Chinese Space Program

[XP67_Moonbat]

An article on pre-Shenzhou studies and the Shenzhou project. Check it out:

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/launchpad/1921/story-7.htm

You gotta love this illustration. Here you go.

Moonbat

 

[starviking]

Hmmm...

From the left: Saenger II, Shuttle II, Hermes, Hermes, Soyuz-derived Capsule.

That said, the pics may not be much like the official proposals.

 

[Michel Van]

there are two way to explane it

1- they are copycats :
2- they found the same solution to the technical problems ;D

but the long development time of Shenzhou show is not a simple copy of Soyuz
1992 manned space programme "Project 921" authorised
1999 November 19 - Shenzhou first unmanned test flight
2002 December 29 - Shenzhou 4 last unmanned test flight
2003 October 15 - Shenzhou 5 - first manned flight
2005 October 12 - Shenzhou 6 - two man flight
2008 September 25 - Shenzhou 7 - three man flight with EVA

Shenzhou aka Project 921-1 is part of the 3 Phase Project 921
Phase 1 launch manned Space Craft made in china ( also a 3 phase program)
Phase 2 launch manned Space Station made in china
Phase 3 launch manned space Shuttle made in china
after quote of Wang Zhuanshan (the Secretary General of the New China Space Research Society)
will use in phase 3 a Dynasoar-like orbiter around 2020

by the way
is Soyuz original Russian ?
Is the Soyuz Design a Copy of the General Electric Apollo Proposal?
http://www.astronautix.com/articles/wastolen.htm

 

[blackstar]

by the way
is Soyuz original Russian ?
Is the Soyuz Design a Copy of the General Electric Apollo Proposal?
http://www.astronautix.com/articles/wastolen.htm

There's no evidence from Russian sources indicating that they copied the GE proposal.

Astronautix often espouses the view that the Soviet Union copied a lot of their designs from others, particularly the Germans. But there is rarely evidence for this.

 

[Trident]

Read Wade's conclusion, he is very balanced and non-committal about it, as he usually is in similar cases.

 

[Lauge]

there are two way to explane it

1- they are copycats :
2- they found the same solution to the technical problems ;D

I'm with you on option no. 2. I've seen far to many "researchers" conclude that if design Y from 1960 resembles design X (typically German) from 1945, then obviously Y was copied from X.

There is such a thing as convergent evolution. I mean, no one would accuse the dolphin of being a copy of the shark, or the eagle of being a copy of the pterosaur...

Regards & all,

Thomas L. Nielsen
Denmark

 

[blackstar]

I cannot separate out these images as simple jpegs. Maybe somebody can do that from the attached document.

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://chinawatch.washingtonpost.com/2013/02/satellite-center-to-put-wenchang-on-the-map.php

The construction of the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Hainan province, from where China will launch new-generation carrier rockets and future space station modules, is expected to be completed in June, the province's economic planner said.


By the end of this year, the launch center, the fourth in China, will be ready for launching carrier rockets, according to a report released by the Hainan Development and Reform Commission during the ongoing annual session of the provincial people's congress.


Hainan plans to invest nearly 3.3 billion yuan ($530 million) this year into construction of the center and relevant facilities, including a space theme park and nearby infrastructure, the report said.


Of the 3.3 billion yuan, 2.5 billion will be used for the center's construction, the report said.


Pei Chengmin, Party chief of Wenchang, said the center will host its first launch in 2014.


The center will include a launch pad, a rocket assembly plant and a command center.


The Long March-5 launch vehicle designed for transporting heavyweight satellites and space station modules, as well as the Long March-7 rocket designed for launching cargo spacecraft, are expected to blast off from the center in 2014, the Beijing Morning Post quoted Liang Xiaohong, deputy director of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology on Saturday during the annual session of the Beijing municipal people's congress.


Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, located on the northeast coast of Hainan, about 60 km from Haikou, the province's capital, is the only coastal launch center in China. It can use nearby ocean ports in Wenchang for rocket deliveries.


The location, about 19 degrees north of the equator, is suitable for launching geosynchronous satellites, heavyweight satellites, large space station components and lunar and interplanetary missions.

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201509090065

China mulls space force in most sweeping military reform yet

September 09, 2015

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

BEIJING--China may set up what it calls a "celestial military" to boost its capabilities in strategic space warfare, sources said Sept. 8.

The space troopers are included in plans to structurally reform the People's Liberation Army to rival the U.S. armed forces.

The sweeping PLA reboot will be the most significant since the founding of modern China in 1949 and the aim this time round is quality rather than quantity.

