China – Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman

China’s Kuaizhou-1A rocket launches two satellites

September 25, 2022 9:36 am Robert Zimmerman

Early today China’s smallsat Kuaizhou-1A rocket successfully launched two “experimental” satellites into orbit from an interior spaceport.

The satellites are part of a classified program, so little is known about them.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

43 SpaceX
39 China
12 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
6 ULA

American private enterprise still leads China 60 to 39 in the national rankings and the entire world combined 60 to 59.

Tomorrow ABL Space will attempt to launch from Alaska its RS1 smallsat rocket for the first time. Later in the week Firefly will make its second attempt to launch its Alpha rocket successfully. I will embed the live streams, if available.

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Russia launches three astronauts to ISS; China launches Earth observation satellite

September 21, 2022 9:02 am Robert Zimmerman

Russia today successfully used its Soyuz-2 rocket to launch three astronauts to ISS, two Russians and an American flying as part of the NASA-Roscosmos barter deal whereby each agency flies an astronaut from the other in order to make sure everyone knows how to use each other’s equipment.

China in turn today used its Long March 2D rocket to launch an Earth observations satellite into orbit.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

42 SpaceX
38 China
12 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise still leads China 58 to 38 in the national rankings, and is now tied with the entire world combined at 58.

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September 16, 2022 Quick space links

September 16, 2022 4:02 pm Robert Zimmerman

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who trolls Twitter so I don’t have to.

UAE signs deal with China to do joint Moon mission

No details as yet released, but expect more by next week.

Ariane 6 core stage test model completes test program in French Guiana

This is not a real Ariane 6, but a mock-up used to test roll-out, assembly, and launch procedures in advance of the arrival of the real thing.

Elon Musk gives Jay Leno a tour of Boca Chica

The link includes a short clip. The full tour will air on Jay Leno’s Garage on CNBC on September 21st.

Video from UK startup Black Arrow showing its proposed smallsat launch rocket, launched from a ship at sea

The concept is brilliant. Since smallsat rockets are designed to ship in containers or trucks and launch from simple concrete pads, bringing everything with them, there really is no reason they couldn’t also launch from the deck of a ship.

Assessment of the objects remaining from Russia’s November 2021 anti-satellite test

Generally good news. According to this analysis, of the 1,785 objects catalogued, only 585 remain in orbit, and of those 547 are expected to burn up within the next three years. This will leave only 38 pieces of debris threatening ISS and other satellites.

Federal military-industrial complex discussing ways to compensate private satellite constellations if attacked by foreign powers

The level of corruption I smell from this story sickens me. There might be good reasons to do this, but I am certain in the end none of those reasons will drive this new policy. Instead, it will be designed as a way to suck more money from the taxpayers for private companies who are friends of politcians and donate to their campaign coffers.

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September 15, 2022 Quick space links

September 15, 2022 3:44 pm Robert Zimmerman

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who trolls Twitter so I don’t have to.

Image of the Tiangong-3 space station transiting the Sun on September 12th

The image also shows the transit of Tiangong-1 in 2012.

China to fund a “Suborbital Aerospace Transportation System”

The concept, based on the animation at the link, is fast transport over several thousand miles. We shall see.

Highlighting one of Perseverance’s images of a Martian sunset
Another Chinese entity outlines a roadmap for building a Starship/Superheavy copy

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September 13, 2022 Quick space links

September 13, 2022 4:48 pm Robert Zimmerman

Courtesy of stringer Jay.

Sierra Space tests to failure a one-third size prototype of its inflatable LIFE space station module

The goal was to see how well the inflatable module could hold its atmosphere. The safety requirement is 182.2 pounds per square inch (psi). The prototype burst at 192 psi. For context, the atmosphere is about 14 psi. You can watch a video of the test here.

China’s astronauts, their mission 100 days old, prepare for 2nd spacewalk
Engines for new Long March 5G rocket have accumulated 10,000 seconds of hot fire tests

This appears to be different than the Long March 5D rocket, both of which are upgrades of the Long March 5. Though the tweets at the link suggest the 5D will be reusable, it remains unclear as yet whether either rocket’s core stage will be capable of a controlled re-entry, rather than falling to Earth as uncontrolled and dangerous space junk.

DART remains on course for a September 26, 2022 planned asteroid impact

The tweet from Rocket Lab provides a link to the live stream, which will not go active for another 12 days.

OneWeb and Arianespace sign new launch deal following Russian confiscation of satellites

Few specifics were released, except for the hint that the two companies are discussing the possible use of the Ariane 6 for future satellite launches. The release also noted that Arianespace will provide some support for two OneWeb launches that NSIL, the commercial space agency of India, is doing.

