Chinese Space Program (CNSA) & Ch. commercial launch and discussion

[050644zf]

 

[Josh IN SPACE]

Has there ever been video footage like this while in orbit over Mars? Really cool!

[YNM]

Not sure but I can only guess that in the past there weren't a lot of cameras thrown around just for wide-angle viewing.

 

Still impressive however. A sign of the better technology available today and definitely makes it easier to confirm things on the spacecraft itself.

[SunlitZelkova]

Here is some news:

New project-

MSR-

I am unable to find a better version of this image, and it comes from Chinese internet sources and so should be taken with a bucket of salt anyways, but it apparently shows their a design for their MSR mission, which is now targeted for launch in 2028. It will launch on LM-9B, or be launched in two pieces on LM-5 and LM-3 in the event LM-9 is not ready.

On the left is the return spacecraft, while the right is clearly the lander and cruise stage. The ascent stage is apparently inside the aeroshell.

The text at the very bottom talks about a 2030 Callisto orbiter launched on LM-5 and an "outer solar system exploration" probe for launch in 2049. The latter is particularly vague and is so far in the future it is probably not worth discussion.

Comments by me, unrelated to news, about Long March 9-

In the Russian mission thread I mentioned how LM-9 may not go through because of the 921 rocket.

Apparently Chinese netizens (that is, the amateur space enthusiasts, not random people) suspect the LM-9 was never intended to be crew rated at all. Instead it is an Ares V equivalent in terms of role, while the 921 rocket is to launch the Next Generation Crewed Spacecraft. LM-9 will launch the Chinese lunar lander to lunar orbit and the NGCS will rendezvous with it there. LM-9 would also be used to launch the Chinese (and now, joint Russian) lunar surface habitat.

LM-9 would also assemble a crewed Mars spacecraft should China initiate such a program.

Model of the 921 rocket with Next Generation Crewed Spacecraft capsule next to it-

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Anything new on their Mars craft?

[SunlitZelkova]

7 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Anything new on their Mars craft?

Tianwen-1?

According to the release from CNSA, "the first ever high definition images of Mars" taken by the orbiter. Ones that take much longer to load are presumably are better quality are on their website-

http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english/n6465652/n6465653/c6811350/content.html

The landing is targeted for mid-May.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/04/01/chinas-tianwen-1-mission-targets-mid-may-landing-on-mars/

Also, CNSA and NASA recently exchanged data on their orbiters, in order to help prevent collisions in the future.

EDIT- I said they exchanged data to "help prevent a collision". It is intended to prevent collisions in the future. There currently has been (or at least, is no known) no instance of Tianwen-1 being in danger of colliding with another orbiter.

Edited April 7, 2021 by SunlitZelkova
Incorrect statement

[SunlitZelkova]

Pictures of the Tianhe core module for the modular space station, launch of which is scheduled for April 29th. Shenzhou 12, the first crewed mission to the station, is scheduled to launch on June 12th. It will be interesting to see if they go for continuous habitation or if it will be from time to time. They have made such statements before but nothing concrete has been announced.

Also, the modular space station itself has yet to be named. 10 years ago they said it would be named by the public, it is unknown whether that is still the plan or not.

Spoiler

Images of the lunar samples from Chang'e 5-

Spoiler

Unfortunately there is nothing I can find in English describing what has been learned from them so far.

April 24th, is Space Day in China, which is the equivalent of Cosmonautics Day in Russia (April 24th is the date China launched its first satellite). I wonder if they will announce anything.

[kerbiloid]

Thanks!

Now we have better photos of Mir/Zvezda equipment, especially the Lyappa grapple fixtures.
So unique, so familiar.

***

It's a little strange. Is this still APAS-89/95, not IDSS?

The reflecting target is obviously Sovietish, not Americanish.

[Codraroll]

4 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

10 years ago they said it would be named by the public, it is unknown whether that is still the plan or not.

One of the very first paragraphs of China's constitution practically clarifies that "the public" in China is defined as "the Communist Party", so I guess they're in line with the plan at any rate.

[kerbiloid]

Interesting fact, though.

The radial adaptor visible on the photo has smooth petals, without latches. It's passive.

The axial adaptor has slots (the rectangular holes) to put the latches through them. It's active.

If this isn't just a mockup feature, should it be docked by the sphere to something big? Otherwise why active?
Also it has complete set of hard-capture hooks (12 slots arpound the big hole, with twin hooks. One - active, another one - passive).
An active adaptor doesn't need a full set of them, say Dragon (sometimes?) has just one hook per slot.
Are they going to dock something heavy forever to the sphere? Why? Otherwise, why the double set of hooks?

The peripheral docking target (black disc with white marks) is alone. No diamond-like target around. Because mockup or a simplified version?

_{Finished showing off, how clever I am, now am happy.}

Edited April 20, 2021 by kerbiloid

[SunlitZelkova]

11 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Thanks!

Now we have better photos of Mir/Zvezda equipment, especially the Lyappa grapple fixtures.
So unique, so familiar.

***

It's a little strange. Is this still APAS-89/95, not IDSS?

The reflecting target is obviously Sovietish, not Americanish.

Maybe the Chinese arm will get a meaningless/non-sensical name too.

