China National Space Administration CNSA (updates)

[Draggendrop Veteran]

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20:09 
Shenzhou 11 was launched into an elliptical parking orbit, and the spacecraft will fire thrusters in a few hours to circularize its orbit, a crucial step in its rendezvous with the Tiangong 2 lab module in about two days.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/10/16/shenzhou-11-mission-status-center/

 

 

 

 

Must have been the lighting for that blue hue...first thing that popped into my head is how cool the raptors will look when fired up.

 

Overall, good presentation and camera work. The same complaints I see is about terminology used in the broadcast. I believe the team was trying to explain events to citizens with no background. Maybe one day they will have a "technical broadcast" like SpaceX.

 

[DocM]

What gets me is the lack of smiles - everyone looks like they're embalmed. Must be a cultural/formality thing. 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Overall, their science program is really taking shape...but...one still has to appease the power brokers. I have a feeling that once all the brass leave...all the STEM personal are wearing their Florida holiday shirts and flip-flops.

 

Tough to remove all the politics and religion, but for the most part, when they are gone, the interviews and articles are reasonable.

 

One can hope one day, for overall science only...and send the politicians to Titan.

 

[BetaguyGZT]

Their English broadcast was decent. Bit buffery because of bandwidth demands, but it was no problem. Good quality too, and it really shows that they're doing their best to improve the presentation -- and the fact it was broadcast live is a big step for them and I for one appreciate it.  Hope to see more from China's Space Programme in the future; it was a good job all around, very professional and I think we all enjoyed the launch. We're all "rocket fans" when it comes down to it.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Just a recap of the launch...

 

China launches Shenzhou-11 crewed spacecraft

 

A Long March 2F rocket lifts off Oct. 16 carrying the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft. Credit: Xinhua

 

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WASHINGTON — China successfully launched its first human spaceflight mission in more than three years Oct. 16, placing into orbit a spacecraft carrying two astronauts that will dock with a new space laboratory module.

 

A Long March 2F spacecraft lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Oct. 16 (7:30 a.m. Beijing time Oct. 17) and placed the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft into orbit. The spacecraft separated from the rocket’s upper stage and deployed its solar panels a little more than 10 minutes after liftoff.

 

“The rocket is flying according to its original plan, and the Shenzhou spacecraft has entered its preliminary orbit,” said Gen. Zhang Youxia, chief commander of China’s manned space program, in a statement less than a half-hour after launch. “I announce the launch of Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft is a complete success.”

 

On board Shenzhou-11 are astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, publicly announced as the crew less than 24 hours before the launch. Jing is a veteran astronaut, having flown on Shenzhou-7 in 2008 and Shenzhou-9 in 2012. Chen is making his first spaceflight.

 

Shenzhou-11 is scheduled to dock with the Tiangong-2 module Oct. 18. That module, launched Sept. 15, will host the crew for 30 days, twice as long as the existing Chinese human spaceflight endurance record, set by the Shenzhou-10 mission in June 2013. That mission was also the last Chinese human spaceflight prior to the Shenzhou-11 mission.

 

During the 30-day mission, Jing and Chen will carry out a number of medical and space science experiments, as well as test various systems on the Tiangong-2 module. They will also engage in public outreach activities, including serving as “special correspondents” for the state-run Xinhua news service.

http://spacenews.com/china-launches-shenzhou-11-crewed-spacecraft/

 

 

Chinese Astronaut Duo safely in Orbit for month-long Research Mission

 

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Tiangong-2 also hosts a small satellite, Banxing-2, weighing in at 40 Kilograms and outfitted with a series of high-resolution and wide-angle cameras plus an ammonia propulsion system that will enable the small craft to remain at constant distance to Tiangong-2 and document the arrival of the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft on Tuesday.

good analysis of the launch at the link...

http://spaceflight101.com/shenzhou-11-launch-success/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Late night snippets...

 

 

 

 

This was a short article on general questions, but had some great images...

 

Five things you have to know about the Shenzhou-11mission

http://news.cctvnews.cn/news/3d3d774d33516a4e/share.html

 

Large images at the link...

 

credit CCTV

 

 

 

credit CCTV

 

 

credit CCTV

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Chinese Astronaut Duo arrives at Tiangong-2 Space Lab after flawless Docking

 

The moment of contact between China’s ‘Divine Vessel’ Shenzhou & the ‘Heavenly Palace’ Tiangong – Photo: CCTV

 

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A pair of Chinese Astronauts completed an out-of-this world link-up on Tuesday when their Shenzhou-11 spacecraft pulled into port at the Tiangong-2 space laboratory to kick off a month-long stay that will set a new record for the longest mission of a Chinese crew, continuing to press toward a continuous human presence in orbit.

 

Entering the ‘Heavenly Palace’ later on Tuesday, veteran Shenzhou Commander Jing Haipeng and rookie Astronaut Chen Dong will be facing a packed schedule dedicated to research covering 14 different areas – attempting to grow rice and lettuce in microgravity, testing a robotic arm and monitoring physiological changes undergone by the human body during prolonged exposure to the space environment.

 

The crew duo began their work week with a thundering blastoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at dawn on Monday, lifting off at 7:30 a.m. local time (23:30 UTC on Sunday) atop a Long March 2F rocket.

Full analysis of guidance and docking at the link...

http://spaceflight101.com/shenzhou-11-docks-with-tiangong-2/

 

Shenzhou 11 glides to orbital link-up with Chinese space lab

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/10/18/shenzhou-11-glides-to-orbital-link-up-with-chinese-space-lab/

 

Shenzhou-11 Docks With Tiangong-2

 

Docking target     credit CCTV

 

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China's Shenzhou-11 has docked with the Tiangong-2 Space Station. 

 

After completing a series of systems checks astronauts, Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong will enter Tiangong-2 to begin their one month mission.

 

Next spring an automated cargo vehicle will resupply Tiangong-2 in advance of future astronaut visits. Tiangong-2 was launched on 15 September 2016. It is in the same 393 kilometer high orbit that China's third space station will occupy beginning in 2020.

 

Tiangong-2 and its predecessor Tiangong-1 were not designed as permanent space stations but rather serve as testbeds for China's third, larger space station. That permanent station will have a configuration reminiscent of Russia's Mir space station.

http://spaceref.com/china-1/shenzhou-11-docks-with-tiangong-2.html

 

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How will Shenzhou-11 spacecraft dock with Tiangong-2 space lab

simulation video is 0:47 min.

 

 

 

Live: China's Shenzhou-11 spacecraft docks with space lab Tiangong-2

video is 11:48 min...untouched, should have a cleaned up version later as well as, hopefully, the drone cam video.

 

 

 

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This is a real nice station. Big improvement over Tiangong-1.   I will upload video's of the prior station so that a reference is available.

 

Overall, well done indeed.    

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Found a better docking video...

 

UPDATE Video: Shenzhou-11 sSpacecraft Docks with Tiangong-2 Space Lab

video is 4:23 min.

 

 

 

here is a video during manufacture and testing of the APAS docking assembly...

 

Tiangong-2: The docking system for China's second space lab

video is 2:35 min.

 

 

 

Androgynous Peripheral Attach System definition, wiki

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Astronauts enjoy range of delicacies on Shenzhou XI

 

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The two astronauts headed for the Tiangong II space laboratory aboard the Shenzhou XI enjoyed their first meal about four hours after the spacecraft blasted off at 7:30am on Monday. The lunch included eight types of food, ranging from grain crackers, canned apples, flatfish, spicy tofu, chicken sausages to lemon tea and stomach friendly beverage.

 

The recipe will change every five days during their 33-day stay in space, said Cao Ping, a nutrition researcher at the Astronaut Center of China in Beijing. After Shenzhou docks at the space laboratory, the astronauts will have six types of meals thrice a day - staple and non-staple food, instant food, beverages, flavoring and functional food, and the meal time will synchronize with that on the earth.

 

Compared to previous space missions, the food on Shenzhou XI has a wider variety of Chinese delicacies. In 2003, there were 20 or 30 types of food for China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, who was carried aloft by Shenzhou V. On Shenzhou VII which blasted off in 2012, there were about 70 types of items.

 

Shenzhou XI, on the other hand, carries more than 100 types of food and beverages, including spiced beef and shredded pork in garlic sauce, a popular dish in almost every Sichuan-cuisine restaurant, and desserts such as ice cream, according to Cao.

 

Recipes were designed and arranged in accordance with nutritional requirements in different phases of the mission.

 

For example, the astronauts can eat congees if they lack appetite during their first days in space; Chinese food therapy will be adopted in the middle phase in line with the changes in the astronauts' physical conditions; while in the latter stage, food with low dietary fiber along with multivitamins will kick in.

 

The daily calorie intake, based on the working load of the astronauts, will be converted to the weight of food, equaling about one or two kilograms.

