China's Space Program Thread II

[gpt]

Maybe I missed these when they were first posted, but this is the first time I've seen confirmation the crash stage + lander architecture was intended for lander reuse in combination with a earth-moon shuttle.

In this recent paper

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, in the key technologies section, the first thing they talk about is the need for more capable reusable cislunar cargo spacecrafts. Interestingly they've also identified cryo management/zero-boiloff(ZBO) and refueling as an area that requires urgent breakthroughs. Actually there seems to be putting a lot of effort into this recently.

I suspect we'll see more of spacecraft proposals in the future, taking advantage of new rocket capabilities but also exploring new technologies like

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

and

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

that reduce propellent usage for LEO-LLO transfers.

So, it seems like they are pushing back lunar habitation by a good 10 years? I thought we were expecting crewed habitations as soon as 2035.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

does not seem to be capable enough yet to support extended lunar surface/subterranean habitation although they are making good progress in this area. Beihang university conducted many multi-month and year-long experiments using four-level bioregenerative system (plants, animals, microorganisms, and humans). There are other concerns too like lunar dust, temp, radiation, in-situ etc. There's a lot of literature on this and they are clearly thinking deeply about this problem:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2008049484912017841

As expected, survival training to mimic lunar lava tube operations, led by veteran taikonaut Ye Guangfu, part of ILRS vision for underground lunar habitats where lava tubes provide natural shielding against radiation.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[jnd85]

[Updated: Xinhua is reporting the inauguration of the CAS School of Space Exploration as having just taken place, despite the school's website

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

that it was established on October 25th 2018. I considered deleting my original post, but I will leave it just to highlight the discrepancy. If anyone can explain or if I have made a factual error, please correct me. I did mistranslate the school's name in my earlier post.]

Original post:

CAS officially inaugurated the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

on January 27th

The school will focus on interstellar propulsion, deep-space communication and navigation, and space science, among other areas.

Kind of an interesting tie-in with my previous post about using the Nantianmen universe as a cultural driver. Can you imagine how a young person would feel knowing they graduated from a school with a name like that? I bet a lot of kids would love to be a part of that.

From Xinhua: "The next 10 to 20 years represent a window of opportunity for my country's interplanetary space exploration to achieve leapfrog development. Original innovation in basic research and technological breakthroughs will reshape the landscape of deep space exploration, determine the nation's core competitiveness, and hopefully allow the dream of spaceflight to blossom in the far reaches of space".

I do like that officials are crediting Qian Xuesen as inspiration, I always found him to be a fascinating man.