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


tater

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https://spacenews.com/china-to-launch-a-pair-of-spacecraft-towards-the-edge-of-the-solar-system/

More info on the 100 AU spacecraft. It is actually supposed to reach 100 AU by 2049, not launch in 2049 as I said earlier.

Launch of both is likely in 2024, on either Long March 3B or Long March 5 rockets.

Schematic diagram of an RTG-based Chinese heliosphere probe.

One makes a flyby of Jupiter in 2029 and heads for the heliosphere. The second makes a flyby of Jupiter in 2033 and then a flyby of Neptune in 2038, and they may carry impactor probes. Primary mission is not actually outer planet exploration like the Voyagers and Pioneer, but heliosphere and interstellar space exploration.

It might just be me, but I think these two probes have the most propaganda value outside of crewed Mars and Moon landings and MSR. It is another thing, alongside the crewed Moon landing, the USSR never did. And there is something quite beautiful and inspiring about sending one of your creations out in the nothingness, to coast for all eternity* among the stars.

There is a golden record with "United States of America" that will fly through the cosmos forever. While the probes with "CCCP" in heliocentric orbit might be destroyed by the sun in several billion years**, the USA will exist somewhere out there for far longer. At least among science-types, it would be quite a powerful message to have the State Emblem of the PRC and "中国" sent on an infinite journey into the unknown. A sort of cosmic "we are here to stay" message to the world is what it could serve as too.

The landing site for the Chinese X-37 equivalent-

*I suppose all of the interstellar probes could eventually be destroyed by interstellar erosion, so possibly not literally forever.

**If I am incorrect on this, please correct me.

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The purpose of this EVA includes moving up the panorama camera A to get a better view and verifying the co-op between robotics arm and astronauts. In the next 3 EVAs (1 EVA left in Shenzhou-12 crews) they will moving up the rest of 3 panorama cameras.

more footage:

 

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13 hours ago, DDE said:

So, uh... does anyone know where he gets that idea from?

The imagination of a hawk rivals that of a 5 year old. NTR development in China wasn't even known to exist publicly until a few weeks ago and even then it is only a couple of powerpoint slides with colorful shapes, and could have been fake. And the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that is linked in the first sentence of the article does not mention any fleets of NTR satellites- nor NTR development at all.

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It looks like they were serious about their SPS plans. The small scale demonstrator will launch in 2022 if nothing bad happens in the interim.

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https://spacenews.com/china-launches-secretive-suborbital-vehicle-for-reusable-space-transportation-system/

Image of the booster. This is an artist's impression not based on actual design documents but on his memory, so it likely has flaws. It can be crewed on its own too-

The reusable Chinese rocket was an early prototype of the American Shuttle  or Soviet Buran.

The picture the tweet refers to is likely the one that says "2025". This was a test of the fly back booster for it. The concept is similar to the original design of the Space Shuttle, with a reusable booster that was also crewed.

It will be crazy when pictures eventually come out of the orbiter mated with the booster. It is unclear whether the orbiter is the same spaceplane test flown last year or if it is different.

A new rocket factory is being built in Wenchang on Hainan Island. The tweet is incorrect, this is not a factory for the Long March 5DY/921 rocket, it is a commercial rocket factory, likely intended to produce the Long March 8.

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8 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

Image of the booster. This is an artist's impression not based on actual design documents but on his memory, so it likely has flaws. It can be crewed on its own too-

The reusable Chinese rocket was an early prototype of the American Shuttle  or Soviet Buran.

Yeah, this strikes me as a very artistic impression.

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14 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

The Tianhe core module has a special microwave onboard. I have seen some claims this is the first microwave oven in space. Is this correct?

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Unless something has happened very recently I am unaware of, this would definitely be the first microwave oven in space. While a microwave oven could work without gravity, it couldn't work without a way to keep cool i.e. pressurized air as an example. Otherwise it would quickly overheat and fail.

 

My understanding is that a microwave oven was planned for ISS at one time but has not been launched due to safety concerns with power consumption and RF interference.

 

Anybody have better info on this?

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18 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

I have to disagree. I haven't seen evidence that the US oven in question is a microwave oven, rather than a convection one. It certainly is in related Anglophone publications.

Either way, @SunlitZelkova, I do have suspicions towards materials science crucibles, which may feature microwave heating similar to the latest fashion of steel mills.

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18 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

That's interesting. I wish I could find when it went up. I assume its on the Russian module, unless something just happens to get lost in translation. I don't speak or read Russian so have to rely on google translate. The last I was aware of was convection ovens that heated up to about 160 to 180°. Good find ;p

1 minute ago, DDE said:

I have to disagree. I haven't seen evidence that the US oven in question is a microwave oven, rather than a convection one. It certainly is in related Anglophone publications.

Admittedly that was my first reaction to until I realized this was Russian news. I know I cannot find anything on the NASA website about any microwave oven on ISS currently, but who knows.

It wouldn't be the first time the public wasn't told of something.

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