Tag: China

China launches classified remote sensing satellite

8:57 pm

Using its Long March 2D rocket, fueled by toxic hypergolic fuels, China today launched another classified remote sensing satellite from its Xichang spaceport in the southwest of China.

No word where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China, or whether they landed near habitable areas.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

69 SpaceX
45 China
13 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China in successful launches 80 to 45, and the entire world combined 80 to 72. SpaceX by itself trails the rest of the world (excluding American companies) by only 69 to 72.

SpaceX however has another Starlink launch scheduled to lift off shortly. The good live stream can be found here, using no distracting announcers while also using SpaceX’s own X feed.

0 comments

Updated map of Yutu-2’s travels on far side of the Moon

3:01 pm

Map showing Yutu-2 full route on Moon
Click for original image.

The Chinese agency operating the Yutu-2 rover on the far side of the Moon today released an updated map showing the rover’s full route since landing, the first update since January 2023. That map is to the right, reduced to post here. The landing site is in the lower right, with the rover presently in the upper left.

Since January the rover has apparently traveled only about 300 feet, even though it has had about eight lunar days to travel. Note too that the last update was also the first in three months. It appears the Chinese are either having issues with the rover (not surprising as it has been operating on the Moon for almost five years, since January 2019), or they have decided they don’t need to tell anyone what they are doing.

Since the rover was not expected to last more than a few lunar days (several Earth months), the former is more likely.

0 comments

China launches classified satellite using its Long March 4C rocket

9:00 am

China today successfully placed a classified remote sensing satellite into orbit, its Long March 4C rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in the northwest of China.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages, which use toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed within China.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

68 SpaceX
44 China
13 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 79 to 44, and the entire world combined 79 to 70. SpaceX by itself now trails the rest of the world combined (excluding American companies) by only 68 to 70.

0 comments

Chinese pseudo-company experiences launch failure

9:08 am

The Chinese pseudo-company Galactic Energy last night experienced the first launch failure of its solid-fueled Cere-1 rocket, launching from the Jiuquan spaceport in the northwest of China.

No details about the failure were released, including where in China the rocket crashed. The rocket has four stages, and is derived from Chinese missile technology. This was its tenth launch, and first failure.

Like all of China’s pseudo-companies, Galactic Energy obtains investment capital and then competes for government or commercial contracts. It is not a real company in that the government has closely supervised and controlled it (especially because of its dependence on missile designs), and can take it over at any time.

3 comments

China launches military reconnaissance satellite

9:52 am

China today successfully launched a classified military reconnaissance satellite, using its Long March 2D rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in the south of China.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed in China. All the stages use hypergolic fuels, which are extremely toxic.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

65 SpaceX
43 China
13 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 76 to 43, and the entire world combined 76 to 69. SpaceX by itself now trails the rest of the world combined (excluding American companies) 65 to 69.

0 comments

German govenment blocks Chinese takeover of startup satellite company

10:29 am

The German govenment today blocked the completion of a stock deal that would have transferred almost complete ownership of the startup satellite company KLEO Connect to a Chinese firm.

The cabinet agreed a decision by the economy ministry not to let Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology, which already has 53% of the company, acquire the 45% minority stake of German company EightyLeo, according to the sources.

KLEO Connect wants to establish a network of more than 300 small, low earth orbit satellites to be fully operational by 2028 along with the ground infrastructure to provide global communications services – similar to SpaceX with its project Starlink. [emphasis mine]

It appears this decision might be a bit late, considering that this Chinese pseudo-company, undoubtably working under the supervision of the Chinese communists, already owns a majority stake. That lateness however appears to be part of the German government’s decision in the last year to toughen its stance on China.

0 comments

Two launches today, one by ULA and one by China

10:16 am

Today there were two successful launches. First China launched a remote sensing satellite using its Long March 6 rocket that lifted off from its Taiyuan spaceport in the south of China.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages and four strap-on boosters crashed inside China.

Shortly thereafter, ULA used its Atlas-5 rocket to place a reconnaissance satellite into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

For ULA, this was only its second launch in 2023. The leaders in the 2023 launch race are now as follows, with China’s total corrected:

63 SpaceX
42 China
12 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

In the national rankings, American private enterprise now leads China in successful launches 73 to 42. It also now leads the entire world combined, 73 to 67, while SpaceX by itself now trails the rest of the world (excluding American companies) only 63 to 67.