President Xi Jinping announced the reduction of the nation's military strength by 300,000 troops during the Sept. 3 ceremony dubbed the "70th Anniversary of the Victory of Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War." This cutback is part of the reformation plan.

The plan also includes the set up of a "joint operation command system" in the hopes of ridding the military of its rigid administrative structure.

The PLA is comprised of Beijing, Shenyang and five other military regions, which is mainly controlled by the ground force, along with the navy, air force and the strategic missile branch known as the Second Artillery Corps (SAC).

Xi plans to model the reformed PLA after the U.S. armed forces, which has all its branches of service under command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to sources.

Xi instructed the PLA to overcome the inefficient passage of orders from the central government down its chain of command, caused mainly by the significant degree of authority held by the various military regions and the individual branch of services.

The PLA plans to reorganize the seven military regions into four or five "combat regions," which will each contain a command post established jointly by the ground force, navy and air force.

Additionally, the PLA plans to combine the SAC with a newly established "Tianjun" (celestial military) to improve its potential for space warfare.

According to PLA sources, the reduction of 300,000 personnel mainly targets the Ground Force and noncombatants. The navy, air force and SAC are expected to be strengthened. The PLA is especially considering buttressing the navy to strengthen its military grip in the East and South China Seas.

(This article was written by Nanae Kurashige and Nozomu Hayashi in Beijing.)

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN​

May not come to anything, given that Xi Jinping is reported elsewhere to be in severe political difficulties.

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.space.com/31160-china-space-prowess-rivals-us-dominance.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://gizmodo.com/why-the-hell-is-china-sending-crude-oil-into-space-1769176779

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1982526/china-militarising-space-experts-say-new-junk-collector

 

[Michel Van]

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1982526/china-militarising-space-experts-say-new-junk-collector

Every Space junk Removal system is de facto a Anti satellite system, depends if target Satellite is active or not...

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/533a4f56ef664f8081a4bbb4aed00f79/chinas-launch-quantum-satellite-major-step-space-race

 

[gwiz]

http://gizmodo.com/why-the-hell-is-china-sending-crude-oil-into-space-1769176779

What a sloppy story. It’s not a Chinese experiment, it’s a Canadian and European Space Agency one, flown before, first launch attempt in 2002 on a Russian satellite.

 

[blackstar]

http://gizmodo.com/why-the-hell-is-china-sending-crude-oil-into-space-1769176779

What a sloppy story. It’s not a Chinese experiment, it’s a Canadian and European Space Agency one, flown before, first launch attempt in 2002 on a Russian satellite.

It's Gizmodo. They had some decent space/tech writers (Tyler Rogoway), but they all left the sinking ship. Now they're all about clickbait headlines and hype. Oh, and if SpaceX is delivering a comsat to orbit they'll be sure to cover it.

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2006611/chinese-scientists-study-viability-manned-radar-station

China has commissioned a group of scientists to study the feasibility of building a manned radar station on the moon, but many experts on the mainland have questioned the potentially massive cost of the project and the usefulness of building such a base.

The government project was launched earlier this year and received kick-start funding of 16 million yuan (HK$18.7 million) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, according to its website.

 

[blackstar]

I suspect a translation error--not "radar station" but "radio astronomy station."

 

[Michel Van]

According this News: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_unveils_Mars_probe_rover_for_ambitious_2020_mission_999.html

Planned China a Mars Rover mission for 2020
A Long March 5 launch a lander that bring a 200 kg rover to mars surface
equipped with four solar cell, 13 scientific sensors like a remote sensing camera and a ground penetrating radar.
The lander will touchdown at a low latitude area in the northern hemisphere
The rover expect to work for 92 days on mars surface

 

[antigravite]

An article on pre-Shenzhou studies and the Shenzhou project. Check it out:

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/launchpad/1921/story-7.htm

You gotta love this illustration. Here you go.

Moonbat

The TSTO HTHL project was revived in 2016 as project "Teng Yun" with a possible flight date in 2030.
More on Teng Yun on a SPF dedicated thread:
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,27924.0.html

A.

 

[XP67_Moonbat]

My old link appears to be dead. Well that sucks!

 

[antigravite]

My old link appears to be dead. Well that sucks!

Hi Moonbat,

Always another way… Here it is in its 2009 version:
http://web.archive.org/web/20091020004808/http://geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/1921/story-7.htm


A.

 

[XP67_Moonbat]

Thanks!