Cao said the ground crew of Shenzhou XI will keep a close eye on the meals and make evaluations so as to keep the astronauts posted.

 

The astronauts will use a food heater developed by the Fourth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Astronauts_enjoy_range_of_delicacies_on_Shenzhou_XI_999.html

 

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Russian cosmonauts congratulate Chinese astronauts, wish to fly together in space

 

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MOSCOW, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The two Chinese astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft entered the space lab Tiangong-2 on Wednesday morning, bringing China closer to its dream of building a space station.

 

Veteran Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov, on behalf of all the cosmonauts at the Roscosmos State Corporation, sent a congratulatory letter to the Chinese astronauts.

 

"I believe Russian and Chinese astronauts will step into each other's spacecrafts and fly together in space in the future. Roscosmos will do its best to achieve this goal. I wish the Chinese astronauts a successful flight in this mission, hoping that we can meet later both in space and on the ground!" the letter said.

 

"Chinese astronauts will spend 30 days in near-Earth orbit, this is an important test. We believe the outstanding exercises and precise theoretical knowledge will help the Chinese astronauts to tackle all kinds of tests," Krikalyov said.

 

As a veteran cosmonaut of six space flights and once the world record holder of having spent a total of 803 days and 9 hours and 39 minutes in space, Krikalyov said in the letter that he wanted to share his space experience with his Chinese colleagues.

 

He said astronauts have a unique feeling in space. They need to manage the difficulties of adapting to space, such as learning to live in gravity-free conditions and an enclosed space. To adapt to this environment, they need to go on more flight missions. Every mission will increase the astronaut's confidence.

 

"At the same time, the discomfort will gradually decrease. Because every astronaut has prepared the mission very carefully and seriously, they will not encounter major problems."

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/19/c_135766445.htm

 

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Us to heaven six silkworms are still alive # Shenzhou11  # Tiangong2

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Chinese Astronauts enter busy Work Routine aboard Tiangong-2 Space Lab

 

Jing Haipeng & Chen Dong working aboard Tiangong-2 – Photo: CCTV

 

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Science operations are in full swing aboard China’s Tiangong-2 orbiting laboratory after this week’s successful arrival of its two crew members on a month-long stay dedicated to experiments in a variety of research areas.

 

The Shenzhou-11 spacecraft with Veteran Commander Jing Haipeng and first-time flier Chen Dong began a two-day commute to the ‘Heavenly Palace’ at dawn on Monday when blasting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. Successfully lifted into orbit by the Long March 2F rocket, Shenzhou-11 raised its orbit and completed a fully automated approach to Tiangong-2 on Tuesday, culminating with a successful docking at 19:24 UTC.

 

Commander Jing was first to float inside the space station module to conduct a cursory inspection before inviting Chen to join him aboard their home in space for a mission of 30 days.

 

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At 14:21 UTC on Thursday, Tiangong-2 fired up its engines for a very slight de-boost of its orbit by around half a Kilometer on apogee and perigee, based on orbital tracking data collected by the Joint Space Operations Center.

 

With a full month spent aboard Tiangong-2, Shenzhou-11 is China’s first mission that allows the crew to enter an actual living and working routine in space. The two crew members will work at least eight hours a day, six days per week, not counting meals and one hour of daily exercise performed to counteract muscle loss over the course of the medium-duration flight.

 

A diary entry from commander Jing, published by people.cn, provides a glimpse into the crew’s tight schedule. In the diary entry from the day of the crew’s arrival on Tiangong-2, Jing notes the two crew members have been extremely busy, even forgetting they had heated up a meal that they eventually ended up skipping, but expected to make up for at dinner.

 

Over the course of their mission, the two crew members will perform experiments from 14 different areas with special focus on biology, space life science and technological demonstrations.

 

A pair of plant cultivation experiments are being run on Tiangong-2 to study how the microgravity environment affects the growth of rice and romaine lettuce. Reportedly, the rice germination experiment had been on Tiangong-2 since its launch and was initiated prior to the crew’s arrival to provide sufficient time for germination and the plants growing before they have to be harvested prior to Shenzhou’s return to Earth.

 

Gaining insight on how gravity affects the growth of plants is of value on and off the Earth. Cultivating plants in space for crew consumption will be an integral part of future missions to distant targets requiring small-scale experiments in orbit to perfect space-based plant-growth facilities of the future. Knowledge on how plants grow and what mechanisms are influenced by gravity can also improve crop yields on Earth.

 

In addition to these cultivation experiments, Shenzhou-11 is flying a number of plant seeds including peppers, zucchini and different types of pumpkin that are exposed to the space environment for five weeks before returning to Earth. Growing plants from these seeds will reveal whether germination and growth properties are affected by exposing seeds to the space environment for an extended period of time.

 

Jing Haipeng with one of the silkworms – Photo: CCTV

 

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Riding to Tiangong-2 alongside the crew was an animal enclosure hosting a group of six silkworms for a study proposed by Hong Kong students. The experiment aims to obtain silk, made by the worms in microgravity, and compare it to silk from Earth in terms of its strength. On Friday, one of the silkworms got an experience of floating freely inside Tiangong-2 when Jing Haipeng demonstrated the experiment in an educational video shot by Chen Dong.

 

Also on Friday, the second plant-cultivation experiment was set up, aiming to grow romaine lettuce onboard Tiangong-2 and harvesting samples for return to Earth and laboratory analysis. Similar studies on the International Space Station were able to harvest reasonably large lettuce plants after being grown for a month and the same is hoped for this experiment.

 

The crew catches up with the News provided via live video uplink – Photo: Weibo via 9ifly.cn

 

 

Photo: CCTV

 

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Changes made on Tiangong-2 after TG-1 flew range from simple, but important adjustments of foot holds and hand rails to more advanced changes such as the introduction of a wideband communications system that allows the crew to remain in contact with the ground on multiple video, voice and data channels. Almost continuous communications are possible through the Tianlian data relay satellites in Geostationary Orbit as shown by the continuous video coverage of the docking and ingress without any major video gaps.

 

In-flight entertainment options for the crew include TV programs and music uplinked from the ground and they can phone their families whenever they wish to do.

 

To make the crew’s stay more comfortable, engineers went through great lengths to make the acoustic environment more benign. The constant buzzing of fans and electronics as well as the operation of life support systems are among the most frequent complaints from astronauts spending time on various spacecraft including the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. The ambient acoustic environment on Tiangong-2 should be less than 50 decibels and the crew can make use of noise canceling equipment to ensure they can get a good night’s rest.

 

Photo: Weibo via Chinaspaceflight.com

 

 

BX-2 Satellite – Image: Via ChinaSpaceflight.com

 

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Upcoming this weekend is another highly anticipated event of the Tiangong-2 mission – the release of the Banxing-2 satellite that has been riding piggyback on Tiangong-2 since launch. The satellite is outfitted with a precise attitude determination and control system and an ammonia-based propulsion system for proximity-flying with Tiangong-2.

 

BX-2 carries a series of visible light cameras including a 25 Megapixel camera and wide-angle imagers to collect photos of the space laboratory in orbit with the spectacular backdrop of Earth.

 

According to reports, Banxing-2 will follow Tiangong-2 at close range for several orbits before opening the gap to a few Kilometers where it will continue to shadow the space laboratory.

http://spaceflight101.com/tiangong-2-astronauts-enter-work-routine/

 

 

Tiangong-2 Astronauts Feed Silkworms, Work Out on Special Running Machine

video is 3:07 min.

 

 

 

 

Live: Chinese astronauts enter Tiangong-2 space lab from Shenzhou-11 spacecraft

video is 34:43 min.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Companion Satellite released from Tiangong-2 Space Lab for Orbital Photo Shoot

 

Tiangong-Shenzhou Complex Photographed by BX-2 Satellite – Image: CCTV

 

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China’s Tiangong-2 space laboratory released a small companion satellite Saturday night for an out-of-this-world photo shoot and formation flying exercise.

 

Banxing-2 – around the size of a printer – is outfitted with high-resolution cameras to capture views of the Tiangong-Shenzhou complex and perform a rendezvous exercise with the orbiting laboratory.

 

Banxing-2 is the second such mission launched by China – the first Banxing satellite launched with the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft in 2008, China’s third crewed spaceflight dedicated to the country’s first spacewalk.

 

The 40-Kilogram satellite was released from the spacecraft’s orbital module two days into the three-day mission and used a 1.3-megapixel camera to collect photos of Shenzhou-7 with the backdrop of Earth as it drifted away.

 

BX-2 Departure Path – Image: CCTV

 

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Banxing literally translates to ‘Companion Satellite’.

 

Banxing-2, built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), has a side length of 40 centimeters and weighs in at 47 Kilograms. It is smaller, but heavier than its predecessor.

