Tag Archive for 'China'

Parabolas: China Readies Spaceflight, India Counters China, Space Arms Race Feared

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China counts down to manned space mission
Reuters

“China will launch its third manned space mission in October with a crew of three, state media said on Thursday of the latest milestone in an ambitious space program.

“One of the astronauts would conduct a space walk, unprecedented for Chinese, and would carry out “relative scientific experiments”, the spokesman was quoted as saying.”

China launches satellite to improve Olympic TV broadcast
CCTV

“China has launched a new communications satellite, Zhongxing-9, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province.

“Zhongxing-9 was ordered by China Satcom from the France-based Thales Alenia Space, and will be used for live television broadcasting. It will be put into use before the Beijing Olympic Games and will enable people to watch live broadcasts of Olympic events.”

Government forms Space Cell
The Hindu

“The government on Monday announced the formation of a Space Cell under the Integrated Defence Services Headquarters here to counter “the growing threat to our space assets.”

Justifying the formation of the cell, Defence Minister A. K. Antony said at the United Commanders’ conference that India wanted to utilise space for peaceful purposes and remained committed to non-weaponisation of space. However, “offensive counter space systems like anti-satellite weaponry, new classes of heavy-lift and small boosters and an improved array of military space systems have emerged in our neighbourhood.”

Now, space cell to keep an eye on China’s plans
The Times of India

China experts warn of expanding space arms race
Reuters

“Chinese military experts have warned of an expanding arms race in outer space as Beijing and other rival powers seek to counter U.S. ambitions to dominate the heavens…”

“..in a book issued by the state-run China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, two People’s Liberation Army experts said Washington’s bid for enduring security domination in outer space was pressing Beijing and other powers into competition, even confrontation.”

Chinese Space Program: More Transparency Needed?

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Aviation Week’s Craig Covault also takes a look at China’s efforts at international cooperation, which will be limited until the country learns to open up.

“China’s secrecy-bound space program, increasingly capable of advanced operations, risks becoming an impediment to international, cooperative lunar and planetary exploration unless it becomes far more open, say top international space policy managers meeting with their Chinese counterparts here.

“Control by the People’s Liberation Army of virtually all Chinese space development will be a counterproductive factor ‘as the center of gravity for space exploration is beginning to move from the Atlantic to the Pacific,’ according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).”

A Suit That Never Goes Out of Style

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on May 7, 2008
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We’ve gotten our first look at the EVA suit that a Chinese taikonaut will use to conduct that nation’s inaugural spacewalk in October. Rob Coppinger has some images taken off Chinese television on his Hyperbola blog.

Aviation Week and Space Daily report that it looks a lot like the Russian Orlan EVA suit. Which is not too surprising because China’s Shenzhou spacecraft looks a lot like the Soyuz. Chinese officials claim the suit is their own design.

“Although seemingly a contradiction, both could be true,” AvWeek’s Craig Covault reports. “The Shenzhou spacecraft itself, for example, uses the basic Russian Soyuz design, but is significantly larger and carries major system design differences. The same is likely true for the Chinese EVA suits, which are about 25 years newer in design than the Orlan and probably incorporate major improvements.”

Parabolas: ISS, India, China and More

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Some updates on human spaceflight from around the web (and the world)….

ISS to Double Crew Size: Aviation Week

“NASA and its partners on the International Space Station (ISS) are in final preparations for the shift from a full-time crew of three to a crew of six on the orbiting laboratory, beginning with the STS-124 space shuttle mission upcoming in June.”

ISRO To Seek Human Spaceflight Funding: Aviation Week

“The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) soon will ask the Indian government to approve a human spaceflight mission by 2014-15 at a projected cost of $2.5 billion.”

Rube Goldberg Was a Piker: Rocketsandsuch Blog

This insider blog reports on the NASA’s latest plan to deal with oscillations in its Ares rocket. Is “hare-brained” a compliment?

