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

[steve9728]

1 hour ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

and that 'going to Germany to practice German = Germans talking to you in English THE WHOLE TIME. 

What's the joke was saying? The German says "my English is rubbish" = his English definitely better than yours

The reason why I would 'offend German' that there are some 'retroflex consonants' they may sometimes skip (and of course it's possible that I don't have much contact with Germans). This would be very much like Mandarin with a Cantonese accent. One is the retroflex consonants that the people can't roll their tongue, and one can't tell the difference about the word need voiced velar nasal or not. For example, China, the pinyin for Chinese is zhōng guó. Any pinyin with 'h' such as zh,ch,sh all need you roll your tongue up, and any pinyin ending with 'g', well that's easy, how you pronounce 'sing' and 'finger', just do it like that. But in Cantonese accent, guys would pronounce 'zhōng guó' as 'zōn guó': lots of parts are missing!

[DDE]

7 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

The folks I talked to in English had either Perfect American Midwest accents or Perfect Cambridge British accents.  Not kidding.  You'd start talking in English to a room full of Germans, and it would be like a convention of Americans and Brits who use odd phrases.  Like "I need to go look for a parking."  (In American English, you look for a 'parking spot'.  'Parking' is the verb describing what you do as you pull into the spot, or what your grandmother did with boys before she met your grandfather.)  Their accents were so good I actually had to confirm they were native German speakers.

Germans are said to get hit with the same sorr of dissonance. Foreign speakers learn the idealized Hochdeutsch and lack the usual regional accents.

7 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

*(This is funny, only if you understand that German kids who choose English as their second language, get like 10 years of instruction before they graduate...

Ended up getting a whopping 17 years, starting with first grade and continuing all the way through Masters'. However, I slacked off and very rarely got technical, learning much of the language through sheer emulation of consumed media (hence I'm quite mum on the whole phonetics discussion). The result is some puzzling mixture of American and British, topped by the very detectable Russian accent (especially if I've just "switched gears")... and the general slurriness and excessive speed.

[steve9728]

ha, Oct. 5 today, the 'little space shuttle' has been in orbit for two months since August

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

2 hours ago, DDE said:

Foreign speakers learn the idealized Hochdeutsch and lack the usual regional accents

Laughing at this.  I went to Bavaria (Bayern) where they don't speak Deutsch, they speak Bayrisch!  They made so much fun of my horrid American-Hoch Deutsch accent that they made me learn Bayrisch pronunciation (including gutteral 'rolling' Rs). 

Turns out (now) that my German is the opposite problem you presented: I have perfect, practically native pronunciation and horrid grammar! I can read German just fine - but the minute I start to talk my words jumble out in the wrong order and tense.  (Product of not studying very hard in the 3 years, and not being immersed in the language long enough!) 

This ends up being problematic for the German speakers who I meet - they wonder if I'm stupid, tetched or weird... Before landing on 'just can't speak German, let's speak English! 

@steve9728 I thought it was Cantonese that had more tonal variations.  Do I have that backwards? 

[steve9728]

50 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

@steve9728 I thought it was Cantonese that had more tonal variations.  Do I have that backwards? 

Yes, "nine tones and six modes". 5 tones more than mandarin. But honestly, I can't tell you how difference between them because it's really hard to describe the feeling in the spoken language. But Cantonese intonation is an interesting thing. For example "Wishing you good wealth and prosperity(我恭喜你发财)!" becomes a curse word when the intonation and stress are changed. And only if the other person is a Cantonese speaker will you know how dirty you are swearing

The strangest thing I have ever met: me a Chinese, a Indian and a Pakistani group mates, in somewhere England, using standard Cantonese to discuss something.

Edited October 5, 2022 by steve9728

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

3 minutes ago, steve9728 said:

becomes a curse word when the intonation and stress are changed

We can certainly do this in English with tones (e.g. sarcasm: 'Well, aren't YOU just a sweetheart?!?' he said dryly).  I'm guessing this is something next level?

Edited October 5, 2022 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[steve9728]

1 minute ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

We can certainly do this in English with tones (e.g. sarcasm: 'Well, aren't YOU just a sweetheart?!?' he said dryly).  I'm guessing this is something next level?

Basically similar, maybe a bit dirtier

This 'trick' of using English was taught to us privately by one of my teachers from Texas

You see, how interesting human language is!

[steve9728]

 

Parts of CZ-5 Y6 rocket have arrived in Wenchang. Currently here's two CZ-5 rockets in there: one for the Mengtian Module(to be precise this is a CZ-5B) and one for something I don't know. I guess it probably will be something heavy satellite based on the DFH-5 satellite platform. The previous one was based on DFH-5, called Shijian-20. And the last 'breaking news'  it made was 

Saw something I ignored: Spacety(天仪研究院) put a pair of de-orbit sail on the cubit satellite, and make it took just 33 days to get from 400km down to under 200km completely off the orbit.