 

BX-2 hosts a vastly improved warm-gas propulsion system comprised of a liquid ammonia tank that stores the propellant which is routed to an evaporator system and a buffer that stores high-pressure gas injected into the engine nozzle by a redundant valve system. It achieves a thrust of 85 Millinewtons and a specific impulse of 102 seconds. The system is more-efficient than its predecessor that had an output of only one third gas and two thirds solid ammonia.

 

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The solar-powered Banxing-2 hosts a navigation system capable of automatically completing stationkeeping and flyaround maneuvers of an orbital target, in this case Tiangong-2.

 

The satellite was installed in the transfer compartment that joins the Service and Orbital Modules of Tiangong-2 and offers some space for external equipment such as Star Trackers, Earth-imaging instruments, space science payloads, laser reflectors and the detachable satellite.

 

Separation of Banxing-2 occurred at 23:31 UTC on Saturday, 7:31 a.m. Beijing time on Sunday and the two Astronauts aboard Tiangong-2, Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, used handheld cameras to capture footage of the satellite as it pulled out below and in front of the orbiting complex.

 

Credit: Xinhua

 

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In addition to autonomous rendezvous and orbital maneuvers, Banxing-2 will also be tasked with employing its cameras for a study of orbital debris, attempting to identify debris with the infrared and visible cameras. The satellite will remain in operation for at least two months after Shenzhou-11 departs Tiangong-2 to complete its secondary mission of studying space debris and capturing views of the Earth.

 

Day 4 on Tiangong-2 – Photo: CCTV

 

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Meanwhile, aboard the Tiangong-2 orbital lab, the two crew members continue tackling a busy schedule filled with a variety of science experiments. In a diary entry from Tiangong-2, rookie Astronaut Chen Dong reported he was enjoying the feeling of weightlessness and the views he can get of the Earth when time permits, though their work days are very busy and the Astronauts typically go to sleep soon after their working hours are over.

 

They are expected to remain aboard Tiangong-2 until mid-November when they will again board their Shenzhou-11 spacecraft to undock and, within a few hours, complete their deorbit burn for a parachute-assisted landing in Inner Mongolia.

http://spaceflight101.com/companion-satellite-released-from-tiangong-2/

 

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Good video and data here...

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

A few good humor bits....

 

 

 

Children send birthday wishes to astronaut Jing Haipeng in space

 

The picture shows a birthday card for taikonaut Jing Haipeng for his 50th birthday. It consists of children's painting works. Oct. 24, 2016 is Jing Haipeng's 50th birthday. Jing, with fellow taikonaut Chen Dong, entered the space lab Tiangong-2 last week and will live in the space lab for 30 days before returning to Earth. (Xinhua)

 

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BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Children from across the world have extended birthday wishes to taikonaut Jing Haipeng, who is currently orbiting the earth in lab Tiangong-2.

 

"Happy birthday Uncle Jing Haipeng, 'Tashi delek'," said a Tibetan primary school girl using the Tibetan greeting for good luck and best wishes. She also said that it was her dream to become an astronaut.

 

Jing, commander of the Shenzhou-11 mission, turned 50 on Monday.

 

Xinhua has collected over 10,000 birthday wishes for Jing from children from all over the world, including messages, pictures and videos sent from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as countries including the United States and Sweden.

 

"I feel lucky to be this close to an astronaut," said a pupil in Beijing. "I'm more than willing to send my birthday wishes to Uncle Jing."

 

A student from Hangzhou school for the deaf sent her birthday message by sign language. Two days ago, she asked the astronauts in the space lab whether they had seen aliens.

 

"I haven't seen aliens, yet, but I do harbor a hope that I will see aliens, and many other peculiar things aside," Chen Dong, Jing's teammate in the mission, replied in his Space Journal.

 

Xinhua has sent some of the children's messages, pictures and videos to Jing.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/25/c_135777873.htm

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Orbital View of Tiangong 2 and Shenzhou 11

 

Tiangong 2 and Shenzhou 11   CNSA

 

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CNSA has released imagery taken by a smallsat deployed the other day that shows Tiangong 2 and Shenzhou 11

http://spaceref.com/china-1/orbital-view-of-tiangong-2-and-shenzhou-11.html

 

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The Second Meeting of the U.S.-China Space Dialogue

 

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Pursuant to their shared goal of advancing civil space cooperation, as agreed upon in the Strategic Track of the U.S. - China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in June 2015 and reaffirmed in June 2016, the United States and China convened their second Civil Space Dialogue on October 20, 2016, in Washington, DC.

 

This ongoing Civil Space Dialogue enhances cooperation between the two countries, promotes responsible behavior in space, and encourages greater transparency and openness on a variety of space-related issues.

 

The Department of State led the meeting for the United States and the China National Space Administration represented China. Also supporting this meeting were U.S. Government representatives from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, including Administrator Charles Bolden, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Defense.

 

At the meeting, U.S. and Chinese officials exchanged information on space policies and programs, and conducted discussions on further collaboration related to: Earth and space science; space and terrestrial weather; space debris and spaceflight safety; and the long-term sustainability of outer space activities.

 

Both sides agreed to hold the third meeting of the Dialogue in China in 2017.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2016/10/263499.htm

 

I hope this leads to science co-operation in space....everyone wins then, globally.   

[Draggendrop Veteran]

bits and bytes from this article...

 

China's Tiangong-2 Space Lab Crew Launches Small Satellite

 

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The two-man Shenzhou-11 crew of China's ongoing mission to the Tiangong-2 space lab has launched  a small "accompanying" satellite, according to state media reports.

 

The 104-lb.(47 kilograms) satellite – which is about the size of a printer — was deployed from the Tiangong-2 space lab on Sunday (Oct. 23) at 7:31 a.m., local Beijing time.

 

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At the end of October, the satellite will orbit close to Tiangong-2 and the docked Shenzhou-11 spacecraft to take photos using ahigh-resolution camera. The accompanying satellite will also carry out space experiments with Tiangong-2, according to a description.

 

China's Shenzhou-11 spacecraft launched two astronauts — Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong — into space on Oct. 17 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It docked with Tiangong-2 two days later.

 

Another task set for the Shenzhou-11 crew is a quantum key distribution experiment that will be conducted by the space travelers and scientists on Earth in an effort to carry out space-to-ground quantum communication. Last Friday (Oct. 21), the Shenzhou-11 crew The two carried out a brain-computer interaction experiment and an in-space plant cultivation experiment last Friday.

 

 

 

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Plant cultivation

 

In a CCTV-Plus interview, Wang Longji, scientist, Environment Control and Life Support Lab, China Astronaut Research and Training Center explains:  "First, we want to check the water control and nutrition transmission and measurement technologies. Second, we want to check the technologies for sowing seeds, pulling up unnecessary seedlings and looking after plants automatically while in orbit," Wang said. "Third, we want collect data concerning the volume of oxygen produced by photosynthesis, the harvest yield, and the plants' nutritional quality and edibility. Fourth, the plant cultivation experiment will bring happiness to the astronauts and improve their working efficiency and moods during their 30-day stay in space."

According to Yang Liwei, nearly 40 experiments have been arranged for this space voyage, sixteen of which are related to aerospace medicine and four of which concern application practices.

 

"All the experiments are in preparation for our future space station," Yang said in a CCTV-Plus interview. "The space lab is built for our experimental needs and for us to accumulate experience. So, according to our arrangements, the tasks will be carried out one by one. The workload is really heavy. As the other experiments are gradually launched, the situation will become more and more complicated and varied for the two astronauts."

http://www.space.com/34484-chinese-astronauts-launch-satellite-from-tiangong-2.html

 

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Satellite sends HD photos of Tiangong-2, Shenzhou-11

video is 1:13 min.

 

 

 

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China "well prepared" to launch Chang'e-5 lunar probe in 2017: top scientist

 

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TIANJIN, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- China is well prepared to launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe in 2017 to collect and bring back moon rock samples for scientific research, a leading Chinese scientist said Sunday.

 

Chief Scientist of China's Lunar Exploration Project Ouyang Ziyuan told reporters in northern city of Tianjin that the launch of Chang'e-5 represents the third stage of China's lunar exploration endeavor.

 

The first stage of lunar expedition was achieved by sending Chang'e-1, a circumlunar satellite, in 2007. For the second stage, China landed its lunar probe Chang'e-3 on the surface of the moon in 2013.

 

The scientist said the analysis of the structure and component of the samples to be collected by Chang'e-5 would help scientists deepen the study into the formation and the evolution of the moon.

 

"We are ready. Every lab is ready," he said. "Once the samples are back, we can begin our analysis right away."

 

He said the launch of Chang'e-5 would improve China's space science technology.

 

Ouyang also confirmed the launch of Chang'e-4, a relay of Chang'e-3, in 2018 to land on the far side of the moon, a breakthrough in human history.

The launch of the two lunar probes were first announced by State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense earlier this year.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/24/c_135775384.htm

 

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Hello...I have removed the last 5 comments and moved them to a new thread .....

