China launches solar science telescope
China today used its Long March 2D rocket to launch its first solar science telescope, Advanced Space-borne Solar Observatory (ASO-S), also known as Kuafu-1.
The probe, which was first proposed in 1976 (!), has a four year nominal mission and is designed to monitor the Sun as goes through its next sunspot maximum. More information can be found here.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
46 SpaceX
43 China
12 Russia
8 Rocket Lab
7 ULA
American private enterprise still leads China 66 to 43 in the national rankings, and the entire globe combined 66 to 63.
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China today used its Long March 2D rocket to launch its first solar science telescope, Advanced Space-borne Solar Observatory (ASO-S), also known as Kuafu-1.
The probe, which was first proposed in 1976 (!), has a four year nominal mission and is designed to monitor the Sun as goes through its next sunspot maximum. More information can be found here.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
46 SpaceX
43 China
12 Russia
8 Rocket Lab
7 ULA
American private enterprise still leads China 66 to 43 in the national rankings, and the entire globe combined 66 to 63.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I can’t help but suspect that the chi-coms are less interested in solar science than they are pretending to be just like the rest of us.
That’s North Korea.
China’s fit and finish may not be as good—but they can close the gap.
They are a studious, industrious people—unlike the disinterested kids at the drive thrus here.
The chicomms know that very truth, too, They’ve actively interfered to engineer the disinterest.
The Chinese people are a friendly lot; the chicomms not so much.
Could the launch rankings include weight and distance from the Earth? This launch by China should be worth more in the rankings than a LEO starlink launch. It is going much further from Earth. And then, each recovered and reused stage should be worth more than when the booster is destroyed.
“I can’t help but suspect that the chi-coms are less interested in solar science than they are pretending to be just like the rest of us.”
Chi-Coms! They’re Just Like Us!
Space station?: Check
Moon Lander?: Check
Mars Lander?: Check
Aircraft carrier?: Check
Stealth aircraft?: Check.
All they need is an island fortress (Tiawan?), and they are set.