China has taken a major step forward in advancing its space ambitions with the maiden flight of its Long March 5 heavy lift booster. Liftoff of the all liquid fueled rocket took place from China’s Wenchang Satellite Launch Center located on Hainan Island. As with most Chinese launches, and any that carry the potential of […]
On Sunday, China launched a two person crew to its newly orbited Tiangong-2 space station. The launch, labelled Shenzhou-11, took place aboard a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center located in the Gobi desert, lifting off at 7:30 PM EDT, which was 7:30 AM local. The crew of the Shenzhou-11 carrier […]
China has taken a great leap forward in advancing its space ambitions with the successful Saturday night debut of its all new, kerosene/liquid oxygen fueled Long March 7 rocket. The 13.5 ton to LEO EELV class rocket, roughly comparable to the Atlas V and Falcon 9, is intended to be the workhorse booster for supporting […]
From Tass: “Russia and China are actively discussing the prospects of cooperation in space rocket engine-making, creating a heavy rocket, space stations and making long-distance space flights, Russia’s Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov told TASS on Tuesday. “Our country has substantial potential accumulated in the sphere of engine-making. This is a well-known fact,” the ambassador […]
China is about to introduce a new class of small launch vehicle aimed at entering the growing smallsat market. The new, solid fueled booster is called Kuaizhou-11, or Fast Vessel-11 and should be capable of placing 1,000 kg into a 700 km sun-synchronous orbit. And at least some versions of a closely related booster sport […]
Yesterday, NASA held a press conference to formally announce the winners of its initial Venture Class Launch Services competition. Given that notice of the awards, which went to Virgin Galactic, Rocket Lab and Firefly Space Systems was posted over two weeks ago, the event was somewhat redundant, but did shed new light on the agency’s […]
Until late last week, China’s most impressive space achievements have been carried out with relatively primitive, hypergolic fueled launch vehicles. On Friday however, China marked the debut of the first of a new series of boosters which while still carrying the Long March designation, are designed to bring that nation’s boost capabilities on par with […]
Lynx Mark I Under Construction / Image Credit XCOR Aerospace Forbes reports that the Chinese venture capital firm Haiyin Capital has made a $5 million dollar investment in XCOR Aerospace. The investment is noteworthy for a number of reasons, and may be pointing the way to a brighter future for NewSpace firms looking for additional […]
Artists’ Concept of a Third Generation Chinese Station. Image Credit Xinhuan.net Following the success of Tiangong 1, China announced last year that after another round of development with the follow on Tiangong 2 station, that it is planning to open up its considerably more advanced third generation station to international astronauts. Unfortunately, an ongoing ban on […]
Apparently there is no need to compose “Ode to a Rover Dying Young.” At least not yet. Chinese new service Xinhuan.ner has confirmed that the Yutu, or “Jade Rabbit” Moon rover is coming back to life after surviving the deep cold of the two week lunar night. Shortly before going into a planned hibernation mode, the […]
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