 

 

This will enable us to have a discussion in an appropriate thread so that this thread can remain on topic for CNSA science news.

 

Hopefully no one is offended and I think we can have some fun with the other thread...looking forward to discussion there.

 

Thanks for understanding....teflon suit on....

 

Draggendrop

[Draggendrop Veteran]

This article is of interest...

 

Next step toward a gravitational-wave observatory in space

 

Artist's impression of two black holes as they spiral towards each other before merging, releasing gravitational waves - fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime. Image courtesy ESA-C.Carreau.

 

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ESA has invited European scientists to propose concepts for the third large mission in its science programme, to study the gravitational universe.

A spaceborne observatory of gravitational waves - ripples in the fabric of spacetime created by accelerating massive objects - was identified in 2013 as the goal for the third large mission (L3) in ESA's Cosmic Vision plan.

 

A Gravitational Observatory Advisory Team was appointed in 2014, composed of independent experts. The team completed its final report earlier this year, further recommending ESA to pursue the mission having verified the feasibility of a multisatellite design with free-falling test masses linked over millions of kilometres by lasers.

 

"Gravitational waves promise to open a new window for astronomy, revealing powerful phenomena across the universe that are not accessible via observations of cosmic light," says Alvaro Gimenez, ESA's Director of Science.

 

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Lessons learned from LISA Pathfinder will be crucial to developing this mission, but much new technology will also be needed to extend the single-satellite design to multiple satellites. For example, lasers much more powerful than those used on LISA Pathfinder, as well as highly stable telescopes, will be necessary to link the freely falling masses over millions of kilometres.

 

Large missions in ESA's Science Programme are ESA-led, but also allow for international collaboration. The first large-class mission is Juice, the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer, planned for launch in 2022, and the second is Athena, the Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics, an X-ray observatory to investigate the hot and energetic universe, with a planned launch date in 2028.

 

Letters of intent for ESA's new gravitational-wave space observatory must be submitted by 15 November, and the deadline for the full proposal is 16 January 2017. The selection is expected to take place in the first half of 2017, with a preliminary internal study phase planned for later in the year.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Next_step_toward_a_gravitational_wave_observatory_in_space_999.html

 

Lisa overview...

https://www.elisascience.org/

 

The reason this is interesting, is that the scope of the project has to be decided, as well as the partnerships. With ESA, a "partner" can't have more than 20% stake...this prevents project collapse when a member pulls out of the project.

 

From the articles that I have read, many countries now have an interest in their own project or partnership with others. China has expressed interest in a partnership with ESA, but this will have to be determined by ESA. China also has 3 alternate plans and will forge ahead one way or the other. I would like to see a partnership with ESA as this would go a long way in easing tensions and concentrate on science.

 

Chinese gravitational-wave hunt hits crunch time

 

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With such considerations in mind, the European Space Agency (ESA) is pursuing a space-based gravitational-wave detector. One of the Chinese proposals, Taiji, meaning ‘supreme ultimate’, is to create a more ambitious version of the leading proposal for the European project, which is called eLISA (Evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna).

 

Like eLISA, Taiji would consist of a triangle of three spacecraft in orbit around the Sun, which bounce lasers between each other (see ‘China’s choices’). The distance between eLISA’s components is still under discussion, but current plans suggest it could be 2 million kilometres, says eLISA member Karsten Danzmann of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hanover, Germany. Taiji’s spacecraft would be separated by 3 million kilometres, giving the detector access to different frequencies. Taiji would launch in 2033, slipping in a year ahead of eLISA’s current schedule. “If Taiji produces a Chinese version of eLISA, then it will bring China to the frontier,” says Yanbei Chen, a gravitational-wave physicist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who works on LIGO.

 

 

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Taiji project leader Wu Yue-Liang, a particle physicist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Theoretical Physics in Beijing, estimates that the project will cost 14 billion yuan (US$2 billion), roughly twice as much as ESA is budgeting for its gravitational-wave detector.

 

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Chinese researchers could also end up collaborating with Europe. As well as its main project, the Taiji group has outlined the possibility of a direct collaboration with eLISA: it would either contribute 1.5 billion yuan directly or develop its own scaled-down, 8-billion-yuan version of eLISA that would coordinate closely with the European effort, sharing data. Heinzel recommends that a united Chinese group work on one of these less ambitious options.

 

The direct contribution from China in particular could be a boon for eLISA. Originally, NASA collaborated with ESA on a planned space-based gravitational-wave observatory, named LISA. But the United States pulled out of LISA five years ago and ESA had to pare down the mission, resulting in the eLISA proposal. China’s entry into the project could fill that hole, says Rainer Weiss, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, who is credited as the chief inventor of LIGO. This would perhaps allow Europe to pursue a design closer to that of LISA, which was better equipped than the eLISA proposal and would have had a longer mission lifetime.

 

A decision is needed soon if China is to achieve a launch date around 2030, cautions Heinzel. “Now is the time to do very serious technology development,” he says. “It is time to start making decisions.”

http://www.nature.com/news/chinese-gravitational-wave-hunt-hits-crunch-time-1.19520

 

 

CAS Announces Third Chinese Gravitational Waves Research Project

 

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The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Tuesday announced another domestic research project on gravitational waves, the third such project China has unveiled in a week as Chinese scientists rush to apply for State funds following the news of a historic discovery made by U.S. researchers.

The Taiji Program, initiated by scientists with the CAS in 2008, has made progress in research on satellite technology and the source of gravitational waves, according to a press release issued by the CAS on Tuesday.

 

Gravitational wave detection in space has also been included in the CAS' 2050 space plan, the academy said.

 

The announcement came after two other domestic research projects, Tianqin and Ali, were unveiled on Saturday. Tianqin was initiated by Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University, and Ali was initiated by the CAS' Institute of High Energy Physics.

 

Like the other two projects, the Taiji program is also awaiting governmental approval, Qiao Congfeng, a senior official with the CAS and a member of the Taiji team, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

 

According to the Taiji team, the project aims to launch three satellites to detect medium- and low-frequency gravitational waves by 2030.

 

Qiao said the satellites launched by the Taiji program will orbit the sun, whereas the satellites launched by the Tianqi program are set to orbit Earth.

"Detecting medium- and low-frequency waves could greatly improve the accuracy of the positioning function of Beidou satellites," Qiao said.

 

The third program, Ali - named after the academy's observatory in Ali, Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region - will use ground equipment to detect primordial gravitational waves created by the first tremors of the Big Bang.

Tuesday's CAS press release said that although China's technology for detecting gravitational waves still lags behind that of other countries in several fields, China can narrow the gap by enhancing international cooperation.

 

The Taiji team has sent members to the annual meeting organized by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) team in Europe and also has taken turns organizing communication meetings with The Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany, the CAS statement said. (Xinhua)

http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/news/201602/t20160218_159687.shtml

 

China Research Team Plans To Work On Gravitational Wave Detection Project

http://www.hngn.com/articles/195087/20160405/china-research-team-plans-work-gravitational-wave-detection-project.htm

 

A project of this nature requires a long lead time and significant funding. This is one project that would benefit everyone if a collaboration was formed.

We shall have to wait on a decision by ESA since that decision will affect the route that China takes.

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Launch Schedule for China...coming up...

 

Quote

Nov. 3Long March 5 • Maiden Flight
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: Wenchang, China
A Chinese Long March 5 rocket will launch on its inaugural flight from a new launch pad on Hainan Island. The heavy-lift rocket will be among the world’s most powerful boosters, and it will be used to launch components of China’s planned space station and interplanetary missions. [Oct. 18]

http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

 

 

 

 

 

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The first Long March V Arrows Going to Launch Point 2016.10.28

 

 

 

 

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Long March V] [CZ-5 basic position

 

 

 

 

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Long March V [more] 2016.10.28 site map.

 

 

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Long March 5 Launch Vehicle

 

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The Long March 5 Space Launch Vehicle (CZ-5) builds the heavy-lift component in China’s new line of rockets introduced in 2015/16 to ultimately replace the country’s current Long March rocket series. Operated alongside the Long March 5 are the medium-lift Long March 7 and the small CZ-6 rockets to cover the entire spectrum of launches ranging from crew and cargo missions to China’s upcoming space station, standard LEO satellite launches and the delivery of heavy Geostationary Satellites.

 

The introduction of the CZ-5/6/7 series marks a major shift in rocket technology as China looks to phase out the CZ-2/3/4 vehicles which rely on a toxic hypergolic propellant combination and, performance-wise, are on the lower edge of what will be needed in the future. The new launchers use modular systems and common components across the different rockets as a cost-saving and simplification measure, allowing a quick build-up of heritage and permitting a streamlined production of launch vehicles to support an ever growing number of missions.

