I don't think it is a question but a certainty. A drone ship is the only way for this kind of recovery (气动回收, air dynamic recovery) because there is no way for the 1st stage to go backwards to launch pad due to lack of boosting back burn.
China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
escobar
Brigadier
SJ-25 is heading east ~1.55 deg/day. At this rate it will meet up with SJ-21 at 127.5E on 11 June.
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antiterror13
Brigadier
How many internet Satellites sent in this launch?
What do you think is needed to boost china's launch capacity. Seems they are still struggling to really ramp up production. Was thinking they could meet up the 100 rocket launch target for last year this year, but seems it won't be possible.. Plus, Guowang really needs an increase in launch rate to meet their target or even come close.High-resolution images from the launch of the 4th batch of Guowang/SatNet LEO broadband internet satellites, which was carried out by a Long March 6A. This was the 580th flight of the Long March series.
I believe the only hope of meeting up this target is if private players are able to meet up their launch objectives this coming years.
Mostly just time. Tolerances in space launches are very tight and it just takes time to get all this stuff sorted out. Just see all the delays from just about every other space company, including companies in the west like Blue Origin and SpaceX. So this is hardly a China specific problem. China has all the tech and engineers, it just needs time. The original timelines were probably too aggressive and right now it seems like China is behind by a year or two.
Still there are a lot of companies in the rocket space in China. In the next few years at least a few will succeed and launch tempo will dramatically increase. Until then it's just going to be slow but steady progress. 2024 was still a record launch year despite falling well short of 100 and 2025 might be another record even if it falls short of 100 again.
NORAD has detected six objects in orbit. One of them is the upper stage of CZ-6A, five are satellites. This is confirmed by other sources.
by78
General
The planned launch of Tianlong-3 has been moved right by one to two months, to July or August.
Speaking of additional launchpads, Haiyang Oriental Spaceport has converted an offshore drilling platform into a launchpad for reusable rockets up to 72m long and 3.8m in diameter. The platform will also be made available to test reusable rockets that are currently under development by various private launch providers.
The maiden flight of Tianlong-3 will be launched from the HOS-1 floating launchpad. The rocket will be erected onto the launchpad on June 8th.
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by78
General
The maiden flight of Tianlong-3 will be launched from the HOS-1 floating launchpad. The rocket will be erected onto the launchpad on June 8th.
Correction: Tianbing will use the HOS-1 launch platform to conduct full system hot test runs of both the 1st and 2nd stage of the Tianlong-3 launch vehicle. The 2nd stage test will be carried out first, with the stage having been loaded onto the platform today.