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China’s Long March 7A launches communications satellite; dumps debris on Philippines

September 13, 2022 9:19 am Robert Zimmerman

China today launched its Long March 7A rocket from its coastal Wenchang spaceport, successfully placing a communications satellite into orbit.

The coastal launch site meant that the rocket’s lower stages would not fall on China’s interior. Instead, it appears the drop zones were located in the Philippines.

The [Philippines Space] agency said it was able to verify the estimated drop zones of the rocket debris from a notice by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. “Two drop zones within the Philippine territory have been identified based on the NOTAM: Drop zone 1 is approximately 71 kilometers from Burgos, Ilocos Norte, while drop zone 2 is approximately 52 kilometers away from Sta. Ana, Cagayan,” PhilSA said in an advisory.

No word on whether this debris caused any damage. Regardless, China is continuing its policy, in violation of the Outer Space Treaty, of recklessly dumping rocket stages on others.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

41 SpaceX
37 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise still leads China 56 to 37 in the national rankings, but is now tied with the entire world combined 56 to 56. This tie will likely not be long-lived. Though Firefly’s launch has been delayed until next week, SpaceX and Rocket Lab have launches scheduled for today and tomorrow, respectively.

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September 12, 2022 Quick space links

September 12, 2022 1:17 pm Robert Zimmerman

Courtesy of stringer Jay.

A short tour of China’s Tiangong-3 space station

Sadly, the video available is very short. I’ve looked for a longer version but was unable to find one.

For ham radio enthusiasts: Info for contacting the tiny Japanese lunar lander that will launch on SLS
China building testing facility for building hydrogen/oxygen rocket engines

From the tweet, “The local government has recently kicked off the land acquisition campaign.” Jay translated this more accurately, “The local government has recently kicked out people in the land acquisition campaign.”

SpaceX: Starlink Business is now available in France, Germany, Italy, and the UK

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September 8, 2022 Quick space links

September 8, 2022 3:30 pm Robert Zimmerman

Courtesy of string Jay:

Rocket Lab’s next launch set for September 14, 2022

The press kit [pdf] says nothing about any attempt to recover the first stage.

Construction images of new launchpad at China’s coast Wenchang spaceport

This pad is intended to serve China’s pseudo-commercial rocket companies, thus isolating them from the government’s other higher security military and manned missions.

Engineers begin fueling the next manned Soyuz capsule, set to launch September 21st

The mission will carry two Russians and one American, the American’s flight part of the new barter deal with Russia whereby each nation flies an astronaut on the other’s spacecraft.

Russian design bureau submits its proposal for Venus lander, to launch in 2029

As reporter Anthony Zak correctly notes, the “budget and timeframe for the project look dimmer than ever.”

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China’s Long March 2D launches two military satellites

September 7, 2022 9:40 am Robert Zimmerman

China yesterday successfully launched two military satellites using its Long March 2D rocket.

Launched from an interior spaceport, the rocket’s first stage crashed somewhere in China.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

40 SpaceX
36 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise still leads China 55 to 36 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 55 to 54.

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China launches two satellites with its Kuaizhou-1A rocket

September 6, 2022 9:18 am Robert Zimmerman

China today successfully placed what it labeled as “two test satellites” into orbit using its smallsat Kuaizhou-1A rocket.

No information at all was released about both satellites.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

40 SpaceX
35 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise now leads China 55 to 35 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 55 to 53.

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September 5, 2022 Space quick links

September 5, 2022 11:11 am Robert Zimmerman

All courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

JAXA targets early ’23 for first launch of its new H3 rocket

The rocket has been delayed since 2020 due to serious engine issues.

Long March 5B that will launch next module to Tiangong-3 arrives at launch site

The module, dubbed Mentian, is scheduled of an October launch. We shall then once again have to watch helplessly as the core stage of the 5B rocket crashes uncontrolled somewhere on Earth. In related news:

China tests new engine for manned version of Long March 5, dubbed the Long March 5DY

It remains unclear whether that rocket’s core stage engines will restartable and thus able to control its de-orbit so that it lands in the ocean harmlessly.

Blue Origin may have conducted static fire test of flightworthy BE-4 engine

We don’t know for sure, as the company has said nothing and this information is based solely on orbital photos taken between August 26th and August 28th.

China accuses U.S. of hacking into China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University

This university does a lot of aerospace military development for China, such as hypersonic missiles. Also, considering that China has itself hacked into American aerospace resources frequently, such as at JPL, this accusation is simply the kettle calling the pan black.

