China‘s national space agency rolled a Long March 2F rocket with a Shenzhou spacecraft on top to their launch site at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. We expect this to be preparation for the Shenzhou-13 mission launching this week.
Expand Expanding Close
Perseverance, Ingenuity, and all the other American bots on Mars now have company. China became the second-ever country to successfully land a rover on the red planet today. Zhurong, named for the god of fire in Chinese folk tales, is roughly the size of NASA’s 2004 Spirit and Opportunity robots.
Expand Expanding Close
CBS News recently had the lucky opportunity to send one of their reporters to China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). The reporter got an up-close and personal look at the inner workings of the enormous, awe-inspiring telescope.
Expand Expanding Close
Last night China launched its Long March 8 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the island of Hainan in the South China Sea. This was the rocket’s maiden flight with the goal to make China’s launch services program more appealing to outside customers and in the future compete with SpaceX on reusability.
Expand Expanding Close
There’s a great space debate happening over how U.S. policy toward China should be handled when the Biden administration takes office next month. Should NASA work in cooperation with China’s space agency if the other nation is willing, or should China’s progress in space be viewed as competition?
Expand Expanding Close
Last week we saw China land its Chang’e 5 lander on the surface from the Moon with the goal to gather lunar samples and launch to the return vehicles in orbit above the lander. This had to happen within just one lunar day (2 earth weeks). We saw them complete the mission in just a couple days based on state-run media coverage. Now NASA has captured a photo of the lander using cameras on its own orbiter around the Moon.
Expand Expanding Close
A “revolutionary” hypersonic jet capable of traveling 16 times the speed of sound has completed tests conducted by the Institute of Mechanics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In theory, the results show an engine capable of traveling to any location around the globe within two hours.
Expand Expanding Close
According to leaks on Chinese social media, we now know when certain events will take place for China’s newest lunar lander that recently launched on November 23rd. China is apparently attempting to land their booster as early as December 1.
Expand Expanding Close
China is hours away from attempting a mission that hasn’t been tried since the end of the space race in the 1970s. Atop its Long March 5Y rocket, China plans to launch a lander to collect lunar soil never seen by researches here on Earth.
The mission is called “Chang’e 5” after the Chinese goddess of the moon. It’s also a continuation of what China has done with Chang’e 1-4 which has focused on learning how to orbit and land on the Moon. Now it is time for China to attempt to return a sample of the lunar surface.
Expand Expanding Close