China Checks Out Relay Satellite: Aviation Week

“China is beginning the geosynchronous orbit checkout of its first relay satellite to increase communications coverage for manned Shenzhou spacecraft.”

British Perspectives on Human Spaceflight: The Space Review

The British once ruled the seven seas, presiding over an empire upon which the sun never set. Now, it doesn’t even send humans into space. Jeff Foust examines whether that will soon change.

Thales Alenia Space’s Answer to EADS Astrium’s Space Jet: Hyperbola Blog

Rob Coppinger looks at an Italian lifting body concept that could send astronauts and tourists into space. It’s got a really cool para-glider landing system.

Point-to-point suborbital transportation: sounds good on paper, but…: The Space Review

David Hoerr takes a look at the feasibility of taking a shortcut through space in order to fly from London to Sydney. Anyone remember the flying car?

China Reports Progress on Lunar Rover - Updated

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on April 23, 2008
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The Xinhua news agency reports that Shanghai engineers have built and tested three prototypes of lunar rovers in advance of a planned 2013 landing.

“The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology had made significant progress in key technologies for the locomotion system,” Xinhau reports.

You can see a picture of one prototype here. The 1.5-meter tall, 200-kilogram rover is designed to travel at an average speed of 100 meters per hour.

Second Chinese Lunar Spacecraft to be Orbiter

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on April 6, 2008
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Aviation Week is reporting that China’s second lunar spacecraft, Chang’e 2, will orbit the Moon but not land on it, as previous reports had indicated. The magazine quotes Chinese space official Ye Peijiam as saying the spacecraft, set for launch in 2009-2010, will carry different instrumentation from its predecessor, Chang’e 1, which is now mapping the moon from lunar orbit.

The first Chinese landing on the moon is set for around 2012, with a sample return scheduled for 2017.

Japan Views China’s Space Development as Possible Threat

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on March 30, 2008
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China’s growing expertise in space and rocket development is causing concern among its neighbors. A review by the National Institute for Defence Studies, a Japanese think tank, says that China’s program is “a vital means of achieving military competitiveness against the United States.”

“The organisations engaged in China’s space development have strong ties to the People’s Liberation Army and a considerable number of its satellites are presumably intended for military purposes,” the review states.

Brazil to Increase Space Co-operation with China

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on March 30, 2008
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The Xinhua news agency reports that Carlos Ganem, the new head of the Brazilian Space Agency (BSA), wants to deepen his nation’s space co-operation with China.

The two nations are already working together on a remote sensing program. Last Setember, a Chinese Long March rocket launched the jointly-developed CBERS 2B satellite into orbit.

Xinhua also reports that Brazil will launch a satellite with Argentina and work with the Ukraine to reconstruct a rocket base.

Official: China to Go Slow on Lunar Exploration

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on March 23, 2008
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In the China Daily, Moon Exploration Center Director Hu Hao says his nation is still in the “initial stage” of space exploration and has a go-slow approach concerning the moon.

“Scientific research can’t be rushed. Lunar travel is an undertaking that is difficult, risky and requires huge investment. You can’t take a wish-list approach to it,” Hu said.

He dismissed stories that China is planning to land taikonauts on the moon by 2020. “You can’t declare yourself the boss of a chicken farm when you’ve only got one egg now, can you?” Hu explained.

In October, China launched its Chang’e-1 probe into lunar orbit. The country has announced plans to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon in 2013 and to follow it up with a lunar rover capable of returning soil samples by 2017.

Will America lose its leading role in space?

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on March 18, 2008
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The Houston Chronicle is concerned that the United States will lose its leading role in space exploration.

The Chronicle’s editors are primarily worried about a possible five-year gap in human spaceflight that could follow the retirement of the space shuttle in 2010. It may take NASA that long to get its new Constellation system online. In the meantime, NASA will be dependent upon the Russians for rides to the International Space Station. And China will be expanding its human spaceflight program.

“Congress should heed U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and other lawmakers who are pressing for an additional $2 billion to speed up the construction of the Orion vehicle,” the editors say.