Planetary Defense webinar to be held on September 9, 2022

The event is virtual, apparently open to the public, will include researchers from NASA, JAXA, and ESA, and will be focused on discussing methods for protecting the planet from big asteroid impacts.

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China’s Long March 4C rocket launches military satellite

September 3, 2022 9:55 am Robert Zimmerman

China today successfully used its Long March 4C rocket to place a military Earth observation satellite into orbit.

Launched from an interior spaceport, the rocket’s lower stages thus crashed uncontrolled in China.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

39 SpaceX
34 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise still leads China 54 to 34 in the national rankings, and the entire globe 54 to 52.

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Chinese astronauts complete first spacewalk using new Wentian module

September 2, 2022 10:05 am Robert Zimmerman

The new colonial movement: Chinese astronauts yesterday completed their first spacewalk using the airlock on the new Wentian module that was recently launched to that nation’s Tiangong-3 space station.

The spacewalk lasted six hours, and was mostly designed to test the airlock itself as well as do the first tests of Wentian’s own robot arm. It appears they also installed an “extended pump set”, whatever that is, and did other work near the hatch. More here.

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August 31, 2022 Quick space links

August 31, 2022 3:47 pm Robert Zimmerman

Thanks to BtB’s stringer Jay.

Sierra Space posts image of second Dream Chaser spacecraft, under construction

That’s nice, but years have passed and the first Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft, Tenacity, has still not flown. It is well past time for this company to finally get off the ground.

Two astronauts on the present crew on Tiangong-3 will do this mission’s first spacewalk tomorrow

This also be the first spacewalk using the airlock on the space station’s new Wentian module.

China tests new solid rocket motor

It appears to be built by the pseudo-company Orienspace.

Chinese pseudo-company Exspace tests new improved 3rd stage engine for Kuaizhou-1B rocket

A building in Huntsville made from a left-over Saturn 5 interstage section.

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August 29, 2022 Quick space links

August 29, 2022 2:19 pm Robert Zimmerman

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay:

Tory Bruno, ULA’s CEO, provides a picture of BE-4 Flight Engine #2 on the test stand

As I’ve said numerous times, I’ll believe this engine is a flight engine when I see it in flight.

Design and Development of Landing Gear Technology for Manned Lunar Landing

The link goes to the research paper from the Beijing Institute of Space Mechanics and Electricity, which is in Chinese except for the abstract. This tweet highlights the “leg deploying test and full-scale landing impact experiment” from that paper.

Chinese pseudo-company Galaxy Space exhibits new LEO communication satellite with flat-panel design like Starlink

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August 24, 2022 Quick space links

August 24, 2022 4:15 pm Robert Zimmerman

Links courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

Three companies awarded NASA contracts for preliminary work designing deployable solar panels on the Moon

The companies are Astrobotic Technology, Honeybee Robotics, and Lockheed Martin. All three contracts are $7 million or less.

Dart to crash as planned into asteroid on September 26th
A cartoon schematic of the temperature control system on the core module of Tiangong-3

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Indian research project for China’s space station threatened by Chinese-India military conflict

August 24, 2022 11:21 am Robert Zimmerman

A science instrument from India, slated to fly on a Chinese rocket to China’s Tiangong-3 space station, is now threatened by the military tensions between the two nations.

The project, called Spectrographic Investigation of Nebular Gas (SING), also involves collaboration with the [India] Institute of Astronomy [IIA], Russian Academy of Sciences, and has been designed and developed by research students at the IIA. The plan is to have it ready by the year end so that it can be launched in the summer of 2023. Though the plan is on schedule, scientists at the IIA are now consulting with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as well as the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on whether they are in the clear to go ahead with the project.

Chinese and Indian troops have been engaged in a prolonged stand-off in eastern Ladakh. The two sides have so far held 16 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks to resolve the stand-off, which erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area.

It appears the Indian government is having second thoughts about this cooperative project. After decades of naive trust in the communists from both Russia and China, it seems India has finally realized the communists really have little interest in helping India, being more focused on using it for good PR while it steals Indian technology. Moreover, India now realizes that China has become a dangerous neighbor, willing to use its newfound power violently at the border between the two countries.

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Two Chinese pseudo-companies pursuing suborbital tourist market

August 24, 2022 9:35 am Robert Zimmerman

Link here. One company is apparently copying Blue Origin’s New Shepard, though its capsule’s exterior looks more like a copy of SpaceX Dragon capsule.

The other company however is doing something very unusual for a Chinese space operation. It appears to be designing something original, not a copy of some American achievement.