 

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Switching from Hydrazine and Nitrogen Tetroxide propellants to a Kerosene/Liquid Oxygen combination or fully cryogenic stages brings a number of advantages. Aside from their toxic nature, hypergolic propellants achieve a lower specific impulse than Kerolox at a much higher production cost – two very important factors to consider when optimizing the economical aspects of space travel.

 

Long March 5 Versions – Image: CALT

 

 

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Establishing a production center in Tanjin, a major harbor on China’s east coast, permits CZ-5 rocket stages to be transported to their primary launch site on Hainan Island by ship – lifting limitations on stage diameter associated with road transport.

 

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Long March 5 can be operated as a Single-Stage-to-Orbit vehicle when flying in the 5B variant lifting payloads to Low Earth Orbit. For high-energy missions, Long March 5 flies with two stages plus and optional third stage.

 

The Long March 5B version is based on a 5-meter Cryogenic Core Module (CZ-5-500) with four 3.35-meter CZ-5-300 boosters attached to it. Core and boosters ignite prior to liftoff, requiring no in-flight ignition events and limiting separation events to the jettisoning of boosters and payload fairing and the separation of the payload, an overall reduction of risk. The core stage is powered by a pair of YF-77 engines, an improved version of China’s YF-75 cryo engine in use on the Long March 3 series. CZ-5’s four boosters each host two YF-100 engines that are also employed by the Long March 6 and 7 launchers, increasing commonality between China’s new rockets.

 

Long March 5 Configuration – Image: CALT

 

Huge amounts of data at this link.....she's a heavy lifter...

http://spaceflight101.com/spacerockets/long-march-5/

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

China Readies Long March 5 for First Launch

 

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China's new Long March 5 rocket was transported to its launch pad yesterday in preparation for its inaugural launch according to China's official Xinhua news agency.  Xinhua did not specify the launch date, saying only it would be in "early November."

 

Long March 5 will be the largest of China's rockets, slightly smaller in capability than the U.S. Delta IV Heavy.  It will be able to place 25 metric tons (MT) into low Earth orbit (LEO) compared to Delta IV's 28.4 MT.

 

This is the fourth new Chinese rocket to make its debut in the past 13 months and the second to utilize China's new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island.

 

China tested two very small new rockets last fall, the liquid-fueled Long March 6 and solid-fueled Long March 11. The first launch from Wenchang was of the new medium-class Long March 7 in June. 

 

Long March 5, 6 and 7 are all part of China's plan to replace its older launch vehicles (Long March 2, 3 and 4) with those that use more environmentally-friendly propellants -- liquid oxygen (LOX)/kerosene instead of hydrazine.

 

Among the payloads China has announced for Long March 5 are space station modules that will be docked together in orbit to form a 60 MT space station around 2022.  China currently has two astronauts aboard its small (8.6 MT) Tiangong-2 space station, but they will remain there for only 30 days.  China has sent mixed signals as to whether a second crew will occupy Tiangong-2, but it is not intended for long-term occupancy.

 

While the 60 MT space station planned for 2022 is still small compared to the 400 MT International Space Station (ISS), under current plans, the ISS partners (the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, and 11 European countries) will discontinue ISS operations in 2024.  That could mean China's will become the only earth orbiting space station, although some or all of the ISS partners could decide to continue ISS operations thereafter.  NASA also is requesting input from the U.S. private sector to determine if a commercial space station is feasible as an ISS follow-on.

 

China also plans to use Long March 5 for robotic space exploration missions. They include a sample return mission to the Moon (Chang'e 5) next year and an orbiter/lander/rover to Mars in 2020.  China launched a lunar sample return test spacecraft in 2014 that demonstrated returning a capsule to Earth from lunar distance, and a lander/rover (Chang'e-3/Yutu) to the Moon's surface in 2013.  The 2020 Mars mission will be China's first to that planet on its own, although a Chinese orbiter was aboard Russia's failed Phobos-Grunt mission in 2012.

 

Long March 5 will open many new opportunities for China's space program in earth orbit and beyond.  It is roughly double the capability of its largest existing rockets, the Long March 3B (12 MT to LEO) and Long March 7 (13.5 MT to LEO).

http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/china-readies-long-march-5-for-first-launch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Mars] surround, a lander and rover.

 

 

 

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[Chang-e V / CE-5] lunar probe

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Upcoming Launches for CNSA

 

Quote

Nov. 3   Long March 5 • Maiden Flight
Launch time: Approx. 1000 GMT (6 a.m. EDT)
Launch site: Wenchang, China
A Chinese Long March 5 rocket will launch on its inaugural flight from a new launch pad on Hainan Island. The heavy-lift rocket will be among the world’s most powerful boosters, and it will be used to launch components of China’s planned space station and interplanetary missions. [Nov. 2]

November   Long March 11 • XPNAV 1
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: Jiuquan, China
A Chinese Long March 11 rocket will launch the X-ray Pulsar Navigation (XPNAV 1) satellite to test spacecraft navigation techniques using periodic X-ray emissions from pulsars. [Oct. 31]

November   Long March 2D • HXMT
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: Jiuquan, China
A Chinese Long March 2D rocket will launch the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope. The HXMT mission will conduct an all-sky survey with a suite of instruments designed to image the universe in the highest-energy X-rays, and study the formation and behavior of black holes and active galactic nuclei. [Sept. 16]

http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

 

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Long March 5 heavy-lifter ready to join China’s rocket inventory

 

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China is ready to debut a heavy-lifting rocket rivaling the biggest boosters in the world Thursday, paving the way for a backlog of missions to loft massive space station modules, send deep space probes to the moon and Mars, and perhaps deploy commercial satellites.

 

The Long March 5 rocket is bigger than anything else in China’s rocket inventory, and it closely matches the capacity of United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4-Heavy rocket, the largest existing rocket in the U.S. fleet.

 

The launcher is a leap in capability for China’s space program, which sees the Long March 5 as crucial to plans for a permanently-staffed space station, robotic sample return missions to the moon, a Mars rover, and hopes for China to gain a firmer foothold in the commercial launch industry.

China is revamping its Long March rocket family, successfully launching the Long March 6 light-class booster and the medium-lift Long March 7 rocket on inaugural flights in September 2015 and in June, respectively.

 

The Long March 5, with the power to hoist payloads more than twice as heavy as any other Chinese rocket, will round out the next-generation booster fleet. The new rockets eliminate the use of toxic propellants like hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, replacing them with more environmentally-friendly kerosene and hydrogen.

 

Launch crews rolled out the 187-foot-tall (57-meter) rocket Oct. 28 on a mobile launch platform, transferring the Long March 5 to its purpose-built launch pad at Wenchang, a new spaceport built on Hainan Island, just off the southern edge of the Chinese mainland, according to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

The Long March 5 rolled out to its launch pad at Wenchang on Oct. 28. Credit: CALT

 

Quote

The Long March 5 will lift off powered by 10 liquid-fueled engines mounted at the base of the launcher’s core stage and strap-on boosters. The engines will collectively generate around 2.4 million pounds of thrust at full throttle.

 

Chinese engineers who designed the Long March 5 clustered four liquid-fueled boosters, each powered by two YF-100 engines, around a core stage fitted with two YF-77 engines, China’s first booster-class rocket engines to burn super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as propellants.

 

The YF-100 engine, a more powerful model of Russia’s RD-120 rocket engine, consumes a mixture of rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen. The YF-100 engine can produce up to 270,000 pounds of thrust at sea level.

 

China acquired several RD-120 engines from Russia in the 1990s, and the YF-100 engine operates with oxygen-rich staged combustion, a closed propulsion cycle that minimizes propellant waste, resulting in a more efficient, but more complex, propulsion system.

 

The central stage’s two YF-77 engines, connected together with a structural thrust frame, each produce about 115,000 pounds of thrust at ground level, and up to 157,000 pounds of thrust in vacuum. The YF-77 is the largest hydrogen-fueled rocket engine ever built in China.

 

The YF-77 engines are flying for the first time, while China’s YF-100 engines successfully flew on the country’s Long March 6 and Long March 7 rockets on their maiden launches.

 

The Long March 5 rocket emerges from its assembly building at Wenchang. Credit: CALT

 

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Two YF-75D engines are on the Long March 5’s second stage. The restartable expander cycle YF-75D is the latest upgrade to China’s long line of cryogenic hydrogen-fueled upper stage engines, which first flew on a space mission in 1984.

 

On Thursday’s launch, the Long March 5’s liquid-fueled boosters should burn for around three minutes before their release to fall into the South China Sea. The YF-77 engines on the core stage are rated to fire for more than eight-and-a-half minutes, according to presentations by Chinese engineers at international aerospace conferences.

 

Chinese officials have not revealed exact timeline or the orbit to be reached on the Long March 5’s maiden flight, but the rocket may carry a Yuanzheng space tug designed to inject satellites directly into geostationary orbit, a more than 22,000-mile-high (nearly 36,000-kilometer) circular loop around Earth’s equator often used by communications satellites.

