CNSA news, Updates and Discussions

[skywatcher]

CASC YF-100 rocket engine factory
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CASC is now building a YF-100 kerolox engine every 3 days. Its aim is to build one YF-100 kerolox engine every day.

 

[skywatcher]

CASC is now building a YF-100 kerolox engine every 3 days. Its aim is to build one YF-100 kerolox engine every day.
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[skywatcher]

Second semi-system hot fire test of YF-90 on Feb 2 2023
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YF-90 is a 220 ton thrust staged combustion cycle cryogenic engine developed for the second stage of Long March 9.
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[skywatcher]

 

[skywatcher]

NASA's HiRISE images show that Zhurong Mars rover has not changed its position between 8 September 2022 and 7 February 2023. Its shape is not as clear as in the image one year ago as the rover is catching more Martian dust.

It is not known if the rover survived the hazardous Martian winter without the protection of RTG(Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) or still in hibernation mode

 

[skywatcher]

Solar filaments imaged by CHASE(Chinese Hα Solar Explorer)

 

[skywatcher]

Newly released images showing the Tianwen Mars mission descent module being prepared for tests in a thermal vacuum chamber before launch in 2019

 

[skywatcher]

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Newly released images of lunar surface taken by Yutu-2 rover

 

[DumbPilot]

 

[skywatcher]

All the Chinese Fenyun meteorological satellites since 1988

 

[skywatcher]

China aims to launch nearly 13,000 satellites to ‘suppress’ Elon Musk’s Starlink, researchers say

China to launch nearly 13,000 satellites to ‘suppress’ Starlink: researchers

The satellite constellation is likely to be launched quickly to prevent SpaceX from hogging ‘low-orbit resources’, according to PLA space scientists.

www.scmp.com

The satellite constellation is likely to be launched quickly to prevent SpaceX from hogging ‘low-orbit resources’, according to PLA space scientists

The project, code-named ‘GW’, would provide internet services and could be used to spy on rival networks and carry out anti-Starlink missions, paper says

Starlink aims to put 40,000 satellites into orbit – too many for China’s surveillance and defence capacity to deal with, researchers say.

Researchers say China plans to build a huge satellite network in near-Earth orbit to provide internet services to users around the world – and to stifle Elon Musk’s Starlink.

The project has the code name “GW”, according to a team led by associate professor Xu Can with the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Space Engineering University in Beijing. But what these letters stand for is unclear.

The GW constellation will include 12,992 satellites owned by the newly established China Satellite Network Group Co, Xu and his colleagues said in a paper about anti-Starlink measures published in the Chinese journal Command Control and Simulation on February 15.

The launch schedule for these satellites remains unknown, but the number would rival the scale of SpaceX’s planned network of more than 12,000 satellites by 2027.

Xu’s team said the GW satellite constellation was likely to be deployed quickly, “before the completion of Starlink”. This would “ensure that our country has a place in low orbit and prevent the Starlink constellation from excessively pre-empting low-orbit resources”, they wrote.

The Chinese satellites could also be placed in “orbits where the Starlink constellation has not yet reached”, the researchers said, adding that they would “gain opportunities and advantages at other orbital altitudes, and even suppress Starlink”.

The Chinese satellites could be equipped with an anti-Starlink payload to carry out various missions, such as conducting “close-range, long-term surveillance of Starlink satellites”, they said.

A recent study by the China National Space Administration called for cooperation and said competing communication satellite networks could harm each other.

The Starlink network, now with over 3,000 satellites in orbit, is expected to eventually grow to more than 40,000 satellites, according to SpaceX.

China’s space surveillance and defence capacity cannot cope with so many satellites, Xu’s team said.

The Starlink satellites can receive data from the US Department of Defence to plan or coordinate their positions, and they are equipped with surveillance sensors to monitor the space environment, according to the paper.

“The Starlink satellites may use their orbital manoeuvrability to actively hit and destroy nearby targets in space,” the researchers said.

China plans to build more powerful radar systems powered by new technology to identify and track Starlink satellites, they said.

According to the researchers, the radar and other detection measures would be used to update a “Starlink catalogue” that would eventually contain detailed data on every satellite.

Xu’s team said the Chinese government could also cooperate with other governments to form an anti-Starlink coalition and “demand that SpaceX publish the precise orbiting data of Starlink satellites”.

They added that new weapons, including lasers and high-power microwaves, would be developed and used to destroy Starlink satellites that pass over China or other sensitive regions.

The Ukrainian military has used Starlink services effectively against Russian forces. Since the war broke out, Chinese military researchers have repeatedly called for developing capabilities to destroy Starlink if necessary.

On February 13, SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted that the company would restrict the military use of Starlink in the Ukraine war because “we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3”.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on February 18 that the US government had talked to Musk about the use of Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine, but did not elaborate.

