CNSA news, Updates and Discussions

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China launches two new BeiDou satellites
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-09/23/c_138414165.htm

XICHANG, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- China has successfully sent two satellites of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province at 05:10 a.m. Monday.

Launched on a Long March-3B carrier rocket, the two satellites entered the orbit. They are the 47th and 48th satellites of the BDS satellite family.

The new satellites and the carrier rocket were developed by the China Academy of Space Technology and the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

After in-orbit tests, the new satellites will work with those BDS satellites already in orbit to improve positioning accuracy of the system.

China will complete the BDS global network by 2020.

Monday's launch was the 312th mission for the Long March series carrier rockets.

 

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China launches new satellite for environment detection

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-09/25/c_138420383.htm

JIUQUAN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- China sent a new satellite into planned orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gobi Desert on Wednesday.

The Yunhai-1 02 satellite, launched on a Long March-2D carrier rocket at 8:54 a.m. (Beijing Time), will be mainly used for detecting the atmospheric and marine environment and space environment, as well as disaster control and other scientific experiments.

Both the satellite and the carrier rocket were developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The launch was the 313th mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.

 

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China launches HD observation satellite

TAIYUAN, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- China sent its observation satellite into space from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province at 2:51 a.m. Saturday (Beijing Time).

As part of the country's high-definition Earth observation project, the microwave remote sensing satellite is capable of providing photographs with a resolution of less than a meter.

The Gaofen-10 satellite is launched aboard a Long March-4C rocket at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, Oct. 5, 2019. China sent its observation satellite into space from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province at 2:51 a.m. Saturday (Beijing Time). The satellite, Gaofen-10, was launched aboard a Long March-4C rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully.

Gaofen-10 will be used in land survey, urban planning, road network design, crop yield estimate, as well as disaster relief. It can also serve key national strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

The satellite and the carrier rocket were both developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

It was the 314th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series. (Photo by Liu Qiaoming/Xinhua)

 

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A rare peek into China's secretive space missions. you will never find any of them on CNSA official website(it's always difficult to open). Guess what these missions are?

what are these capsules? cargo transfer vehicles?

looks like space station module

it's so secretive that few outsiders know anything about it.

what manned?

another lander on the moon?

this one is quite interesting. any clues?

 

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so the moon soil looks quite crisp and glutinous like mooncake

 

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let me introduce a little story about the father of China's nuclear, missile and space program. I'll keep it short.

Hsue-Shen Tsien or Qian Xuesen (Chinese: 钱学森) was a Chinese aerospace engineer and cyberneticist. He was born in the Qing dynasty in 1911.

Recruited from MIT, he joined Von Karman's group at Caltech and co-founded JPL. During WWII, he was involved in the Manhanttan Project. He made significant contributions to the field of aerodynamics and established engineering cybernetics.

He fled the United States for fear of US persecutions in the 1950s and headed back to China and helped establish the Chinese nuclear, missile and space programs. Thanks to Chinese premier Zhou Enlai(Indians are familiar with him:biggrin2 's political maneuverability, Hsue-Shen Tsien was allowed to leave the US.

US government confiscated all his research notes and books before he embarked on the ship for China. But that didn't stop him from doing research in China.:biggrin2:

He passed away in Beijing in 2009. It's an interesting and eventful story. Without him, China wouldn't have any nuclear, missile or any space programs.:biggrin2:

A list of his contributions:

• 1939: Two-dimensional subsonic flow of compressible fluids, Journal of Aeronautical Sciences 6(10): 399–407.[43]
• 1939: (with Theodore von Kármán) The buckling of thin cylindrical shells under axial compression, Journal of Aeronautical Sciences 7(2):43 to 50.
• 1943: "Symmetrical Joukowsky Airfoils in shear flow", Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, 1: 130–48.
• 1943: On the Design of the Contraction Cone for a Wind Tunnel, Journal of Aeronautical Sciences, 10(2): 68-70.
• 1945: (with Theodore von Kármán), "Lifting- line Theory for a Wing in Nonuniform Flow," Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, 3: 1–11.
• 1946: "Similarity laws of hypersonic flows", MIT Journal of Mathematics and Physics 25: 247–251, MR0018074.
• 1952: The transfer functions of rocket nozzles, Journal of the American Rocket Society
• 1949: "Rockets and Other Thermal Jets Using Nuclear Energy", in The Science and Engineering of Nuclear Power, Addison-Wesley, Vol. 11.
• 1953: "Take-Off from Satellite Orbit", Journal of the American Rocket Society 23(4)
• 1956: "The Poincaré-Lighthill-Kuo Method", Advances in Applied Mechanics 4: 281–349, MR0079929.
• 1958: "The equations of gas dynamics", in Fundamentals of Gas Dynamics v. 3, Princeton University Press, MR0097212.

• 1954: Engineering Cybernetics. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. OCLC 299574775.
  • 1957: Technische Kybernetik. Translated by Dr. H. Kaltenecker (into German). Stuttgart: Berliner Union.
• 2007: Hydrodynamics (manuscript facsimile). Jiaotong University Press. ISBN 978-7-313-04199-9.

