Tag: China
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Kuaizhou 1A rocket lofts Chinese broadband test satellite
A Kuaizhou 1A launcher lifts off Thursday from the Jiuquan space center in northwestern China. Credit: CASIC A solid-fueled Kuaizhou 1A launcher carried a commercial broadband communications satellite into orbit Thursday for GalaxySpace, a Chinese company that says it plans to launch up to 144 spacecraft for a space-based 5G network in the next few…
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Kuaizhou-1A lofts Yinhe-1 for China
China conducted its second orbital launch in 2020 orbiting the first test technology demonstration satellite for a 5G constellation, named Yinhe-1. Launch took place at 03:00UTC on January 16 using the Kuaizhou-1A (Y9) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Also designated GS-SparkSat-03, the 227 kg Yinhe-1 satellite will be operated by GalaxySpace, a Beijing-based communications…
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Argentine smallsats hitch ride with Chinese payloads on Long March rocket
A Long March 2D rocket lifts off from the Taiyuan space base Wednesday with four satellites on-board. Credit: Xinhua Two Earth-imaging microsatellites built and owned by the Argentine company Satellogic launched on a Long March 2D rocket from China Wednesday, sharing a ride into orbit with two Chinese spacecraft. The ÑuSat 7 and 8 satellites…
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Long March 2D launches Kuanfu-1 and co-passengers
China launched another satellite for its Jilin-1 remote sensing constellation orbiting the Kuanfu-1 (Wideband-1) satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on January 15. The launch took place at around 03:02 UTC from the LC9 launch complex using the Long March-2D (Y58) rocket. Together with Jilin-1 Kuanfu-1, the first mission from Taiyuan in 2020 orbited…
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Long March 3B launch opens China’s busy 2020 schedule
After the successful return to flight of the powerful Long March 5 closing the orbital launch activities for China in 2019, the country launched another secretive Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing (TJSW) satellite on January 7, opening what could be a record-breaking year. The launch took place at around 15:20 UTC using the Long March 3B/G2…
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China’s first launch of 2020 lofts mystery payload
A Long March 3B rocket lifts off Tuesday with the TJS 5 satellite. Credit: People’s Daily A Chinese Long March 3B rocket launched a satellite Tuesday toward a position in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) above Earth. Chinese state media claimed the mysterious spacecraft has a communication and television broadcast mission,…
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China publishes Chang’e 4 data one year after first landing on far side of the moon
The Yutu 2 rover is pictured on the far side of the moon soon after landing in January 2019. This image was taken by a camera on the Chang’e 4 mission’s stationary landing platform. Credit: CNSA/CLEP Chinese officials marked the one-year anniversary of the Chang’e 4 mission’s historic first soft landing on the far side…
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Long March, Soyuz and Falcon rockets topped 2019’s launch leaderboard
A Soyuz-FG booster lifts off July 20, 2019, with the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft carrying Alexander Skvortsov, Luca Parmitano and Andrew Morgan t the International Space Station. Credit: Roscosmos China led the world with 34 orbital launch attempts in 2019 — including two failures — followed by 22 flights from Russian-operated launch pads and 21 satellite…
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Successful Long March 5 launch paves way for new Chinese space missions
China’s third Long March 5 rocket lifts off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. Credit: CCTV The third launch of China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket successfully delivered its satellite payload to orbit Friday, validating engine design changes after a failure on the Long March 5’s second flight, and clearing the way for the launch…
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China’s Long March 5 rocket poised for crucial return-to-flight launch
China’s third Long March 5 rocket rolled out to its launch pad Dec. 21 at the Wenchang space center on Hainan Island. Credit: Xinhua China’s Long March 5 rocket — the country’s most powerful launcher — is set for its third flight Friday on a critical validation mission after a core stage engine failure doomed…