China's Space Program News Thread

[taxiya]

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China completed the country's first repeat flight test of a reusable liquid oxygen kerosene rocket engine. The said engine flew twice with maintenance and reassembly in between.



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The interesting part is here "微信公众号“ 西安航天动力研究所”9月13日消息，近日，由西安航天动力研究所自主研制的某型液氧煤油发动机首次实现重复飞行试验验证。该型发动机作为某飞行器主动力装置参加首飞试验后，经检测维护，再次装配并顺利完成了重复飞行试验，国内首次实现了液体火箭动力的重复使用。"

The engine was used on X vehicle's 1st flight test, then finished another (2nd) flight test. So the vehicle must be able to carry the engine back safely. This makes me wonder if the two tests have already been reported.
1st flight test being July 16th 2021, took off from Jiuquan, landed at Alxa airport.
2nd flight test being August 26th 2022, took off from Jiuquan, landed at Alxa airport.

Both flights are vertically taking off and horizontal landing, sub-orbit flight meaning only 1st stage. Now less than a month later, CASC concluded engine re-usability being successful after examining it.

If I am right, it could mean that these VTHL sub-orbit flight has nothing to do with the space plane program, but only a way to verify the engine before attempting a vertical landing.

The original source is CASC 6th's wechat account, in it the engine type was not discussed, but "staged combustion" was mentioned, so I suspect that the engine in question is YF-100. This matches research papers that says YF-100 is designed to be reusable. The wechat account also said that the engine's deep throttling capability has been tested in CZ-8 launches.

 

[SanWenYu]

The CZ-2C family will have 10+ launches every year until the end of the14th five-years plan (from 2021 to 2025).

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长二丙火箭“十四五”期间将保持年度10次以上发射频率​

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北京9月9日电 (马帅莎)今天是长征二号丙运载火箭(简称长二丙火箭)首飞40周年纪念日。记者从中国航天科技集团一院获悉，“十四五”期间，长二丙火箭预计将保持年度10次以上发射频率。

 

[iantsai]

北京时间2022年9月13日21时18分，我国在文昌航天发射场使用长征七号改运载火箭，成功将“中星1E”卫星发射升空。卫星顺利进入预定轨道，发射任务获得圆满成功。该卫星主要用于为用户提供高质量的话音、数据、广播电视传输服务。

此次任务是长征系列运载火箭第437次飞行。

China successfully launched Chinasat-1E satellite by a CZ-7A rocket from Wenchang Space Launch Site at 21:18 UTC+8, Sept 13, 2022. Chinasat-1E is a GEO communication satelite to provide high-quarlity voice, data and television signals relay.

This is the 437th CZ series rocket launch mission. And it's also the 39th carrier rockets launch from China in 2022.

 

[luosifen]

China successfully launched Chinasat-1E satellite by a CZ-7A rocket from Wenchang Space Launch Site at 21:18 UTC+8, Sept 13, 2022. Chinasat-1E is a GEO communication satelite to provide high-quarlity voice, data and television signals relay.

This is the 437th CZ series rocket launch mission. And it's also the 39th carrier rockets launch from China in 2022.
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CCTV coverage of it here:

 

[by78]

Newly released high-resolution images of Mars, specifically areas around and near Tianwen-1's landing site.

 

[by78]

 

[by78]

China successfully launched Chinasat-1E satellite by a CZ-7A rocket from Wenchang Space Launch Site at 21:18 UTC+8, Sept 13, 2022. Chinasat-1E is a GEO communication satelite to provide high-quarlity voice, data and television signals relay.

This is the 437th CZ series rocket launch mission. And it's also the 39th carrier rockets launch from China in 2022.

High-resolution images.

 

[by78]

 

[OppositeDay]

The interesting part is here "微信公众号“ 西安航天动力研究所”9月13日消息，近日，由西安航天动力研究所自主研制的某型液氧煤油发动机首次实现重复飞行试验验证。该型发动机作为某飞行器主动力装置参加首飞试验后，经检测维护，再次装配并顺利完成了重复飞行试验，国内首次实现了液体火箭动力的重复使用。"

The engine was used on X vehicle's 1st flight test, then finished another (2nd) flight test. So the vehicle must be able to carry the engine back safely. This makes me wonder if the two tests have already been reported.
1st flight test being July 16th 2021, took off from Jiuquan, landed at Alxa airport.
2nd flight test being August 26th 2022, took off from Jiuquan, landed at Alxa airport.

Both flights are vertically taking off and horizontal landing, sub-orbit flight meaning only 1st stage. Now less than a month later, CASC concluded engine re-usability being successful after examining it.

If I am right, it could mean that these VTHL sub-orbit flight has nothing to do with the space plane program, but only a way to verify the engine before attempting a vertical landing.

The original source is CASC 6th's wechat account, in it the engine type was not discussed, but "staged combustion" was mentioned, so I suspect that the engine in question is YF-100. This matches research papers that says YF-100 is designed to be reusable. The wechat account also said that the engine's deep throttling capability has been tested in CZ-8 launches.

Why would it mean the VTHL sub-orbit tests had nothing to with the spaceplane program? Designing and building a sub-orbital spaceplane seems too much work just for an engine testing platform. Reusability itself is implementation-wise independent from vertical landing, so the two can be tested at the same time without problem. Yeah you don't get to test reusability if it crashed during landing but the plan is to eventually succeed, right?

A VTVL launcher would have to carry extra fuel to control its descent. With low specific impulse fuel like kerosene that can mean a lot of extra weight. Not saying VTHL is necessarily better with YF-100, but there are good reasons to have a spaceplane project in parallel with a VTVL launcher.

 

[Blitzo]

New generation crewed launch vehicle appears to be named CZ-5G.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1569685819363033094

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So the most interesting thing about this, is that the depiction of the rocket (whether it's CZ-5G or CZ-5DY or whatever it ends up being called) shows that the side boosters (of which all three are common boosters with exception that the central one would have a larger fuel tank and be structurally reinforced) are now fully symmetrical rather than having asymmetric tapers as in some earlier depictions (pic 3 and 4).

Another one off depiction (pic 2) did have symmetrical side boosters as well but at the time it seemed like it was indecisive.

In any case, the point of note is that symmetrical side boosters would indicate that the side boosters could also have the intention for VTVL landing.

That is to say, the overall CZ-5G/CZ-5DY three core rocket could have its configuration such that all three first stages are VTVL capable, in the Falcon Heavy manner.