The yellow one is the sails.

Edited October 6, 2022 by steve9728

[steve9728]

Another cold launch on the sea:

When he said he "found the platform" days ago, I was totally unimpressed. Until I just got the news on wechat that the rocket had launched.

 

Add: launch video from CCTV's official weibo: https://weibo.com/2656274875/M9g4aeITX

From Spacelens(云上天镜): https://weibo.com/7604660608/M9kAEqYUz (this one the closest one: they put the camera on the platform)

and from People's Daily: https://weibo.com/2803301701/M9kI2tWLr

Visually I think it's better to launch during the day. Although cold launch on the sea looks pretty 'violent' whatever during the day or night

Edited October 8, 2022 by steve9728

[steve9728]

Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), also named Kuafu-1, has successfully launched from Jiuquan by CZ-2D rocket. 

China’s first solar observatory aims to solve mysteries of the Sun’s eruptions from Nature

The mission badge for this mission:

The payloads onboard: 

Kuafu actually was an ancient Chinese myth about a giant chasing the sun. Interestingly, some people with a different view of the matter believe that Kuafu was not chasing the so-called sun, but a UFO

[steve9728]

Mengtian Module has been wrapped in the fairing and on the way to the VAB (via China.org.cn)

Spoiler

When I saw this picture, I also saw the mosquito bite itch relief drops I keep next to my laptop on my desk, and I noticed:

Edited October 9, 2022 by steve9728

[SunlitZelkova]

Question: Is “Y55” the name/designation of the vehicle/flight article (like “Soyuz TM No. 201” or “Atlas V AV-412”) or the designation for the mission (like “Soyuz TM-18” or “NROL-91”)?

[steve9728]

4 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

Question: Is “Y55” the name/designation of the vehicle/flight article (like “Soyuz TM No. 201” or “Atlas V AV-412”) or the designation for the mission (like “Soyuz TM-18” or “NROL-91”)?

Name of the vehicle. Y55 means this is the 55^th launch of this type of rocket.

Y stand for 遥, is short form of the word '遥测‘, means remote control. Just as literally, it means that there is an exchange of data between the vehicle and the ground. The pinyin of 遥 is 'yáo'. So further abbreviation would be to replace it with Y. However, Chinese news reports still basically use the Chinese character '遥' as a shorthand: Hitting three letters and a space on the keyboard won't be much trouble for anyone.

Word '遥测' inherited from the Dongfeng missile. When we launched the CZ-2 (actually is the white painted DF-5) into the South Pacific in the 1980s, it carried remote control, measurement, data return and other equipment. China's rocket technology tracing backward is inevitably the Dongfeng missile, and the organizations and institutes responsible for its development and manufacture are still the same one. So various terms were naturally inherited in this way.

Edited October 9, 2022 by steve9728

[steve9728]

On 10/9/2022 at 1:00 PM, steve9728 said:

Mengtian Module has been wrapped in the fairing and on the way to the VAB (via China.org.cn)

This news needs a prefix: Mengtian Module complete propellant fueling

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Je4y1q7B6/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=6fef304b8d0c4737896e6b702ddfbfb3

Then get wrapped and go to the VAB

Edited October 10, 2022 by steve9728

[steve9728]

CZ-7 Y6 rocket, which will launch the Tianzhou-5 around November, has arrived in Wenchang

https://www.douyin.com/video/7152716764332199209

Various tests and preparations for the launch of the Tianzhou-5 are currently underway.

[steve9728]

On 10/9/2022 at 1:00 PM, steve9728 said:

Mengtian Module has been wrapped in the fairing and on the way to the VAB

Corrections also needed: wrapped, but not in the fairing yet:

(Via. People's daily)

Spoiler

This little tractor looks like it could be electric

The two vertical banners from the left are China Manned Space and Tiangong Mengtian Experimental Module

Edited October 10, 2022 by steve9728

[Vanamonde]

Grain silos in space! 

[SunlitZelkova]

So here’s another question- if 遥测 is used for rockets, what he used for spacecraft like Shenzhou or Tianzhou?

机体? (機体/airframe, random guess based on Japanese terminology) As I didn’t realize Y was an abbreviation, I have been using aircraft serial numbers in the documents I have listing Chinese launches. Like 92101 for the first Shenzhou.

[steve9728]

10 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

So here’s another question- if 遥测 is used for rockets, what he used for spacecraft like Shenzhou or Tianzhou?

机体? (機体/airframe, random guess based on Japanese terminology) As I didn’t realize Y was an abbreviation, I have been using aircraft serial numbers in the documents I have listing Chinese launches. Like 92101 for the first Shenzhou.

