China's Space Program News Thread

[escobar]

China's first moon lander, Chang'e-3, automatically "awakened" on Thursday after "sleeping" during the lunar night, entering its 28th lunar day, China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) announced on Friday.

The spacecraft has withstood the test of extremely low temperatures experienced during 27 lunar nights since its successful soft landing on the moon in December 2013, according to a statement by the SASTIND. The probe has exceeded its operational life of one year and has been in service for 15 extra months since landing on the moon on Dec 14, 2013.

Although the moon lander has already exceeded its design life by 14 months, its astronomical telescope and the other surveying devices it carries are still functioning well. Lunar rover Yutu, which hitched a ride with Chang'e-3, was designed to operate for six months.

"Now, because of a mechanical control abnormality, Yutu is immobile. The defect also affected the solar panels that cover the rover during the lunar night to protect it from the harsh temperatures. Despite the panels not working, Yutu still continues to collect and sent data to Earth thanks to its innovative temperature control system,"

 

[SinoSoldier]

Henri K.:

According to the party secretary of CASC, the CZ-9 launch vehicle will fly within 15 years. It will undertake the following missions:
- manned lunar landing
- Mars samples return
- interplanetary exploration

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From other sources (GlobalSecurity), there is indication that the Chinese are settling on a configuration involving a core stage with five YF-220 engines (2000 kN each) and four five-segment strap-on solid rocket boosters (10000 kN each).

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

If the Info graphic is correct that would make it just a Hair short of the Saturn V at 110.6 meters and 13 meters taller than the SLS, 5 meters taller than the N1 the Russians wanted to use for a manned Lunar mission.

 

[Qi_1528]

I've been trying to find out if the CZ-5 is planned to be used for manned missions at all. Do any Chinese posters here have info on this? If not, what will replace the CZ-2F?

 

[SinoSoldier]

I've been trying to find out if the CZ-5 is planned to be used for manned missions at all. Do any Chinese posters here have info on this? If not, what will replace the CZ-2F?

According to some sources, the CZ-2F will be replaced by the CZ-7, which is itself allegedly based on the former.

The CZ-5 will be tasked for launching heavy unmanned payloads into LEO, GTO, or LTO. One of them includes a lunar rover designed to undertake sample return missions. However, that does not preclude the launch vehicle from being purposed to launch manned spacecraft, such as a notional Sino-Orion.

 

[SinoSoldier]

A deep space facility run by CLEP, in Argentina, is shown below. The Chinese have indicated that they will focus on exploring Mars after the moon.

Video:

Photographs:

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

I've been trying to find out if the CZ-5 is planned to be used for manned missions at all. Do any Chinese posters here have info on this? If not, what will replace the CZ-2F?

What ever they choose will have to get a manned rating that normally means a number of unmanned trial launches and escape system development.
What ever the case given the rate of manned launches for the PRC They have plenty of time.

 

[SinoSoldier]

What ever they choose will have to get a manned rating that normally means a number of unmanned trial launches and escape system development.
What ever the case given the rate of manned launches for the PRC They have plenty of time.

Selecting a launch vehicle for a man rating is a proactive decision, and involves more than merely seeing which vehicle has the highest success rate. Engineers will have to make adjustments to the vehicle design and add redundant components.

 

[ChesireCat]

CNSA knows very well how difficult and dangerous manned space exploration is. They will use the Tiangong 2 and CSS to do experiments on long term exposure in zero-gravity environment.

I can see a early 2030s target for manned moon landing and a manned mission to mars by somewhere in mid 2040s. That is if Chinese economic growth continues and leaders see benefits of having taikonauts walking on lunar and martian soil.

China have to do that in order to be recognized as worlds dominant power. As they say "with great power comes great responsibilities". As soon as the chinese nation becomes a ecomonical and technological superpower, it must take the heavy burden of being the leader of world order and therefore also the scientific beacon.

I am so exited for the coming years of space race. Looking forward to both SLS and the Chinas answer to it.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

The PRC has not achieved global domination yet, and alot can happen in 14-25 years.
They have been launching manned missions at a leisurely pace. Last manned launch was 2013 and before that its was intermittent as well.
I am pleased with there use of small Skylab style modules. It indicates a serious interest in Long duration space travel. However the biggest problems for the PRC taking long duration seriously is the numbers. 3 men crews are fine for flags and footprint exercises, but for real science beyond LEO you need at least a half dozen.

The next biggest problem for humans is gravity or lack thereof. That's not just pointed at the CNSA that's a across the board; thus far only the minimum of work has been done on plants and insects and mice.
larger animal studies need to be conducted to get data on the effects of artificial gravity on larger vertebrate animal. And then if successful development of a craft that considers that data and introduces gravity simulation technologies IE habitat wheels and space bolos space craft that rotate to generate a centrifuge effect as uniformly as possible. That that brings another issue larger ships.
Still a long winding road, although the US lost its own manned launch system with the shuttle its presence on the ISS has been continuous and they will be back under there own power shortly. The Russians have there own issues but are deeply linked to the CNSA successes having shared technologies and training.