 

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his other contributions.

• Engineering Cybernetics，Tsien, H. S. McGraw Hill, 1954
• Tsien, H.S. Technische Kybernetik, Übersetzt von Dr. H. Kaltenecker, Berliner Union Stuttgart 1957
• ТЕХНИЧЕСКАЯ　КИБЕРНЕТИКА
• 工程控制论. 科学出版社. 1956. ISBN 978-7-110-01196-6
  • 工程控制论（第2版）. 科学出版社. 1980. ISBN 978-7-110-01196-6
  • 工程控制论（第3版）. 科学出版社, 2011. ISBN 978-7-03-030094-2
• 《导弹概论》钱学森手稿 中国宇航出版社 2009 ISBN 978-7-80218-657-6
• 《钱学森科学技术思想丛书》
  • 钱学森论火箭导弹和航空航天. 科学出版社, 2011.
  • 钱学森现代军事科学思想. 科学出版社, 2011.
  • 钱学森论系统科学（讲话）. 科学出版社, 2011.
  • 现代科学技术体系总体框架的探索. 科学出版社, 2011.
  • 社会工程学. 科学出版社, 2011.
  • 地理科学与现代科学技术体系. 科学出版社, 2011.
  • 钱学森哲学思想. 科学出版社, 2011.
  • 钱学森思维科学. 科学出版社, 2011.
  • 马克思主义哲学与现代科学技术.科学出版社, 2011.
  • 人体复杂系统科学探索.科学出版社, 2011.
  • 系统论—还原论与整体论的辨证统一. 科学出版社, 2011.
• 创建系统学。山西科学技术出版社，2001. ISBN 978-7-5377-1948-3
  • 创建系统学（新世纪版）.上海交通大学出版社, 2007. ISBN 978-7-313-04592-8
• 气体动力学诸方程. 1966.
• 星际航行概论. 1966.
  • 星际航行概论. 中国宇航出版社, 2008. ISBN 978-7-80218-439-8
• 物理力学讲义. 1962.
  • 物理力学讲义（新世纪版）. 上海交通大学出版社，2007. ISBN 978-7-313-04876-9
• 从飞机导弹说到生产过程的自动化. 1959.
• 论系统工程。湖南科学技术出版社, 1982. ISBN 978-7-5357-0412-2
  • 论系统工程（新世纪版）.上海交通大学出版社, 2007. ISBN 978-7-313-04589-8
• Collect Works of Hsue-Shen Tsien 钱学森文集 1938-1956 海外学术文献 （英文版）2011 上海交通大学出版社 ISBN 978-7-313-06830-9
• 论人体科学与现代科技。上海交通大学出版社, 1998. ISBN 978-7-313-01601-0
• 钱学森手稿. 山西教育出版社，2000. ISBN 978-7-5440-2226-2
• 水动力学讲义手稿.上海交通大学出版社, 2007. ISBN 978-7-313-04199-9
• 钱学森书信（1-10卷）.国防工业出版社, 2007. ISBN 978-7-118-04620-5
• 钱学森书信选（上、下卷）.国防工业出版社, 2008. ISBN 978-7-118-05645-7

 

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allowing Qian Xuesen to get back to China was one the stupidest mistake made by US.:biggrin2:. His lethality equals more than five Corps.:biggrin2:

 

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it's said to be the jelly like substance found by Yutu-2 rover. looks creepy.

 

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space station modules in testing and simulation

 

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A previous pic with higher resolution. let's take a closer look at the silver cone.

it's a mars rover shield.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

@smooth manifold Whatever we can and need to know about Tianlian II satellite series. Could you elaborate??

 

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China launches new communication technology experiment satellite
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-10/18/c_138480279.htm

XICHANG, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- China sent a new communication technology experiment satellite into planned orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province late Thursday.

The satellite, launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket at 23:21 (Beijing Time), will be mainly used for multi-band and high-speed communication technology experiments.

The satellite and the carrier rocket were respectively developed by the China Academy of Space Technology and the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Thursday's launch was the 315th mission of the Long March rocket series.

 

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China Rocket Launch Stats as of Oct.18, 2019
(suborbital launches excluded)

CALT Long March series:
315 launches
15 failures
success rate 95.2%

CALT Smart Dragon series:
1 launch
0 faiure
success rate 100%

CALT Storm series(decommissioned in 1982):
11 launches
4 failures
success rate 63.6%

CASIC Kuaizhou series:
5 launches
0 failure
success rate 100%

CASIC Kaituozhe series:
5 launches
2 failures
success rate 60%

LandSpace Zhuque series:
1 launch
1 failure
success rate 0%

OneSpace OS-M series:
1 launch
1 failure
success rate 0%

I-space Hyperbola series:
1 launch
0 failure
success rate 100%

 

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Note：
1. LandSpace Zhuque series, OneSpace OS-M series and I-space Hyperbola series are private launches.
2. CALT Smart Dragon series, CASIC Kuaizhou series and CASIC Kaituozhe series are quick reaction rockets.
3. CALT Long March 6 in the Long March series is a type of quick reaction rockets.