 

An experimental satellite named Shijian 17 is stowed inside the Long March 5’s nose shroud to conduct an electric propulsion demonstration in orbit.

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If Thursday’s test flight goes well, the Long March 5 could be cleared to launch China’s Chang’e 5 robotic moon mission next year to retrieve lunar samples and return them to Earth.

 

Another Long March 5 mission as soon as 2018 will put the centerpiece of China’s planned space station in low Earth orbit. The Tianhe 1 module will be joined by at least two other research labs to complete the space station by 2022, when it will host astronauts from China, and perhaps Europe and Russia, for six-month stays.

 

A precursor to the space station named Tiangong 2 is currently in orbit with two Chinese astronauts on-board. The crew is about halfway through a planned 33-day mission.

 

China is also developing a Mars orbiter and rover scheduled for liftoff on a Long March 5 booster in 2020.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/11/02/long-march-5-heavy-lifter-ready-to-join-chinas-rocket-inventory/

 

China readies Long March 5 for maiden launch

analysis...

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/11/china-long-march-5-maiden-launch/

 

 

Long March 5 Arrives at Launch Site for First Flight in south China

video is 1:39 min.

 

 

 

 

A close look at China’s new generation of space launch vehicles

video is 4:10 min.

 

 

 

 

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CZ-5 mobile platform, the bottom of the rocket

 

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// Just a side note, this is a spin-off of China's LFTR research, applied to their solar energy projects, which are massive.

 

 China's First Molten Salt Solar Thermal Plant Sends Power to Grid

 

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China's first molten salt solar thermal power plant has started to send electricity to the grid, said the developer based in north China's Tianjin municipality on Sunday.

 

Known as concentrated solar power, solar thermal energy is believed to be the next generation of solar energy, and an ideal green power source for energy-hungry countries like China.

 

The Tianjin Binhai Concentrating Solar Power Investment Co. Ltd. said its 50-megawatt molten salt trough project in Akesai in northwest China's Gansu Province shows the maturity of the commercial development of solar thermal technology.

 

Guan Jingdong, chair of the company, said that the company will carry out large-scale production with the technology in 2018, when it is scheduled to produce facilities with 200,000 kilowatts of annual solar power output.

 

Molten salt solar thermal plants can harness solar energy by using molten salt as a heat transfer medium.

 

The Akesai plant was among 20 demonstration solar thermal plants listed for construction by China's National Energy Administration in September as the government eyes the potential of renewable energy. (Xinhua)

http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/china_research/201610/t20161025_169288.shtml

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Launch schedule

 

Quote

November   Long March 11 • XPNAV 1
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: Jiuquan, China
A Chinese Long March 11 rocket will launch the X-ray Pulsar Navigation (XPNAV 1) satellite to test spacecraft navigation techniques using periodic X-ray emissions from pulsars. [Oct. 31]

November   Long March 2D • HXMT
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: Jiuquan, China
A Chinese Long March 2D rocket will launch the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope. The HXMT mission will conduct an all-sky survey with a suite of instruments designed to image the universe in the highest-energy X-rays, and study the formation and behavior of black holes and active galactic nuclei. [Sept. 16]

http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

 

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China launches Long March 5, one of the world’s most powerful rockets

 

The Long March 5 rocket takes off at 1243 GMT (8:43 a.m. EDT) on Thursday. Credit: Xinhua

 

Quote

China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket fired into space on a successful inaugural flight Thursday, debuting a brand new launcher that can carry twice the payload of any other Chinese booster and setting a keystone for the country’s ambitions for a space station and interplanetary exploration.

 

The maiden test flight gives China a rocket that nearly identically matches the capability of the world’s current space lift leader, United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4-Heavy rocket, and exceeds the performance of other heavy-lifters like Europe’s Ariane 5 and Russia’s Proton launcher.

 

The Long March 5 rocket, the product of two decades of research and at least nine years of construction, fabrication and testing, is a centerpiece of China’s plans to assemble a permanently-crewed space station in orbit and send robotic missions to the moon and Mars.

 

The powerful launcher, driven by 10 engines on its first stage and strap-on boosters, took off at 1243 GMT (8:43 a.m. EDT; 8:43 p.m. Beijing time) Thursday from the Wenchang space center on Hainan Island off the southern coast of the Chinese mainland.

 

The launch was delayed nearly three hours to resolve concerns with a liquid oxygen venting system and temperatures inside the Long March 5’s engines.

 

An on-board camera view shows the nose cones of two of the Long March 5’s four large 11-foot-diameter (3.35-meter) liquid-fueled boosters. Credit: CCTV

 

 

The glow from the Long March 5’s second stage YF-75D engines is seen from the view of an on-board camera. Credit: CCTV

 

Quote

China has at least two basic variants of the Long March 5 on the drawing board.

 

The version selected for Thursday’s maiden test flight has a second stage for geostationary and interplanetary missions. China says it is capable of delivering a payload of up to 14 metric tons, or nearly 31,000 pounds, to geostationary transfer orbit, nearly identically matching the lift capability of ULA’s Delta 4-Heavy and exceeding that of the European Ariane 5 rocket.

 

A shorter configuration without the second stage, named the Long March 5B, could place up to 25 metric tons, or 55,000 pounds, into low Earth orbit several hundred miles up, just shy of the Delta 4-Heavy’s capacity to the same orbit.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/11/03/china-launches-long-march-5-one-of-the-worlds-most-powerful-rockets/

 

 

Video: Long March 5 rocket lifts off on maiden flight

 

Quote

China debuted its new Long March 5 rocket Thursday with a successful nighttime blastoff on top of 2.4 million pounds of ground-shaking thrust from the country’s new Hainan Island spaceport.

 

Powered by 10 engines, the 187-foot-tall (57-meter) rocket took off at 1243 GMT (8:43 a.m. EDT; 8:43 p.m. Beijing time) and sent an experimental satellite into orbit.

 

The Long March 5 has twice the lift capacity of any other Chinese rocket, and it ranks among the most powerful rockets in the world, closely matching the performance of United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4-Heavy.

 

It can haul up to 14 metric tons, or 31,000 pounds, into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit stretching up to 22,300 miles (about 35,800 kilometers) above Earth. For low Earth orbit missions, such as deployments Chinese space station modules, the Long March 5 can deliver up to 25 metric tons, or 55,000 pounds.

 

Thursday’s launch attracted onlookers who gathered on beaches near the Wenchang space base on Hainan Island, prompting widespread social media reports.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/11/03/video-long-march-5-rocket-lifts-off-on-maiden-flight/

 

China Successfully Launches Iits Largest Carrier Rocket

video is 2:18 min.

 

 

 

We have a new Heavy on the planet, and it packs some punch....

 

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Poland, China to jointly build satellites, boost space Cooperation 

 

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WARSAW — Poland’s deputy prime minister and science minister Jarosław Gowin recently paid an official visit to China during which he discussed joint space plans by Warsaw and Beijing. Gowin said the two countries will jointly build a satellite, equipped with Polish instruments, that is to be launched in 2018.

 

Under the plan, the new satellite is to be equipped with developed research equipment, and it will study the far side of the moon. The deputy prime minister said that China is an emerging power in the field of space research, and the Polish government aims to intensify its cooperation with the Chinese authorities. The project was first unveiled following Gowin’s meeting with China’s Deputy Prime Minister Chin Liu Yandong in mid-October when Warsaw was offered to cooperate on a joint research project for which China would allocate about $20 million, according to the Polish official.

 

“I suggested that two sectors would be natural. The first one is space research. The Chinese have had considerable success in this field, and we want to develop our research on space and our space industry,” Gowin said, as quoted in a statement by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

 

Quote

“In 2018, the Chinese want to launch a Polish-Chinese satellite that will be sent to the moon’s orbit, it will contain very modern measurement instruments. These instruments will be developed by Polish scientists,” the deputy prime minister said.

 

Warsaw is expected to decide on the amount of its financial contribution to the joint space project in the coming weeks. The program’s scope could be expanded to include the construction of two satellites.

 

Quote

The latest development marks another move by the two countries to intensify their space cooperation. Last June, POLSA signed an agreement with the Chinese National Space Administration. The document states that the two agencies are to collaborate on joint research and monitoring activities, as well as on developing new telecommunications solutions.

 

What is noteworthy, the Polish government is also hoping to use the experience from its cooperation with China on a lunar exploration mission to foster the setting up of a national space company. The firm, whose establishment Warsaw is currently mulling, is designed to spur the development of smaller companies from the Polish space sector.

http://spacenews.com/poland-china-to-jointly-build-satellites-boost-space-cooperation/

 

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China preparing Long March 7 rocket for Tiangong-2 refuelling mission

 

Components for the first Long March 7 in Tianjin in February 2016. (Photo: CASC)

 

Quote

Components for a Long March 7, one of a new generation of Chinese space launch vehicles, are currently being assembled in Tianjin in preparation for the launch of a new cargo and refuelling spacecraft.

