China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
by78
General
A new engine testing center has broken ground in Laiyuan county in Hebei province. The center will be operated by the 101st Institute of the Sixth Academy of CASC. Once finished, it will house comprehensive testing facilities for cryogenic liquid rocket engines up to 500-tons of thrust. First to come online later this year is a testbed for liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (Lox/LH2) cryogenic engines.
An update on the new engine testing center. Both the main test bench and the measurement and control center have been topped out. A test will be carried out on the main test bench next month.
Compared to the Queqiao-1, the Queqiao-2 relay satellite replaced the satellite platform from CAST-100 to CAST-2000 while maintaining the original 4.2-meter umbrella antenna, and the launch mass increased from 448.7kg to 1200kg. The target orbit switches from a Halo orbit orbiting the L2 point of the Earth Moon to an elliptical frozen orbit orbiting the Moon. The design lifespan has been increased from 5 years to 8 years. The maximum ground bit rate has been increased from 10Mbits/s to 500Mbits/s...
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is preparing its satellite operators to perform on-orbit satellite refueling, for peacetime and wartime space logistics. They are also already integrating lessons learned into corresponding military doctrine and training tools. To further ready a PLA in-space logistics force, a Chinese defense contractor has indicated, for the last six years, that it has a mission ready satellite refueler for geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO). With more clarity on the PLA’s requirements for satellite logistics, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has approved new commercial players to enter the field to provide, not only technology, but also frameworks to shape international norms. These developments have largely gone unnoticed, perhaps because of an overemphasis on a low probability satellite grappling event.
by78
General
Queqiao-2's main parabolic antenna deploying. The antenna has a diameter of 0.6m and weighs around 20kg.
by78
General
The 3.35m-diameter final stage (driven by the 10-ton Lox/LH2 YF-75H engine) of the improved Long March 8 has successfully completed full-system test run.
A YF-75H engine on a test bench.
by78
General
Tianbing has recently completed calibration tests on the first production batch of the reusable LOX/Kerosene TH-12 engines, which will power the Tianlong-3 launch vehicle that is scheduled to conduct its maiden flight in the 1st half of this year.
Tianbing has completed calibration tests on all the TH-12 engines that will power the first flight of the Tianglong-3 launch vehicle.
