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Tianwen-1 successfully launched, on its way to Mars

9:27 pm

UPDATE: According to news reports, China tonight successfully launched Tianwen-1 towards Mars, with arrival expected in February 2021.

Below the fold is a live stream of the launch of the Long March 5 rocket. It is not in English, and since it was not linked to China’s mission control, it only covers the first two minutes or so, after which the rocket went out of sight.

The leaders in the 2020 launch race:

17 China
11 SpaceX
7 Russia
3 ULA
3 Japan

The U.S. still leads China 18 to 17 in the national rankings.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

11 comments

11 comments

  • LocalFluff
    July 23, 2020 at 4:29 am

    Why will it spend 2-3 months in Mars’ orbit surveying for a landing site? They don’t know where they want to go? Do they think that the existing Mars maps are fake or something? And will their surveys compare to that of MRO’s 50 cm telescope? Anyway, strange news are to be expected from that regime.

  • David
    July 23, 2020 at 11:48 am

    Perhaps they want to have lots of good “before” pictures to compare to the “after” pictures so they can identify whatever wreckage the famous Martian anti-lander defenses generate.

  • Captain Emeritus
    July 23, 2020 at 2:37 pm

    Is there any proof it got out of the atmosphere?

  • Robert Zimmerman
    July 23, 2020 at 3:02 pm

    Captain Emeritus: They have confirmed that it completed the engine firing that put it into a solar orbit taking it to Mars, as well as the upper stage separation. If something else happened we would know, even if they denied it.

  • wayne
    July 23, 2020 at 4:24 pm

    The Expanse
    Pre-emptive rail-gun attack on Mars
    https://youtu.be/9fgaMhcTxCY?t=131

  • Jay
    July 23, 2020 at 4:25 pm

    Captain Emeritus,
    Yep, it is up there. I was watching two uncensored live feeds, a twitter feed, and a forum last night during the launch. Some of the feeds I was watching were shut down due to the CCP going after Youtube. It was funny, one of the feeds was saying it blew up, but I believe they mistaken the booster separation for that.

    After SECO and when the probe separated, CCTV reported success and started to put videos out. Here is a highlight video of the launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC9CDUK660c&feature=youtu.be

    Why the interest? I have always been a fan of space and I track satellites. I became fascinated with the Chinese space program over 20 years ago when I heard about “Project 921”, their manned space program. Some sources said they were doing lift-body tests of spacecraft, with rumors of a mini-shuttle, but the program which became Shenzhou was a modified Soyuz. I have watched this Tianwen-1 project with interest, since it looks so close to our rovers.

  • Captainemeritus
    July 23, 2020 at 4:30 pm

    Thanks Mr. Zimmerman,
    I’m just feeling a bit snarky, lately.

  • Captain Emeritus
    July 23, 2020 at 5:09 pm

    Jay,
    I watched the same video feeds early this morning as well. (eastern time)
    I have watched the chinese communists closely, since the Clinton administration sold them guidance technology (from Litton Industries) to steer their big, dumb rockets with far greater accuracy than they could ever achieve on their own.
    In my opinion, that was a treasonous act, that put my country in grave danger (still to this day)
    The chinese communists are a very dangerous virus that infects the entire planet.
    Never to be trusted, or believed.
    If “they” say it all worked and it’s on the way to Mars, I’ll have to wait till my government confirms it.
    But, the main issue is, as long as we can buy their cheap junk from Walmart and others, what the heck, eh?

  • Jay
    July 23, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    Captain Emeritus,
    I agree with you on all your points, especially the technology transfer.

    Don’t forget Harbor Freight and Tool! This morning I bought Tianwen-2 there for $50 with the 50% coupon and a free multi-meter!

  • LocalFluff
    July 24, 2020 at 2:08 am

    Would you have a look at what’s going on with the Three Gorges Dam? It is kinda related to some of your Mars image comments and it could become the news of the year (in tough competition).

    I don’t know much at all about geology and hydrology, but I’ve seen the before and after satellite photos of how the dam has deformed. It doesn’t look good… I’ve heard that there have been 90 land slides into the uprivers of the dam since completion, as the changing water level destabilizes the river banks. And the pressure of the water has increased seismic activity. Even some Chinese officials seem to say now that the dam is leaking and moving. Aren’t those two bad words for dams?

    Didn’t another dam collapse kill 100,000+ people in 1975?
    “- Hey, let’s do that dam(age) thing again!”

  • wayne
    July 24, 2020 at 4:42 am

    Captain Emeritus–
    Let us never forget, the chi-coms (with a little help from the Usual Suspects, their democrat-party pals) stole the complete designs for our W-88 Warhead.
    (I would put forth the proposition, the only good Chinese-communist, is a dead Chinese-communist.)

    “It will be all over, in 40 minutes”
    https://youtu.be/S-V6MZlyCqE
    2:22

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