubble telescope. With it, we can finish the survey of large areas in space in 10 years,” said Zhou earlier this month.

New astronaut selection in July
A third batch of astronauts will be selected in July, astronaut Wang Yaping told press May 24 (Chinese).

Up to 18 new astronauts, including men and women, will be drawn from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and, for the first time, civilians with science and engineering backgrounds, according to previous announcements. The latter are expected to bring expertise and efficiency to science tasks.

Wang in 2013 became China’s second woman astronaut in space. The Shenzhou 10 mission veteran said she is looking forward to receiving new teammates and assisting their training.

The new selection round follows two previous selections in the 1990s and 2010. The current astronauts have been undergoing neutral buoyancy training in preparation for space station missions and extra vehicular activity.

Opening of a new round of astronaut selection was first announced in 2017. However, the failure of the second Long March 5 in July that year postponed the space station project.

The Long March 5B designed to launch station modules had a successful first flight May 5. This followed the requisite December return-to-flight of the Long March 5, which was grounded for more than 900 days.

The Long March 5B inaugural flight tested a variant of a new-generation crew spacecraft. The low Earth orbit variant will be capable of ferrying six astronauts, or three astronauts and 500 kilograms of cargo, to the space station.

The partially reusable craft could eventually replace the smaller Shenzhou as the main means of transport to the space station.

China outlines intense space station launch schedule, new astronaut selection

China is preparing to carry out 11 missions in two years to construct a space station and will soon select a new batch of astronauts for the project.

spacenews.com

 

[skywatcher]

low key startup Galactic Energy Ceres-1 rocket ground fairing separation test on 29 May 2020.
What are those puffy bags? hmm....

Ceres-1 rocket is expect to attempt its first orbital launch in Sep 2020. Delayed from Mar.

gif

https://wx3.sinaimg.cn/large/00686eaKgy1gfew8jv5yxg30io0ak4r1.gif

 

[skywatcher]

low key startup Galactic Energy Ceres-1 rocket ground fairing separation test on 29 May 2020.
What are those puffy bags? hmm....

Ceres-1 rocket is expect to attempt its first orbital launch in Sep 2020. Delayed from Mar.

gif

https://wx3.sinaimg.cn/large/00686eaKgy1gfew8jv5yxg30io0ak4r1.gif

I got it. the bags are cushions...flavour of 2 year old startup....

 

[skywatcher]

Young Chinese startup Deep Blue Aerospace raises $14 million in Pre Series A funding

深蓝航天完成Pre-A轮逾亿元人民币融资 | 航天爱好者网

www.spaceflightfans.cn

(June 2020) — Chinese private space launch firm Deep Blue Aerospace has raised ￥100 million ($14 million) for the development and launch of its Nebula-1 rocket.

The round was led by Central Huijin Capital followed by Captain Group and Jiayi Fund. The funds will be used for the first launch of the Nebula-1 liquid rocket in 2021. Deep Blue Aerospace was established in 2017.


small LOX/RP-1 feuled liquid rocket Nebula-1

10 ton thrust LOX/RP-1 engine used on Nebula-1

深蓝航天完成Pre-A轮逾亿元人民币融资 | 航天爱好者网

www.spaceflightfans.cn

 

[skywatcher]

Update: Landspace completed its third 200s engine test on 13 May 2020.
Zhuque-2 is a medium lift LOX/LCH4 rocket with a payload capacity of 4 tons to LEO. It's scheduled for maiden flight in 2021.
As China's largest private launch firm, Landspace has raised over 1 billion Yuan(143 million USD) since its founding in June 2015.

Update: Landspace 10 ton thrust methalox engine TQ-11 completed 2,000s test on 5 June 2020. The longest ever single hot test of methalox engine on a domestic level.

The 80 ton thrust TQ-12 and 10 ton thrust TQ-11 methalox engines will be used on the liquid rocket Zhuque-2 scheduled for maiden flight in early 2021.

 

[skywatcher]

Update: Landspace 10 ton thrust methalox engine TQ-11 completed 2,000s test on 5 June 2020. The longest ever single hot test of methalox engine on a domestic level.

The 80 ton thrust TQ-12 and 10 ton thrust TQ-11 methalox engines will be used on the liquid rocket Zhuque-2 scheduled for maiden flight in early 2021.

For more information about Landspace, iSpace, Galactic Energy and Deep Blue Aerospace, read

Chinese private launch firms advance with methane engines, launch preparations and new funding

A number of Chinese private launch firms for the burgeoning commercial space sector have reported progress in efforts to develop a range of launch vehicles.

spacenews.com

Interesting comment section as always...

 

[skywatcher]

Update: China's iSpace 15 ton thrust level methalox engine JD-1 completed a 500 seconds secondary start test on 6 June 2020. It's the fourth engine hot fire test made by ispace in one month.

 

[skywatcher]

Update: China's iSpace 15 ton thrust level methalox engine JD-1 completed a 500 seconds secondary start test on 6 June 2020. It's the fourth engine hot fire test made by ispace in one month.

According to iSpace CFO, iSpace is currently in Series B round funding. Its cumulative financing surpassed 800 million Yuan(114 millon USD) by the end of 2019.

 

[skywatcher]

A Long March 2D rocket launched a Gaofen-9-02 Earth observation satellite and a Hede 4 satellite on 31 May 2020. It is the 333 flight of Long March series.