 

[skywatcher]

All the mission patches of Chinese robotic space exploration
(Chang'e & Tianwen programs)

Green: Completed Blue: In development
Chang'e 1 Lunar orbiter 2007
Chang'e 2 Lunar orbiter & asteroid flyby 2010
Chang'e 3 Lunar lander & rover 2013
Chang'e 5T1 Lunar flyby & Earth reentry 2014
Chang'e 4 Lunar lander & rover 2018
Chang'e 5 Lunar sample return 2020
Chang'e 6 Lunar sample return 2025
Chang'e 7 Lunar lander & rover & hopping 2026
Chang'e 8 Lunar orbiter & lander & rover & hopping 2028
Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter & lander & rover 2020
Tianwen-2 Asteroid sample return & comet orbiter & lander 2025
Tianwen-3 Mars sample return 2028
Tianwen-4 Jupiter and Callisto orbiter & Uranus flyby 2029

 

[skywatcher]

Lunar transit of China Space Station on March 4 2023

 

[skywatcher]

All the mission patches of Chinese robotic space exploration
(Chang'e & Tianwen programs)

Green: Completed Blue: In development
Chang'e 1 Lunar orbiter 2007
Chang'e 2 Lunar orbiter & asteroid flyby 2010
Chang'e 3 Lunar lander & rover 2013
Chang'e 5T1 Lunar flyby & Earth reentry 2014
Chang'e 4 Lunar lander & rover 2018
Chang'e 5 Lunar sample return 2020
Chang'e 6 Lunar sample return 2025
Chang'e 7 Lunar lander & rover & hopping 2026
Chang'e 8 Lunar orbiter & lander & rover & hopping 2028
Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter & lander & rover 2020
Tianwen-2 Asteroid sample return & comet orbiter & lander 2025
Tianwen-3 Mars sample return 2028
Tianwen-4 Jupiter and Callisto orbiter & Uranus flyby 2029

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Almost forgot, a Chinese Venus mission is under study

If selected, the Venus Volcano Imaging and Climate Explorer (VOICE), would launch in 2026 and arrive in orbit around Venus in 2027.

The proposed mission is being assessed as one of 13 candidate missions on Space Science led by CAS(Chinese Academy of Sciences), independent from CNSA.

The VOICE mission appears to be competing with three others in the category of planetary and Earth science: the E-type Asteroid Sample Return mission to collect samples from the asteroid 1989 ML and deliver them to Earth, the low Earth orbit Climate and Atmospheric Components Exploring Satellites mission, and the Ocean Surface Current multiscale Observation Mission.

It is not clear how many missions will be approved, but the candidates will be evaluated in the near future based on the available budget, technology readiness and manufacturing schedule.

List of missions led by CAS(Chinese Academy of Sciences)

1.Dark Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE)
Launched on 17 December 2015 and to study high energy gamma rays, electrons and cosmic ray ions, to aid in the search for dark matter.
2.Quantum Experiments at Space Scale(QUESS)
Launched on 17 August 2016 to study long-distance quantum communication network based on high-speed quantum key distribution (QKD) between the satellite and the ground station and quantum entanglement distribution and quantum teleportation on space scale, fundamental tests of the laws of quantum mechanics on global scale.
3.Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT)
Launched on June 15 2017 to observe black holes, neutron stars, active galactic nuclei and other phenomena based on their X-ray and gamma-ray emissions.
4.Chinese H-alpha Solar Explorer (CHASE) (CAS & CNSA)
Launched on 14 October 2021 to study the relationships between the solar magnetic field, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
4.Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S)
Launched on 9 october 2022 to study the sun and space weather.
5.Einstein Probe (EP)
To be launched in Nov 5 2023 to study time-domain high-energy astrophysics and to discover high-energy transients and monitor variable objects.
6. Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) (CAS & CNSA)
To be launched in Dec 2023 to study the explosions of massive stars by analysing the resulting gamma-ray bursts.
7.Solar Polar Orbit Telescope(SPORT)
In development, to be launched in 2027
6.Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere Coupling Exploration(MIT)
In study
7.Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarization mission(eXTP)
In study
8.Space Millimeter Wave VLBI Array
In study
9.Terrestrial Exo-Planets (STEP)
In study
12.Water Cycle Observation Mission (WCOM)
In study
13.Venus Volcano Imaging and Climate Explorer (VOICE)
In study


The list is incomplete.

 

[skywatcher]

Xuntian Space telescope(CSST) launch delayed to late 2024 from 2023

 

[skywatcher]

im going to be away from keyboard for a while. so im not going to update for at least 1 year. i will be back.

 

[Blademaster]

im going to be away from keyboard for a while. so im not going to update for at least 1 year. i will be back.

Why so away so long? Work related?

 

[skywatcher]

Why so away so long? Work related?

hope someone could carry on my spirit beacon

 

[skywatcher]

Evolution of Long March 9

 

[Blademaster]

Evolution of Long March 9
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Translation needed pls.