No one knows about the docking system still. There is a lot of paranoia going around on both sides of the Pacific, maybe the Chinese military (which technically CNSA is still part of) is scared the US will build a docking module and try to capture it.

According to Western sources, the axial port is for Shenzhou. The radial ports are where the two new modules go.

The close up picture of the sphere is the real thing (the actual module).

Based on this image of Tiangong-1  from the CNSA website, their target is diamond-less.

[kerbiloid]

5 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

According to Western sources, the axial port is for Shenzhou. The radial ports are where the two new modules go.

According to the Lyappa grapple fixtures and absence of radial/lateral docking targets, all of them are going to dock to the axial port, then reberth to the radial ones. Unless they first attach a radial docking module first.

6 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

The close up picture of the sphere is the real thing (the actual module).

All docking adaptors on it are mockups. They lack any mechanisms (extendable trusses, latches, springs, etc),
and the radial ones lack even hard-capture hooks (all their slots are covered with patches instead) and latch strikers (those small trapezoids between the petals) to attach the vessel's petal latches.

[DDE]

I think there's an impostor among us

 

[kerbiloid]

They've found us?

Edited April 25, 2021 by kerbiloid

[YNM]

Are there hanzi version of it ?

[kerbiloid]

Looks like the twit is untwitted. Can't open it anymore.

Edited April 25, 2021 by kerbiloid

[SOXBLOX]

They've discovered Earth! Everyone watch out!  

Translation from non-Indo-European languages can get tough, I guess. I recall seeing a picture of a sign in a Chinese airport which said, in English, "For restrooms, look towards your behind."

[SunlitZelkova]

9 hours ago, SOXBLOX said:

They've discovered Earth! Everyone watch out!  

Translation from non-Indo-European languages can get tough, I guess. I recall seeing a picture of a sign in a Chinese airport which said, in English, "For restrooms, look towards your behind."

USAF space telescopes can confirm.

I don't think its a real account. It has only five retweets from 2018, apart from the intelligence confirmation announcement.

[DDE]

7 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

I don't think its a real account. It has only five retweets from 2018, apart from the intelligence confirmation announcement.

Aha, that's why I suspect an impostor rather than a hack.

[SunlitZelkova]

14 hours ago, DDE said:

Aha, that's why I suspect an impostor rather than a hack.

Yes. My reply was meant for SOXBLOX, whose post implied he thought it was an official account.

Lots of stuff as a result of Space Day-

I don't recall China ever having done something to "be on time" in regards to space. Their modus operandi seemed to be "go as you do things", not rushing and taking their time to learn and improve upon different things, whether it be crewed flight or rocket development itself. Maybe this indicates a new "seriousness" for CNSA (more aggressive schedules)? Although, given one of LM9's main missions is a Mars sample return, I suppose there is a very real deadline in that case to avoid missing the launch window and wasting a probe.

This is an image from a presentation given on Space Day (April 24). It is the "official" roadmap to the Russia-China lunar base. Of course, things are open to change. Keep in mind no one has any idea how much coordination, if any at all, there was with Roscosmos regarding this plan, so there may indeed be unrealistic aspects in the schedule regarding their side of the work.

Quoted translation (not by me, although I did correct "Luna 26", as previously 25 was repeated twice)-

Spoiler

There will be three distinct phases for its construction:

- Phase 1 (by 2025): China and Russia will choose an ideal location for the lunar base by exchanging and examining the survey data gathered by China's Chang'e 6 and 7 missions and Russia's Luna 25, 26, and 27 missions.

- Phase 2 (2026-2030): Coordinate China's Chang'e 8 and Russia's Luna 28 missions and land at the chosen location to begin construction.

- Phase 3 (2030-2035): Multiple missions to the moon to complete the lunar base.

Phase 3 is obviously crewed. So I guess there is something of a date now for the first Chinese crewed lunar landing.

Ignore the sky ladder, pay attention to the lunar rover-

The Mars rover now has a name-

Tianhe rolled out on April 23rd. Launch is on the 29th-

 

[YNM]

22 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

I don't think its a real account.

Hence why I asked "are there hanzi version of it".

28 minutes ago, SunlitZelkova said:

Tianhe rolled out on April 23rd. Launch is on the 29th-

Is it going to be on bilibili or ?

[SunlitZelkova]

1 hour ago, YNM said:

Hence why I asked "are there hanzi version of it".

Is it going to be on bilibili or ?

Yes. There is no Chinese language version, and none of the English CNSA watcher accounts or websites that I follow have anything related to it. My reply was meant for SOXBLOX only.

No word on any stream yet, there will likely be something on bilibili (by "amateur" space fans I think, not official), and CGTN may have something too, although if there is, it will probably have lots of commentary. As to how to access the former (search words, channels) I don't know.

[kerbiloid]

(Tries to find any Chinese module in the planned Russian orbital station, and vice versa...

Tries to recall any Russian-Chinese base on the Earth...)

Edited April 27, 2021 by kerbiloid

[SOXBLOX]

On 4/25/2021 at 6:30 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

It has only five retweets from 2018, apart from the intelligence confirmation announcement.

Ah, I got ya. Just some joker fooling around. Would've been funny if it were real, though.

[tater]

There's a CNSA launch today I think.

Sorry, tomorrow.