 

[blackstar]

http://www.universetoday.com/130970/see-doomed-tiangong-1-chinese-space-station/

 

[antigravite]

Ben Rosen (staff), "How China plans to take 20 'bosses' and 'businessmen' to space on a plane — China is developing a passenger spaceplane that could carry up to 20 people above Earth's atmosphere in its latest push to stay ahead in the space tourism race."
Christian Science Monitor, October 5, 2016. Online:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/1005/How-China-plans-to-take-20-bosses-and-businessmen-to-space-on-a-plane

A.

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Beijing_exhibition_means_plenty_of_space_for_everyone_999.html

 

[antigravite]

Hi there,

There are some hints, in industry-related litterature, that the recently created "BEIJING LINJIN SPACE AIRCRAFT SYSTEM ENGINEERING INSTITUTE", which is involved in the development of aerospace aircraft, as its name implies, is also studying aircraft for space-tourism. This institute teams up with CALT on various projects.

A.

 

[blackstar]

Hi there,

There are some hints, in industry-related litterature, that the recently created "BEIJING LINJIN SPACE AIRCRAFT SYSTEM ENGINEERING INSTITUTE", which is involved in the development of aerospace aircraft, as its name implies, is also studying aircraft for space-tourism. This institute teams up with CALT on various projects.

A.

Hasn't that already been reported? I saw an article online a few weeks ago that even had illustrations of the winged vehicle. Quick search turned up this:

http://www.popsci.com/china-plans-space-plane-for-tourists

 

[Michel Van]

the Long March 5 will make it first launch

here some impression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDU8jsC7P0Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlOPuMVeYJs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loYamB2RCG4

 

[Michel Van]

Success for China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1Ysyoud9q0

 

[blackstar]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3897352/The-Chinese-guide-galaxy-Country-plans-send-commercial-tour-groups-space-2025.html?utm_content=buffer7c060&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.space.com/35173-china-earth-observation-satellites-in-wrong-orbit.html

 

[blackstar]

http://www.leonarddavid.com/china-readies-change-5-lunar-sample-return-mission/

 

[Flyaway]

From the same site as above.

http://www.leonarddavid.com/chinas-race-to-build-a-space-station/

 

[Grey Havoc]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-09/report-china-developing-advanced-lunar-mission-spaceship

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://www.atimes.com/article/light-war-space-based-lasers-among-beijings-high-tech-arms/

The idea of a space-based laser gun was disclosed in the journal Chinese Optics in December 2013 by three researchers, Gao Ming-hui, Zeng Yu-quang and Wang Zhi-hong. All work for the Changchun Institute for Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics – the leading center for laser weapons technology.

“In future wars, the development of ASAT [anti-satellite] weapons is very important,” they wrote. “Among those weapons, laser attack system enjoys significant advantages of fast response speed, robust counter-interference performance and a high target destruction rate, especially for a space-based ASAT system. So the space-based laser weapon system will be one of the major ASAT development projects.”

The researchers propose building a 5-ton chemical laser that will be stationed in low-earth orbit as a combat platform capable of destroying satellites in orbit. Given funding by the Chinese military, which is in charge of China’s space program, the satellite-killing laser could be deployed by 2023.

According to the article, an anti-satellite attack in space would employ a ground-based radar to identify a target satellite, a special camera to provide precision targeting and a deployable membrane telescope that would focus the laser beam on the target satellite.

The article also reveals that in 2005, the Chinese conducted a test of a ground-based laser weapon that was used to “blind” an orbiting satellite.

“In 2005, we have successfully conducted a satellite-blinding experiment using a 50-100 kilowatt capacity mounted laser gun in Xinjiang province,” the three researchers wrote. “The target was a low orbit satellite with a tilt distance of 600 kilometers. The diameter of the telescope firing the laser beam is 0.6 meters wide. The accuracy of [acquisition, tracking and pointing is less than 5 [microradians].”

 

[blackstar]

http://www.atimes.com/article/light-war-space-based-lasers-among-beijings-high-tech-arms/

That's by Bill Gertz. Take his stuff with a few grains of salt. In the past he has had good sources and reasonable (not great) analysis. However, he is very ideologically-driven: he really dislikes the Chinese. The result is that to him, everything is a threat. If somebody gives him a Chinese fortune cookie he will interpret it as a sinister plot to attack America.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Found this interesting article on CNBC about China's secret plan to crush the US space program and SpaceX.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/chinas-secret-plan-to-crush-spacex-and-the-us-space-program.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

http://spacenews.com/cnsa-boss-outlines-chinas-space-exploration-agenda/

 

[Flyaway]

Tianzhou-1 – China set to debut cargo resupply to Tiangong-2

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/04/tianzhou-1-china-debut-cargo-resupply-tiangong-2/