Long March 6 quick reaction rocket

 

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4. Long March 11 is another quick reaction rocket that operates on the sea.

5. Long March 2F is a human rated rocket.

Long March 2F with a noticeable escape system.

 

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China's current private rocket manufacturers:

1. I-Space(星际荣耀) http://www.i-space.com.cn/
2. OneSpace(零壹航天) http://www.onespacechina.com/
3. LandSpace(蓝箭航天) http://landspace.com/
4. LinkSpace(翎客航天) https://linkspace.com.cn/
5. DeepBlueAerospace(深蓝航天) http://www.dbaspace.com/
6. S-Motor(灵动飞天) http://www.s-motor.cn/
7. GalacticEnergy(星河动力) http://www.galactic-energy.cn/
....

As of 2019, I-space is the only one that made it to LEO.

 

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China's current private satellite manufacturers:

1. Spacety(天仪研究院) http://www.spacety.com/
2. Changguang Satellite(长光卫星) http://www.charmingglobe.com/
3. ADASpace(国星宇航) https://www.adaspace.com/
4. ZeroG Lab(零重力实验室) http://www.cubesatgarage.com/
5. CommSat(九天微星) http://www.commsat.cn/
6. GalaxySpace(银河航天) http://www.yinhe.ht/
....

 

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Spaceflightnow provides a different flavor of China's latest satellite launch.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/10/18/china-launches-mysterious-geostationary-satellite/

China successfully launched a satellite toward geostationary orbit Thursday aboard a Long March 3B rocket, but the spacecraft’s purpose remained a mystery.

The TJS 4 satellite lifted off from the Xichang space center in southwestern China’s Sichuan province at 1521 GMT (11:21 a.m. EDT; 11:21 p.m. Beijing time) Thursday. A Long March 3B rocket — China’s workhorse launcher for geostationary satellites — carried the TJS 4 spacecraft into space after flying east from the hilly Xichang spaceport.

The three-stage, 184-foot-tall (55-meter) Long March 3B rocket, boosted by four strap-on engines, released the TJS 4 satellite into an elliptical transfer orbit ranging in altitude between 124 miles (200 kilometers) and 22,255 miles (35,817 kilometers), according to U.S. military tracking data.

The spacecraft was tracked in an orbit inclined 27 degrees to the equator.

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, or CALT, announced the mission was successful.

TJS 4 is likely heading for a position in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator. The satellite will use on-board propulsion to circularize its orbit in the coming weeks, and lower its orbital inclination over the equator.

Statements released by CALT, a government-owned rocket manufacturer, and Chinese state media claimed the TJS 4 satellite will test communications technologies in space.

China has launched three previous satellites in the TJS series in 2015, 2017 and 2018. The previously-launched satellites were also described by Chinese media as communications technology demonstration payloads, but independent analysts and satellite trackers believe they were likely built for military missions.

The new TJS 4 spacecraft may have an intelligence-gathering mission collecting information from radio or electronic signals. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks global space activity, tweeted that he supports such a theory.

Some analysts believe the second TJS satellite may be an early warning station designed to detect missile launches.

The TJS 3 satellite launched in December 2018 released a smaller spacecraft after reaching orbit, but China has not acknowledged it, and the satellite’s purpose remains a mystery.


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Compare with state media Xinhua's brief report:
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-10/18/c_138480279.htm

XICHANG, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- China sent a new communication technology experiment satellite into planned orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province late Thursday.

The satellite, launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket at 23:21 (Beijing Time), will be mainly used for multi-band and high-speed communication technology experiments.

The satellite and the carrier rocket were respectively developed by the China Academy of Space Technology and the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Thursday's launch was the 315th mission of the Long March rocket series.

 

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By the end of 2018, there were 141 companies registered in China's commercial space sector. Among them, there are 36 satellite manufacturing enterprises, 22 satellite launching companies, 39 satellite operating companies and 44 satellite application enterprises.

The following 7 private rocket manufacturers are worth noting.
I-Space is the only one that has made it to Low Earth Orbit as of Oct, 2019.
LandSpace is considered the most promising one among them.

1. I-Space(星际荣耀) http://www.i-space.com.cn/
2. LandSpace(蓝箭航天) http://landspace.com/
3. OneSpace(零壹航天) http://www.onespacechina.com/
4. LinkSpace(翎客航天) https://linkspace.com.cn/
5. DeepBlueAerospace(深蓝航天) http://www.dbaspace.com/
6. S-Motor(灵动飞天) http://www.s-motor.cn/
7. GalacticEnergy(星河动力) http://www.galactic-energy.cn/

Distribution of companies in various industrial chain links of commercial aerospace companies

In 2018, China’s commercial space investment and financing totaled 3.571 billion yuan, focusing on satellite applications and launch fields.

Investment in each month in 2018 (unit: ten thousand yuan).

The amount of investment in various fields of commercial space (unit: 10,000 yuan)