CNSA news, Updates and Discussions

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Possible Taikobot on CSS

 

[skywatcher]

Possible Taikobot on CSSView attachment 198391
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[skywatcher]

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this is where YF-100 is mass produced

 

[skywatcher]

Space official calls for China to seize crucial opportunity to establish lunar infrastructure

A top Chinese space official has called for the country to speed up its plans to develop lunar infrastructure or miss out on a never-to-be-repeated opportunity.

spacenews.com

Space official calls for China to seize crucial opportunity to establish lunar infrastructure

HELSINKI — A top Chinese space official has called for the country to speed up its plans to develop lunar infrastructure or miss out on a never-to-be-repeated opportunity.

Yang Mengfei of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the country’s main space contractor, proposed in early March that China seize the opportunity to build lunar infrastructure using capabilities the countries already possess.

“Now is the critical time for space infrastructure to expand to the Earth-moon system,” Yang said, according to a CASC statement.

“At present, the United States and Europe have proposed relevant plans for Earth-moon space infrastructure, but they have not yet entered the stage of on-orbit construction,” Yang said.

“For our country, it is now a key opportunity to seize the opportunity and lead the Earth-moon space industrial market. It will have a great impact and far-reaching significance.”

Yang stressed that in terms of the industrial market, China faces a critical moment and an opportunity that will “never come again”.

Yang stated that China has, “not clearly put forward a unified plan for the development of Earth-moon system infrastructure,” noting weaknesses in top-level planning, resources and developing the nation’s aerospace industry.

He suggests China seize the opportunity to carry out the Earth-Moon space infrastructure planning as soon as possible, including communication, navigation, monitoring and other services, cultivating new pillar industries and building a China-led international cooperation platform.

This would contribute to China’s national strength, and promote a community for a shared future of humanity, according to CASC.

The statement noted that the moon offers “rich material resources and unique environmental resources” and that its development and utilization will greatly promote the “national economy and people’s livelihood, and will become a new pillar of the national economy in the future,” according to machine translation.

Yang, who is chief commander and chief designer of the Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission, was making the proposal as a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee during the country’s annual political sessions in Beijing in early March. The CPPCC serves as an advisory body to the central government.

The moon is becoming a focal point for space faring nations’ plans for exploration, science and potentially competition over resources, according to observers, with China already active.

The government has approved plans for the multi-spacecraft Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8 lunar south pole missions for the coming years. These include landers, rovers, orbiters, water-ice-hunting hopping craft, in-situ resource utilization tests and support from relay satellites. The missions are precursors to the ILRS.

China however faces a series of challenges when planning and building its lunar infrastructure.

CASC’s Long March 9 super heavy-lift launcher—which would enable major space and lunar infrastructure missions—is being redesigned in order to be reusable. This however will likely delay the debut flight of the rocket into the 2030s.

Its main partner Russia meanwhile faces widespread international isolation in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, which could severely impact the country’s space sector through sanctions, supply chains and deterioration of budgets and willing partners.

 

[skywatcher]

All active Chinese orbital launch vehicles(as of Apr 2023)
Total: 26 variants

Red: State-owned Blue: Private
CASC Long March family: CZ-2C,CZ-2D,CZ-2F,CZ-3A,CZ-3B/E,CZ-3C,CZ-4B,CZ-4C,CZ-5,CZ-5B,CZ-6,CZ-6A,CZ-7,CZ-7A,CZ-8,CZ-11
CASC Smart Dragon family: SD-1,SD-3
CASIC Kuaizhou family: KZ-1A,KZ-11
CASIC Kaituozhe family:KTZ-2
CAS Kinetica family: Kinetica-1(former Lijian-1 or ZK-1A)
Space Pioneer Tianlong family: Tianlong-2
Land Space Zhuque family: Zhuque-2
Galactic Energy Ceres family: Ceres-1
i-Space Hyperbola family: Hyperbola-1

 

[skywatcher]

CAS Space new toy

 

[skywatcher]

CSS live stream on China Space Day

 

[skywatcher]

Martian dust storm imaged by Tianwen

 

[skywatcher]

China may include helicopter in Mars sample return mission

China could include a helicopter in its Tianwen-3 mission to collect samples from Mars and deliver them to Earth.

spacenews.com

China may include helicopter in Mars sample return mission
Mobile sampling component will be part of mission to collect 500 grams of Red Planet material

HELSINKI — China is sharpening the details of its Tianwen-3 mission to collect samples from Mars and deliver them to Earth.

New mission details and defined objectives were revealed in presentations made at the International Conference of Deep Space Sciences in Hefei, Anhui province, April 22.

The mission will use a pair of Long March 5 rockets to send two separate spacecraft stacks towards the Red Planet around 2030 with the goal of collecting and returning 500 grams of samples.

The mission objectives include searching for evidence for life on Mars, understanding environmental and climate evolution of the Red Planet and its potential past habitability.

The two Long March 5 launches will carry a lander and ascent vehicle and an orbiter and return module respectively. Entry, descent and landing will build on technology used for the Zhurong rover landing as part of China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission.

Sampling will, as with China’s 2020 Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission, use a lander-based robotic arm to collect surface samples and a drill to collect material from up to two meters below the surface.

In a new development, the landing segment will also have limited capacity to collect samples close to the landing site, using either a six-legged crawling robot or an Ingenuity-like helicopter. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) unveiled a prototype of the latter in 2021.

