China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
Not to orbit, no; A contract for part of heatshield manufacturing was awarded to Xi'an Xinyao Ceramic Composite Materials Co., Ltd a couple/few months ago which indicates it doesn't have the same readiness as Qingzhou (which isn't suprising since it's a more complicated spacecraft)
Here's the source:
(This also mentions::
-Qianfan batch departed to launch site (maybe Jiuquan?)
-Xingwang batch departed to launch site (probably Wenchang, there are likely 3 xingwang launches there in April: 2 CZ-8A & CZ-10B)
-WHJSW sat passed its factory acceptance review
-Xingwang batch ready for launch
-SMILE Sino-european magnetosphere observation probe ready for launch at Kourou)
A trivia is that I think Smile is the first case of a large chinese-made satellite bus being launched on a western launcher.
For reference: Tianwen 1 entered this phase in September 2018 for a July 2020 launch () , everything seems to be on schedule so far (Flight production stage generally refers to flight model integration,actual flight model component production has already been ongoing for some time)
SAST unveilled a range of "Economic Lunar Cargo Transportation" lunar lander at the First Shanghai Commercial Aerospace Conference & Exhibition yesterday, with payload 120kg/1000kg/5000kg; and showed a test of the propulsion system (definitely a frugal one, since they didn't use the Hebei landing test infrastructure).
they advertise it with a lot of commercial applications but let's see, "commercial" and lunar exploration don't go well together, anyway this would be a useful complement to Chang'e and Lanyue-derived landers.
(For reference, as far as lunar exploration is concerned, SAST makes the orbital module and docking system on the Chang'e probes, as well as the service module of the Mengzhou capsule. the methalox propulsion part is likely derived from their experience on methalox launchers, also the Shanghai Institute of Space Propulsion recently tested a 300N Methalox attitude control thrusters that may be used for that: )
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This is a good overview of recent official statements from the two sessions and 15th 5YP about the space program.
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Finally some interesting observations on the current flight of the CSSHQ, when you consider what is written there (smaller length, solar panels in the middle of the spaceplane instead of on the aft) and the fact that SAST - which makes the aft service module - didn't communicate on this launch unlike the previous one, it seems likely that this 4th flight lacks a service module, which demonstrate the CSSHQ's similar flexibility to the X-37B
Commercial or private is the catch word of our time, just like AI. Everything without it is "backward, out of time". I would not bother if something is commercial so long as the work is done.
SAST has no experience or competence in methalox propulsion or any proper rocket engine except maybe thrusters, the methalox engine used on CZ-12 was made by an outside company.
Within CASC, there are dedicated programs studying various options of lunar landing engines, including a 8T 10/1 staged combusion Kerosene/LOX engine by CASC 6th academy in Xi'an and Methalox 8T 10/1 by the 6th academy in Beijing. Then there is also a 3T methalox by 6th in Beijing for upper stage. The engine used by SAST proposals are very likely derived from one of the methalox engines above.
A science popularization video about the competition between China and the United States in the moon landing. Mainly in Chinese with English subtitles.
It's definitely worth watching. Once you see it, you'll understand just how ridiculous Starship HLS is.
Starship's value proposition is in its ability to launch Starlink V3. It's pretty clear Elon's sole focus right now is to debut, not rapid reuse or refueling, but a successful launch and deployment of V3s in orbit prior to the IPO. Many years down the line, NASA and other customers may take advantage of its upmass to LEO for orbital assembly approach to deep space exploration but they are many iterations away from being able to integrate any sort of meaningful capability. 20 tanker flights for one mission is ludicruous.