Space Transportation’s goal is to develop a suborbital spaceplane capable of carrying tourists on suborbital flights. The winged system is very different from Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle, which is currently in flight test.

A larger Space Transportation vehicle would be a high-speed transport that would fly between distant locations on Earth in less than two hours.

…The company released very little information about the six launches it conducted this year. It’s not even clear where the flights took place, although Wikipedia indicates they might have been conducted from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

If successful, Space Transportation will have have done something almost unprecedented for China, building something from an entirely original design.

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China launches hi-res Earth observation satellite

August 24, 2022 9:14 am Robert Zimmerman

China today used its Long March 2D rocket to place a new version of a smallsat Earth observation satellite into orbit. Dubbed the Beijing-3B, it appears to be an upgrade of a design first launched last year.

The launch site was in the interior of China, and for certain dumped its first stage onto that interior.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

37 SpaceX
33 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise still leads China 52 to 33 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 52 to 51.

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China’s Kuaizhou-1A rocket launches satellite

August 23, 2022 8:47 am Robert Zimmerman

China today successfully used its smallsat Kuaizhou-1A rocket to launch what appears to be a technology test satellite for the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

As the launch was from an interior spaceport in China, the rocket’s first stages crashed somewhere inland.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

37 SpaceX
32 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise still leads China 52 to 32 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 52 to 50.

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August 22, 2022 Quick space links

August 22, 2022 11:03 am Robert Zimmerman

From BtB’s stringer Jay:

Chinese observers note that the Artemis candidate landing zones overlap three candidate landing zones planned for China’s unmanned Chang-e-7 probe

It appears both the U.S. and China have picked the rims of Shackleton, Shoemaker, and Haworth craters. This is no surprise, as both countries are using data obtained from the American orbiter, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Chinese pseudo-company Ispace completes drop tests for its Hyperbola-2 rocket’s first stage landing legs

You can watch two short video clips of the tests here. Hop tests of the stage are expected to follow soon.

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SpaceX and China complete launches

August 19, 2022 12:51 pm Robert Zimmerman

Two launches have just occurred in the 2022 launch race. First, SpaceX today successfully launched another 53 Starlink satellites, using its Falcon 9 rocket.

The first stage successfully landed on its drone ship in the Atlantic, completing its ninth flight.

China in turn used its Long March 2D rocket to launch three military reconnaissance satellites, at what was the early morning hours of August 20, 2022, China time. The launch path took the rocket over China’s interior as well as Taiwan, with the first stage crashing somewhere in China.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

37 SpaceX
31 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise still leads China 52 to 31 in the national rankings, and the entire world 52 to 49. The 52 launches so far this year is now the fifth best total for the U.S. since the launch of Sputnik in 1957.

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August 18, 2022 Quick space links

August 18, 2022 10:50 am Robert Zimmerman

As stringer Jay correctly noted to me in an email today, “Slow news day.” None of the stories below merit a full post, even though they are pretty much all of today’s space news.

Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer tests its rocket strongback

The company hopes to complete its first orbital launch before the end of the year.

Sierra Space completes design review of system to extract oxygen from lunar soil

The press release makes this sound more exciting than it is. All that has happened is the company has completed its first design review. Nothing has been built or tested.

Chinese pseudo-company StarSpace develops 600w Hall-effect ion thrusters

Jay adds, “This company has currently raised ten million Yuan ($US 1.5M) in investments. Tiangong Space Station has these engines but I can not find any specs on it. [For context] the University of Michigan built a 100kw engine and NASA has built a 40kw engine and a 6kw engine that will be used on the Lunar Gateway.”

NASA to announce this Friday the lunar landing site for the third Artemis/SLS launch in ’26

Wanna bet this doesn’t launch in ’26? Or ever?

However, the graphic NASA uses for its tweet, of Starship on the Moon, indicates that even NASA knows this, and is increasingly expecting its lunar program to shift away from SLS in the near future.

Two upcoming Chinese launches announced for August, on August 19th and August 22nd

Both are launching from interior spaceports and will, based on the map of their launch paths at the link, dump their first stages on China. One will also fly over Taiwan.

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August 16, 2022 Quick space links

August 16, 2022 2:06 pm Robert Zimmerman

Click to see full image.

Some quickie stories worth noting, most provided by stringer Jay:

Michael Tzukran, astrophotographer from the University of Tel Aviv, takes great ground-based picture of Tiangong-3 in orbit

That picture, cropped to post here, is to the right.

Assembly begins on Europa Clipper

Launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy is scheduled for 2024.