Collected samples will be sent into Mars orbit using a two-stage ascent vehicle. It will consist of a solid first stage and liquid propellant upper stage with a total mass of at least 360 kilograms.

The ascent vehicle will then dock with the orbiter and return module, with docking assisted by a robotic arm. Collected materials will then be transferred to the return module for the return to Earth.

The vague timeline for launch suggests, but does not confirm, a slip from a previously stated 2028 launch timetable.

A mission profile for China’s Mars sample return presented in June 2022 targeted launch in late 2028 with samples delivered to Earth in July 2031.

The 2028 timeline would see samples delivered to Earth before the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return mission. The mission likewise targets delivering around 500 grams of Martian samples to Earth.

Landing site selection is being conducted with invited input from international teams. Engineering constraints mean the landing will take place between 17 and 30 degrees north latitude, due to energy and lighting requirements. The landing ellipsis will be 50 by 20 kilometers.

Prospective sites required to have an elevation of at least 3,000 meters below the zero-elevation level, or the equivalent to sea level on Earth. This provides the lander with more atmosphere to move through to slow its descent onto the Martian surface.

Site selection will also be balanced by science objectives. The chosen site will need to be considered of astrobiological relevance, with Martian terrain older than 3.5 billion years being prioritized.

Environments suitable for the emergence of life and its preservation such as sedimentary or hydrothermal systems, evidence of past aqueous activity and geological diversity were noted as key priorities. The

The mission will also adhere to the highest standards of planetary protection protocols, according to the presentations.

Liu Jizhong of the director of China’s Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center under the CNSA, and Hou Zengqian of the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences delivered the presentations in Hefei, which were later shared on Chinese social media.

 

[skywatcher]

Martian dust storm imaged by Tianwen
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A possible network of three Martian meteorological satellites to be launched in 2026 to monitor Martian sandstorms and other climate events. Data gathered can be used perform sandstorm forecasting and assist in Mars sample return.

 

[skywatcher]

Fleet of all Chinese launch vehicles(maybe not all)

 

[skywatcher]

Chang'e 6 Mission Profile

Mission: Lunar sample return on the far side of the Moon
Launch date: May 2024
Launch vehicle: Long March 5
Orbit: TLI
Configuration: Orbiter+Lander+Ascender+Re-entry capsule+Queqiao-2 relay satellite+Tiandu-1/2 cubesats
Duration: 53 days

 

[skywatcher]

Chief Designer talks about the status of the Mars rover
According to Zhang Rongqiao (chief designer of the Tianwen-1 mission), the Zhurong rover is still in sleep mode. In May 2022, the Zhurong rover has been switched to sleep mode, in order to cope with a dust storm and the Martian winter. It hasn’t resumed operations since.

 

[skywatcher]

Chief Designer talks about the status of the Mars rover
According to Zhang Rongqiao (chief designer of the Tianwen-1 mission), the Zhurong rover is still in sleep mode. In May 2022, the Zhurong rover has been switched to sleep mode, in order to cope with a dust storm and the Martian winter. It hasn’t resumed operations since.

CNSA released 810 new images taken between 3 June 2023-31 Oct 2023

科学数据 - 首次火星探测门户网站

*For downloading, you may need a VPN to circumvent the censorship

 

[skywatcher]

Dongfang Hour: China Wants It's Own Starship

 

[skywatcher]

Possible lunar robots in Chang'e 7 & 8 missions

 

[skywatcher]

Mystery Chinese spacecraft returns to Earth after 276 days

Mystery Chinese spacecraft returns to Earth after 276 days

An experimental Chinese spacecraft returned to Earth on Monday after staying in orbit for 276 days, China's state media reported, completing a landmark mission to test the country's reusable space technologies.

www.reuters.com

BEIJING, May 8 (Reuters) - An experimental Chinese spacecraft returned to Earth on Monday after staying in orbit for 276 days, China's state media reported, completing a landmark mission to test the country's reusable space technologies.

The uncrewed spacecraft returned to the Jiuquan launch centre in northwest China on Monday as scheduled, according to state media.

No details were given on what the spacecraft was, what technologies were tested, how high it flew, and where its orbits had taken it since its launch in early August 2022. Images of the craft have also yet to be released to the public.

The test marks an "important" breakthrough in China's research into reusable spacecraft technology that will provide a more convenient and inexpensive way to mount future space missions, state media reported.

In 2021, what may have been a similar spacecraft flew to the edge of space and returned to Earth on the same day in a mission that was also kept largely under wraps. It landed on Earth "horizontally," according to China's main space contractor at the time.

 

[Blademaster]

Mystery Chinese spacecraft returns to Earth after 276 days

Mystery Chinese spacecraft returns to Earth after 276 days

An experimental Chinese spacecraft returned to Earth on Monday after staying in orbit for 276 days, China's state media reported, completing a landmark mission to test the country's reusable space technologies.

www.reuters.com

Just like that secret US spaceplane X-37B

 

[skywatcher]

CNSA new coastal launch pads to facilitate intense space launches in coming months. The first batch of satellites for China's Guowang megaconstellation will be launched from here by the end of this year.

For more information about Guowang, visit:

Guowang, the China’s massive satellite constellation, is launching soon | Space Voyaging

China plans to launch Guowang, a 13,000-satellite mega constellation to revolutionize global satellite internet, posing direct competition to Starlink

www.spacevoyaging.com

 

[skywatcher]

List of satellites for China's global navigation system BeiDou