A Long March 2C rocket launched a Haiyang-1D ocean observation satellite on 11 June 2020.
It is the 334 flight of Long March series.

for more information about Chinese launch schedule, visit
www.spaceflightfans.cn

 

[skywatcher]

Video: Landspace 10 ton TQ-11 methalox engine 2,000 seconds engine test

 

[skywatcher]

China set to complete Beidou network rivalling GPS in global navigation

The Chinese Beidou navigation network will be complete this month when its final satellite goes into orbit, giving China greater independence from U.S.-owned GPS and heating up competition in a sector long dominated by the United States.

www.reuters.com

China set to complete Beidou global network this month

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese Beidou navigation network will be complete this month when its final satellite goes into orbit, giving China greater independence from U.S.-owned GPS and heating up competition in a sector long dominated by the United States.

The idea to develop Beidou, or the Big Dipper in Chinese, took shape in the 1990s as the military sought to reduce reliance on the Global Positioning System (GPS) run by the U.S. Air Force.

When the first Beidou satellites were launched in 2000, coverage was limited to China. As use of mobile devices expanded, China in 2003 tried to join the Galileo satellite navigation project proposed by the European Union but later pulled out to focus on Beidou.

In the age of the iPhone, the second generation of Beidou satellites went operational in 2012, covering the Asia-Pacific.

China began deploying the third generation of satellites aimed at global coverage in 2015.

The 35th and final Beidou-3 satellite will be launched this month, meaning Beidou has more satellites in its system than GPS’s 31, and more than Galileo and Russia’s GLONASS.

With estimated investment of $10 billion, Beidou keeps the communications network of the Chinese military secure, avoiding the risk of disruption to GPS in the extreme event of conflict.

Weapons targeting and guidance also improves. When complete, Beidou’s location services are accurate down to 10 cm in the Asia-Pacific, compared with GPS’s 30-cm range.

“Beidou was obviously designed a few decades after GPS, so it has had the benefit of learning from the GPS experience,” said Andrew Dempster, director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research.

“It has some signals that have higher bandwidth, giving better accuracy. It has fewer orbit planes for the satellites, making constellation maintenance easier.”

SPACE SILK ROAD

Beidou-related services such as port traffic monitoring and disaster mitigation have been exported to about 120 countries, state media reported.

Many of those countries are involved in the Belt and Road initiative, spearheaded by President Xi Jinping to create a modern-day Silk Road of trade and investment.

In a 2019 report, the U.S. congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned that China promoted launch services, satellites and Beidou under its “Space Silk Road” to deepen reliance on China for space-based services, potentially at the expense of U.S. influence.

Thailand and Pakistan were the first foreign countries to sign up for Beidou’s services, in 2013.

Within China, more than 70% of mobile phones were Beidou-enabled as of 2019, state media reported, including models made by Huawei [HWT.UL], Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo and Samsung.

Millions of taxis, buses and trucks were also able to receive Beidou signals.

China’s satellite navigation sector may top 400 billion yuan ($57 billion) in value this year, state media said.

Ahead of the Beidou-3 completion, satellite-related shares have soared.

Beijing BDStar Navigation Co, which makes chips that receive Beidou signals, has surged 34.4% this year. Hwa Create leapt 52.3%, outpacing the 7.6% gain in the Shenzhen benchmark.

China set to complete Beidou network rivalling GPS in global navigation

The Chinese Beidou navigation network will be complete this month when its final satellite goes into orbit, giving China greater independence from U.S.-owned GPS and heating up competition in a sector long dominated by the United States.

www.reuters.com

 

[skywatcher]

A Long March 2C rocket launched a Haiyang-1D ocean observation satellite on 11 June 2020.
It is the 334 flight of Long March series.

A Long March 2D rocket launched a Gaofen-9-03 Earth observation satellite and other 2 satellites on 17 June 2020.
It is the 335 flight of Long March series.

Coming up next:
A Long March 3B rocket will launch a Beidou-3 G3 satellite for the country's Beidou navigation satellite system(BDS) on 30 June 2020.

For more information about Chinese launch schedule, visit

航天爱好者网 | 最新的航天新闻和发射消息！

www.spaceflightfans.cn

 

[skywatcher]

A Long March 2D rocket launched a Gaofen-9-03 Earth observation satellite and other 2 satellites on 17 June 2020.
It is the 335 flight of Long March series.

China completes Beidou global network

A Long March 3B rocket launched a Beidou-3 G3 satellite, the 35th and final satellite towards GEO orbit,
for the country's Beidou global navigation satellite system on 23 June 2020.
It is the 336 flight of Long March series.

All Beidou missions

For a full list of Long March launches, read

List of Long March launches - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[skywatcher]

China completes Beidou global network

A Long March 3B rocket launched a Beidou-3 G3 satellite, the 35th and final satellite towards GEO orbit,
for the country's Beidou global navigation satellite system on 23 June 2020.
It is the 336 flight of Long March series.

A Long March 4B rocket launched a Gaofen multi-mode integrated imaging satellite on 3 July 2020.
It is the 337 flight of Long March series.

 

[skywatcher]

A Long March 4B rocket launched a Gaofen multi-mode integrated imaging satellite on 3 July 2020.
It is the 337 flight of Long March series.

A Long March 2D rocket launched a Shiyan 6-02 satellite with unknown purpose on 5 July 2020.
It is the 338 flight of Long March series.

 

[skywatcher]

Update: China's iSpace 15 ton thrust level methalox engine JD-1 completed a 500 seconds secondary start test on 6 June 2020. It's the fourth engine hot fire test made by ispace in one month.

iSpace update: continuous variant thrust 200 seconds test on 8 July 2020

 

[skywatcher]

A Long March 2D rocket launched a Shiyan 6-02 satellite with unknown purpose on 5 July 2020.
It is the 338 flight of Long March series.

A Long March 3B rocket launched an Apstar-6D high throughput wideband communication satellite on 9 July 2020.
It is the 339 flight of Long March series.