 

The second Long March 7, capable of lofting a 13.5-tonne payload to low Earth orbit, is expected to be shipped from North China to the southern island province of Hainan in early 2017.

 

From the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre, the rocket will launch the Tianzhou-1 cargo ship into orbit, where it will dock with the Tiangong-2 space lab to test automated on-orbit refuelling.

 

This technology validation mission, currently expected in April, is crucial to China's plans to establish and maintain a large, permanently crewed space station in orbit.

 

Quote

The core module of the Chinese space station, Tianhe-1, is set to begin in 2018, with construction expected to be completed in the early 2020s.

The disclosure on the progress of the rocket came from Wang Xiaojun of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) and chief commander of the Long March 7 program on Sunday.

 

Wang spoke to press at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, the 11th edition of an annual show held in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.

 

On display in Zhuhai will be exhibits from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the main contractor for the space program, of which CALT is a subsidiary. 

 

Exhibits will include scale versions of the recently-launched Tiangong-2 space lab, as well as the orbiter, lander and rover for China's 2020 Mars mission.

 

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Plans for Tiangong-2

 

Two astronauts launched on Shenzhou-11 are currently on board Tiangong-2 on China's longest crewed mission yet. They will return to Inner Mongolia in mid-to-late November. 

 

China has hinted that there will be no further flights to Tiangong-2, meaning the Tianzhou-1 mission would merely be a test. It would, however, allow science experiments onboard to continue running. 

 

This refuelling technology cannot be simulated on the ground and it has to be operated in the microgravity space environment to prove function and reliability. 

 

The Long March 7 completed a successful maiden launch in June 2016, laying a solid foundation for its future flights, Wang said.

 

The launch also tested a scale return capsule for a next-generation crewed spacecraft, designed to be capable of taking astronauts beyond low Earth orbit. 

http://gbtimes.com/china/china-preparing-long-march-7-rocket-tiangong-2-refuelling-mission

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Nations ask to play part in space lab

 

China will start launching parts of its permanent manned space station starting in 2018 and put the space station into service around 2022.

 

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Many nations have reached out to China, seeking to play a part in the country's future manned space station, a senior space industry official said Wednesday.

 

"We believe there is a wide range of fields suitable for such international collaboration and these prospective cooperation projects will have huge potential," said Fu Zhiheng, vice-president of China Great Wall Industry Corp, a State-owned enterprise that is the nation's only authorized firm for international space collaboration.

 

"In fact, we are in talks with some foreign countries in this regard," said Fu, who spoke with China Daily on the sidelines of the 11th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai of Guangdong province.

 

"My company's Manned Space Cooperation Center works with the China Manned Space Agency and has been pushing forward with related efforts," he said. Fu did not name any of the nations involved.

 

China will start launching parts of its permanent manned space station starting in 2018 and put the space station into service around 2022, according to previous reports.

 

It will consist of three parts - a core module attached to two space labs, each weighing about 20 metric tons. A scaled model of the space station is on display at the six-day air show that opened on Tuesday in Zhuhai.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Nations_ask_to_play_part_in_space_lab_999.html

 

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BRICS Space Agencies Sign Memorandum on Cooperation in Space Exploration

 

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Roscosmos Director General Igor Komarov stated that BRICS made a step into the future, as joint efforts on the use of the ERS system would help to eliminate consequences of natural disasters, improve environmental protection and further sustainable social and economic development of the BRICS countries.

 

Representatives of the space agencies of BRICS member states discussed elaborating a document on sharing data obtained by the orbital groups of Earth remote sensing (ERS) satellites and signed a memorandum on cooperation in space exploration for peaceful purposes at the meeting in the Chinese city of Zhuhai, the press service of the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos said on Monday.

 

"The document that we are preparing represents a mechanism that would facilitate cooperation in the above-mentioned areas (peaceful exploration of outer space and joint use of the ERS system), and I hope that we will be able to finalize it in the near future," Roscosmos Director General Igor Komarov said.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/BRICS_Space_Agencies_Sign_Memorandum_on_Cooperation_in_Space_Exploration_999.html

 

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Kuaizhou-1 scheduled to launch in December

 

Kuaizhou (speedy vessel) is a low-cost solid-fuelled carrier rocket with high reliability and short preparation period.

 

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China plans to launch Kuaizhou-1 solid-fuelled carrier rocket in December, a breakthrough in its commercial rocket launches.

 

The news was announced Wednesday at the 11th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, by Lyu Xiaoge, a spokesperson for China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.

 

Kuaizhou (speedy vessel) is a low-cost solid-fuelled carrier rocket with high reliability and short preparation period. It was designed to launch low-orbit satellites weighing under 300 kg.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Kuaizhou_1_scheduled_to_launch_in_December_999.html

 

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China to Inaugurate Heavy-lift Rocket With 100-Ton Capacity Around Year 2030

video is 1:25 min.

 

Quote

Published on Nov 3, 2016

China will inaugurate its heavy-lift launch vehicle which can send 100 tons of load to low Earth orbit in or around 2030, said an official after the country successfully launched its largest carrier rocket Long March-5 on Thursday. 

 

Tian Yulong, chief engineer of State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, made the remarks at a press conference held in Wenchang City of south China's Hainan Province. 

 

"China has always followed the path of independent innovation and development in its space exploration. We began our systematic efforts to tackle key problems in the development of heavy-lift launch vehicle since last year. The successful launch of the Long March-5 carrier rocket today will greatly uphold the research and development of the heavy-lift launch rocket," he said. 

 

"The heavy-lift launch rocket will be a milestone marking China as a great space power. In the future, we target a carrying capacity of over 100 tons to the low earth orbit," Tian added. 

 

China plans to send the first heavy-lift launch vehicle of such kind into space within 15 years, noted Tian. 

 

"We have an aim that within 15 years, around year 2030 or before, we will have such kind of heavy-lift launch vehicle taking its inaugural flight. By that time, our country will see significant improvement in space probe capacity and bigger breakthroughs in space technology," he said. 

 

The Long March-5 carrier rocket, the basic module for China's new generation of environment-friendly carrier rocket series, made its maiden flight at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center early in the day. 

 

 

 

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[Long March V / CZ-5] will undertake missions to Mars in 2020 to 4.5-ton large Mars probe sent from Earth 50 million kilometers of the Martian orbit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

We have a launch...

 

Quote

Nov. 11  Long March 11 • XPNAV 1
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: Jiuquan, China
A Chinese Long March 11 rocket will launch the X-ray Pulsar Navigation (XPNAV 1) satellite to test spacecraft navigation techniques using periodic X-ray emissions from pulsars. [Nov. 3]

http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

 

 

Second launch for Long March 11 – lofts five satellites

 

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The Chinese have conducted the second launch of the Long March-11 solid fuel rocket – this time carrying five small satellites into orbit. The launch took place from a mobile launch platform from the Jiuquan satellite Launch Center at 23:42 UTC on Wednesday.

Chinese launch:

Onboard the LM-11 rocket was the XPNAV-1 pulsar navigation satellite. Along for the ride were the Xaiaoxiang-1 and three Lishui-1 satellites.

 

With a launch mass of 240 kg, the XPNAV-1 ( X-ray Pulsar NAVigation) satellite will test autonomous spacecraft navigation. X-ray pulsar navigation is a navigation tool in which periodic X-ray signals emitted from pulsars are used to determine the location of a spacecraft in deep space.

 

Current ground-based navigation methods are limited by the time delay between spacecraft and the Earth. However, for certain type of pulsars, called “millisecond pulsars,” pulses of radiation occur with the regularity and precision of an atomic clock.

 

As a result, in some scenarios, the pulsar X-ray can take less time to estimate a location. This leads to more precise measurements of a spacecraft’s location.

As X-rays from pulsars are absorbed by the atmosphere, scientists have to test this technique in space. This satellite is to detect the details of X-ray signals of 26 nearby pulsars and to create a pulsar navigation database. This target could be achieved within five to 10 years.

more at the link...

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/11/second-long-march-11-five-satellites/

 

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CHINA TO LAUNCH POWERFUL CIVILIAN HYPERSPECTRAL SATELLITE

 

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Electro-optical devices like cameras and infrared sensors generally observe only one band in the electromagnetic spectrum, i.e. cameras observe the band visible to human eyesight and infrared cameras view the infrared band. Hyperspectral cameras and sensors, on the other hand, can simultaneously view hundreds of electromagnetic bands for a single image, building a layered 'cube' of the image in different electromagnetic wavelengths. The use of such a wide range of wavelengths provides the ability to observe objects which conceal their emissions in one part of the spectrum (i.e. stealth aircraft and thermally suppressed engines) or are hidden (such as underground bunkers).