The number of objects which have been launched into orbit, just look at the number after the dash. For example: CZ-2F Y9 successfully sent Shenzhou-9 crew into orbit. Here's the CZ-2F and also is the Shenzhou spaceship's 9th mission. Likewise, the upcoming CZ-7 Y6 rocket will send Tianzhou-5 is the same meaning: here's the CZ-7 rocket's 6th mission and the 5th for the Tianzhou cargo ship.

After these relatively few CMS things, some of the "beans scattered into the sky" - the constellation of satellites for communications, positioning, and satellite mapping - the number after the dash does not mean "this is the first satellite", but rather the model number. Such as Yaogan-35 Group 05 A/B Satellites and Yaogan-36 Group 01 A/B/C Satellites.

Have to say I'm more curious than that how future reusable rockets and reusable new manned spacecraft will be marked.

[steve9728]

The third space lecture will start tomorrow at 15:45. This time it is about:

1. Introducing Wentian Module (The basic information about the Wentian Experiment Module and the experimental facilities such as the Glovebox & Cryogenic Storage Rack, Life & Ecology Rack, Biotechnology Rack and the Varying-Gravity Rack are displayed and introduced.)
2. Capillary Effect Experiment (Demonstrate the significant capillarity of liquids in a weightless environment and explain the importance of capillarity and its engineering applications.)
3. Water balloon becomes "lazy" experiment (To investigate the vibrational behaviour of a liquid and a liquid-solid mixture under the same impact in a microgravity environment.)
4. Drinking water in space in a funny way (Demonstrating the interesting phenomenon of drinking from an extra-long straw in microgravity)
5. The turning spanner (Show the Dzhanibekov effect in CSS! Waiting for that so long!)
6. Introduction to the Plant Growth Research Project (An introduction to the rice growing and Arabidopsis growing research projects in the Life & Ecology Rack and a demonstration of sample collection in action.)
7. Astronauts interacting with secondary school students on the ground.

Spoiler

The racks:

On 3/30/2022 at 8:33 AM, steve9728 said:

And also CNSA published the scientific research facilities on the space station:

In a CCTV program yesterday, there was footage of the Wentian module in a "lying down" position. We can see the truss structure at end of the Wentian module which can hold the solar panel shifted from Tianhe core module:

(Picture via. Weibo)

Official news confirmed CZ-7 Y6 rocket has arrived in Wenchang. (Yesterday there were local people who live there and recorded a video on TikTok. He even thinks it was the rocket for Mengtian module hahaha)

[steve9728]

[steve9728]

CZ-2C rocket successfully launched a 5M S-SAR 01 satellite, HJ-2 05 (Environmental Disaster Reduction, 环境减灾) from TSLC (Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center)

"The satellite is mainly used for emergency management and ecological environment main business to provide home-made data guarantee, at the same time, service for natural resources, water conservancy, agriculture and rural areas, forestry and grassland, earthquake and other industries."

The picture of antenna deployed test on ground.

And the satellite itself in cg:

(Picture via: https://weibo.com/7329022844/Ma6xFeRSX)

Edited October 13, 2022 by steve9728

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

18 hours ago, steve9728 said:

CZ-2C rocket successfully launched a 5M S-SAR 01 satellite, HJ-2 05 (Environmental Disaster Reduction, 环境减灾) from TSLC (Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center)

"The satellite is mainly used for emergency management and ecological environment main business to provide home-made data guarantee, at the same time, service for natural resources, water conservancy, agriculture and rural areas, forestry and grassland, earthquake and other industries."

The picture of antenna deployed test on ground.

And the satellite itself in cg:

(Picture via: https://weibo.com/7329022844/Ma6xFeRSX)

Wait - CNSA launched and deployed an antenna that big?  It's gotta be some kind of record-size, isnt it?

[steve9728]

34 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Wait - CNSA launched and deployed an antenna that big?  It's gotta be some kind of record-size, isnt it?

Not exactly, if in length, the C-SAR radar of the Gaofen-3 satellite is 15 meters long.

In terms of size, the SAR antenna of the LD-1 (L-SAR) satellite is 33 m²:

But of course, HJ-2's antenna this time also looks more than 30m² to me have to say

[Beccab]

4 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Wait - CNSA launched and deployed an antenna that big?  It's gotta be some kind of record-size, isnt it?

 

3 hours ago, steve9728 said:

Not exactly, if in length, the C-SAR radar of the Gaofen-3 satellite is 15 meters long.

In terms of size, the SAR antenna of the LD-1 (L-SAR) satellite is 33 m²:

But of course, HJ-2's antenna this time also looks more than 30m² to me have to say

The US Air Force also launched a few fleets of satellites larger than that, though it course the exact specifics are not public

Edited October 14, 2022 by Beccab