Air Force awards SpaceX $1.9 million contract for Starlink services in Europe and Africa
Electron’s next launch in September will be its 30th overall

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China’s radar ship finally docks in Sri Lanka

August 16, 2022 9:00 am Robert Zimmerman

Despite objections by India and an initial refusal by the Sri Lanka government to allow a Chinese military communications/radar ship to dock at one of Sri Lanka’s ports, the ship was finally allowed to dock yesterday.

Sri Lanka, which needs the support of both India and China as it struggles with its worst economic crisis in decades, initially granted the ship permission for a five-day replenishment stay in Hambantota, from Aug. 11.

It later asked China to delay the vessel’s arrival, citing the need for more consultations.

Yuan Wang 5 will now berth for only three days to stock up on fuel, food and other essentials, said an official at the port who declined to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The ship is used by China to track satellites, rockets, and missiles, both its own and other nations.

Sri Lanka is caught between a rock and a hard place. The country is bankrupt, its citizens facing starvation due to the previous government’s imposition of numerous green environmental policies that destroyed its agriculture industry. It has also taken aid from both India (providing military hardware) and China (which built the port and holds a 99-year lease to operate it), and neither looks kindly at the other.

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August 15, 2022 Quick space links

August 15, 2022 12:43 pm Robert Zimmerman

From Jay, BtB’s stringer:

Chinese pseudo-company AAEngine reveals its resuable first stage engine

As Jay notes, it looks like an obvious knockoff of SpaceX’s Merlin engine.

SLS to roll out to the launchpad beginning tomorrow
Army hands over satellite operations to Space Force

The army however will continue to build instruments and payloads for satellites, as well as continue to maintain its 1st Space Brigade, which monitors satellite data and health during military deployments.

Virgin Orbit reduces its launch prediction for ’22, while saying it will garner more revenue
Chinese pseudo company SpaceTai claims it will launch its new rocket by ’24

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August 14, 2022 Quick space links

August 14, 2022 1:06 pm Robert Zimmerman

Some weekend news from BtB’s top stringer, Jay.

China shows off fairing used to launch suspected X-37B copy
Fairing analysis strongly confirms China’s reusable spaceplane is a copy of the X-37B
Big SpaceX hardware delivered to Cape Canaveral, likely part of launch tower.
Status of the debris from Russia’s anti-satellite test

Of the 1,784 objects tracked, 1,132 have burned up in the atmosphere, with the orbits of another 539 to decay in the next three years. The fate of the remaining 113 objects is unclear, but they will clearly be a threat for longer.

First spacewalk using the airlock on the new Wentian module on Tiangong-3 expected any day now

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China’s Long March-6 rocket launches 16 satellites into orbit

August 10, 2022 8:47 am Robert Zimmerman

China today used its Long March-6 rocket to place sixteen satellites into orbit, all of which appear to be for military and civilian Earth observations.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

35 SpaceX
30 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise still leads China 50 to 30 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 50 to 48.

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Russia and China complete launches

August 9, 2022 8:45 am Robert Zimmerman

Both Russia and a pseudo-commercial Chinese company today completed launches.

Russia used its Soyuz-2 rocket to launch a military reconnaissance satellite for Iran, along with 16 Russian smallsats. The rocket was originally going to launch a South Korean satellite, but that launch was cancelled due to Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine.

In China, the pseudo-company Galactic Energy used its four-stage Ceres-1 rocket to place three Earth observations satellites into orbit. Because three of the rocket’s four stages use solid rocket motors, they were likely reworked from military applications. Thus, Galactic Energy does nothing without the full approval and supervision of the Chinese government. It might have been funded privately, and focused on making profits, but it really owns nothing it builds.

Nonetheless, this was its third successful orbital launch, making it the most successful of these Chinese pseudo-companies. It is also developing a Falcon 9 clone rocket dubbed Pallas-1, which it hopes to launch next year.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

34 SpaceX
29 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise still leads China 49 to 29 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 49 to 47. A SpaceX Falcon 9 launch later today should strengthen this lead again.

The leade

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August 8th quick space links

August 8, 2022 12:47 pm Robert Zimmerman

Some quick links, provided by reader Jay:

Chinese observatory spots two new near Earth (Amor) asteroids
Japan targeting October 7 for its first launch in ’22

The rocket, Epsilon, will put eight smallsats into orbit. That rocket has been Japan’s effort to produce a low-cost rocket capable of competing in the emerging smallsat market. That this will be Japan’s first launch this year, in October, suggests it has had little success so far in this effort.

A nice picture of SpaceX’s Superheavy booster

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