 

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Since the 1970s, China has a strong history of scientific and civilian utilization of hyperspectral imaging. Space-based platforms include the Chang'e lunar missions and Earth-observation from the Tiangong space station and HJ-1 small satellite. Aircraft-mounted hyperspectral imagers are used for tasks such as environmental surveys, oil prospecting, disaster relief and crop measurement. As computer processing power improves and hyperspectral sensors get smaller, Chinese civilian and military applications are likely to expand.

 

Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth
CCRSS
The CCRSS's hyperspectral camera will be a powerful civilian one in orbit, with a 15 meter resolution across 328 electromagnetic bands, once launched later this year.

 

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A key in this program is the China Commercial Remote-sensing Satellite System (CCRSS), to be launched later this year. It can collect data on 328 electromagnetic bands, offering very high resolution of up to 15 meters, according to the researchers from the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth in Beijing. In comparison, the U.S. TacSat 3, launched in 2010, collects several hundred electromagentic bands, though at a higher resolution of 4 meters. While it is being launched for commercial users, like most other Chinese earth-observation satellites, it would also be available for military use.

more at the link...

http://www.popsci.com/china-to-launch-worlds-most-powerful-hyperspectral-satellite

 

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Shenzhen tech firm Kuang-Chi launches turtle into near space

 

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A Shenzhen-based technology company will launch a huge balloon on Sunday carrying a 2.5-metre-wide cabin carrying a live turtle to test the possibility of taking humans to “near-space” heights, or about twice the altitude flown by commercial airlines.

If all goes to plan, Kuang-Chi Group hopes to launch its first trial flights carrying humans next year with officially approved commercial flights by 2018 or 2019.

 

Today’s flight will be the by the first by such a craft carrying a live animal to the near space region of earth’s atmosphere that lies between 20 to 100km above sea level – too high for civilian aircraft, but too low for satellites.

The Traveller-II balloon was due to lift at about 7am from launch site near Korla, southwest of Urumqi in Xinjiang province .

The craft will be able to stay aloft for between 30 to two hours, carried by wind, depending on atmospheric conditions.

 

During the ascent, the passenger – a 4cm long pig-nosed turtle – will have to share its seat with various cameras and sensors recording the conditions.

The helium-filled balloon is about 40 metres wide and including the cabin weights about 2 tonnes.

Compared with satellites, near-space aircraft cost significantly less to make, launch and operate, said Kuang-Chi’s chief engineer for the project, Dr Zhou Fei.

“Near space has remained unexplored for human beings. If Traveller II can land successfully with the turtle alive, it means China’s near space exploration technology will be the best in the world.”

US company World View has been testing a similar balloon-lifted craft in Arizona.

more at the link...

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2043322/shenzhen-tech-firm-kuang-chi-launches-turtle-near-space

 

another article...

China firm reportedly invests $1.5 billion in a space balloon

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/chinese-company-joins-space-tourism-race-with-a-deep-space-balloon/

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Bit more info on the CZ-11 launch...

 

Chinese Long March 11 launches first Pulsar Navigation Satellite into Orbit

 

Photo: Weibo/Chinaspaceflight.com

 

Quote

China’s Long March 11 rocket performed its second launch on Thursday morning from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to lift a group of small satellites into orbit in support of a demonstration of pulsar navigation and Earth Observation.

 

The all solid-fueled Long March 11 rocket blasted off from a mobile launch platform at 7:42 a.m. Beijing time Thursday, 23:42 UTC on Wednesday, aiming for a Sun Synchronous Orbit for the delivery of the XPNAV-1 Pulsar Navigation Satellite, the Xiaoxiang-1 CubeSat for a demonstration of a stabilization system for small space telescopes, and three other CubeSats and attached payloads.

 

Long March 11 – China’s quick-response, light lifter – made its first flight on September 25, 2015 when it successfully launched the Pujian-1 and three Tianwang satellites into orbit. Developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), Long March 11 represents a quick-reaction launch vehicle that can be kept in storage for an extended period of time and readied for liftoff on short notice, even in a matter of hours.

 

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Long March 11 is a four-stage launch vehicle standing 20.8 meters tall, 2.0 meters in diameter and weighing in at approximately 60 metric tons. The vehicle has a liftoff thrust of 120 metric ton-force and is optimized for Low Earth Orbit Missions which typically involve the vehicle firing its first three stages in close succession ahead of a coast phase to allow the fourth stage to inject satellites into circular orbits.

 

CZ-11 can lift 700 Kilograms into a standard 200-Kilometer orbit, 380kg can be delivered into a standard 700-Kilometer Sun Synchronous Orbit. The launcher can fly with two different payload fairings, 1.6 or 2.0 meters in diameter, to support a variety of payloads.

 

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Riding as auxiliary payloads on this launch were four CubeSats.

 

The 7.5-Kilogram Xiaoxiang-1 is a 6U CubeSat measuring 30 by 20 by 10 centimeters in size. It was manufactured by the Changsha Gaoxinqu Tianyi Research Institute to test a small satellite stabilization system suitable for a small orbiting astronomical telescopes. Lishui-1, using the 2 or 3U CubeSat form factor, aims to establish a constellation of small Earth-imaging craft collecting remote sensing data for the commercial market.

 

CAS-2T is a student-built amateur radio satellite that uses the 2U CubeSat form factor but operates as an attached payload, not separating from the CZ-11 upper stage. The satellite carries VHF and UHF transponders for use by the HAM radio community. Another attached payload flown on this mission used a sensor suite comprised of cameras, optical communication system and other sensors to measure different parameters during the flight to orbit. It is also reported that the launch carried the Pina-2 CubeSat operated by Aerospace DFH.

 

Orbital Data shows the Long March 11 launch left six objects in orbit – four are located in a 490 by 510-Kilometer orbit inclined 97.4 degrees while the other two entered an elliptical orbit of 500 by 1,030 Kilometers at an inclination of 98.8°.

http://spaceflight101.com/long-march-11-launches-xpnav-1-satellite/

 

 

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[Long March 11th / CZ-11] small solid rocket takeoff short video

 

 

 

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CZ-11 rocket debris falls Myanmar Pagan (HpaKan) https://goo.gl/QpRclY

 

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Launch Controllers recount dramatic Long March 5 Countdown

 

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Chinese launch controllers took to social media after last week’s successful inaugural launch of the Long March 5 rocket to recount a dramatic chain of events leading up to liftoff that were not visible to outside observers at the time.

 

Thursday’s maiden launch of the Long March 5 was, by all accounts, a success – demonstrating China’s largest rocket and delivering the Shijian-17 experimental satellite to its target orbit, roaming over 36,000 Kilometers above the equator before settling in its operational slot. However, like the rocket’s decade-long development, Thursday’s countdown was anything but smooth.

Real good analysis of the problems prior to launch....long article, but a good read.

http://spaceflight101.com/launch-controllers-recount-dramatic-long-march-5-countdown/

 

Chinese Scientists Overcome Difficulties to Launch Long March 5

video is 3:47 min.

 

 

 

[BetaguyGZT]

It's good to see smiles and emotion from these folks.  

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Quote

Nov. 11   Long March 2D • Yunhai 1
Launch time: Approx. 2310 GMT (6:10 p.m. EST)
Launch site: Jiuquan, China
A Chinese Long March 2D rocket will launch the Yunhai 1 satellite. [Nov. 10]

http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long March 2D fires opening salvo in new weather observation constellation

 

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China launched the first satellite of a new orbital meteorological constellation. The Yunhai-1 (01) was launched at 23:14 UTC by a Long March-2D (Chang Zheng-2D) launch vehicle from the LC43/603 launch complex of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The launch comes two days after the launch of the second Long March-11 launch vehicle carrying the XPNAV-1 pulsar navigation satellite and other small satellites.

 

Chinese Launch:

 

Not much is known about the Yunhai-1 satellites, with no specifics provided by the Chinese media.

 

However, it is understood the satellite constellation was developed by SAST and will probably likely the clouds using radio occultation. Technically it will be used for the exploration of atmospheric environmental elements, space environment detection, disaster prevention and mitigation, and scientific experiments.

 

The Chang Zheng-2D launch vehicle – used for this mission – is a two-stage rocket developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. With storable propellants is mainly used to launch a variety of low earth orbit satellites.

more at the link...

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/11/long-march-2d-launches-weather-yunhai-01/

 

 

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At 7:14 on November 12, 2016, China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Long March 2C carrier rocket, the clouds 01 One star into space. Clouds on the 1st star 01 is mainly used for detecting the atmospheric elements of the marine environment, space environmental exploration, and disaster prevention and mitigation, and scientific experiments.

 

Next Launch...

 

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Nov. 20   Long March 3C • Tianlian 1
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: Xichang, China
A Chinese Long March 3C rocket will launch China’s fourth Tianlian 1 data relay satellite. [Nov. 10]

http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/