CORRECTION: Hat tip to reader John Foley (see his comment below), who noted that China’s total appeared to be one short. I went back and discovered I had missed a March 22, 2023 launch of a Kuaizhou 1A rocket from the Jiujian spaceport, placing four weather satellites in orbit. I have now added that launch to China’s total, and corrected the other numbers.

6 comments

China’s Long March 4C rocket launches classified remote sensing satellite

5:15 pm

China’s three-stage Long March 4C rocket today (early morning on September 7th in China) successfully placed a classified remote sensing satellite into orbit, lifting off from China’s Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert.

This launch occurred prior to Japan’s H-2A launch, but I am only catching up with it now. As always, China’s state run press released little information, including where the first and second stages crashed inside China. All three stages of the Long March 4C use very toxic hypergolic fuels, so if those stages landed near habitable areas, there will be significant risk to bystanders.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

62 SpaceX
40 China
12 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

In the national rankings, American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 71 to 40. It also still leads the entire world combined, 71 to 65, while SpaceX by itself now trails the rest of the world (excluding American companies) only 62 to 65.

0 comments

Chinese pseudo-company launches four satellites from offshore launchpad

11:35 am

China's spaceports

The Chinese pseudo-company Galactic Energy today used its Ceres-1 rocket to launch four satellites from an offshore launchpad located a few miles off the coast of Shandong Province in the Yellow Sea.

For the third straight time the government-run state press made no mention of this pseudo-company in reporting the launch. Instead, it was achieved by “China”, which is true since the company isn’t really private. It is a fake company created using investment capital and aimed at making money winning contracts, but everything it does is supervised by the communist government, which can take over operations and control of the rocket at any time. That the state-run press is no longer touting the private company suggests to me that the communists are greedily eyeing its success, and are thinking about stepping in to take over.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

62 SpaceX
39 China
12 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

In the national rankings, American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 71 to 39. It also still leads the entire world combined, 71 to 63, while SpaceX by itself now trails the rest of the world (excluding American companies) only 62 to 63.

Note: the world this year has so far achieved 134 successful launches, which only two years ago was a new record for the most global launches in a single year, breaking the previous record from 1966. Last year the world smashed that record, achieving 179 launches. It appears the world this year will smash last year’s record.

7 comments

China’s Long March 2D launches 3 satellites

8:55 am

China today successfully placed three “remote sensing” satellites into orbit, using its Long March 2D rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in south China.

The state-run press provided no other information, including whether the rocket’s lower stages crashed near habitable areas. According to the flight path, the crash zones were near major population centers, including one city with a population of nine million.

SpaceX meanwhile scrubbed a Falcon 9 launch this morning at Vandenberg due to an issue with one first stage engine, but it is still scheduled to launch 22 Starlink satellites this afternoon from Cape Canaveral. The live stream is here.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

59 SpaceX
38 China
12 Russia
7 Rocket Lab

In the national rankings, American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 68 to 38. It also leads the entire world combined, 68 to 61, while SpaceX by itself now trails the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 59 to 61 in successful launches.

1 comment

China launches remote sensing satellite using rocket from pseudo-company

9:00 am

The Chinese pseudo-company Galactic Energy completed another successful orbital launch today, using its Ceres-1 rocket solid-fueled rocket carrying a remote sensing satellite and lifting off from the Jiuquan spaceport in the northwest interior of China.

As with the pseudo-company’s previous launch, the state-run press made no mention of the company in its reporting, underlining the fact that it really is simply another government-controlled entity that simply adds private investment and the profit-motive to its operations.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed within China.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

57 SpaceX
37 China
12 Russia
7 Rocket Lab

In the national rankings, American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 66 to 37. It also leads the entire world combined, 66 to 60, while SpaceX by itself now trails the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 57 to 60 in successful launches.

0 comments

China’s Long March 4C rocket places Earth observation satellite into orbit

9:14 am

China yesterday used its Long March 4C rocket to put what that country’s state-run press calls an “Earth observation satellite” into orbit, lifting off from the Jiuquan spaceport in the interior.

No word on whether the rocket’s first stage crash landed near habitable areas, as China’s disposable first stages often do.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

56 SpaceX
36 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
6 India

American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 64 to 36 in the national rankings, while the entire world combined 64 to 58. SpaceX alone now trails the entire world (excluding American companies) 56 to 58.

0 comments
1 … 27 28 29 30 31 … 118