The new colonial movement: China today used its Long March 3C rocket to launch a military communications satellite.
This was China’s 37th successful launch in 2018, only three launches less than their predicted 40 launches for the year. It almost doubles their previous record of 20 in 2016.
The leaders in the 2018 launch race:
37 China
21 SpaceX
14 Russia
11 Europe (Arianespace)
8. ULA
China leads in the national rankings, 37 to 34, over the U.S.
The new colonial movement China today launched the first prototype Hongyun communications satellite.
Developed by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), this is the fist satellite of a vast space-based communications network capable of covering every corner on the Earth, including the Arctic and Antarctica. The satellite mission is to verify low-orbit broadband communication technologies to be used on the Hongyun satellite constellation.
Announced by CASIC in September 2016, the Hongyun project has the goal of building a space-based communications network of 156 communications satellites into low Earth orbit, at an altitude of 160 to 2,000 km. Each satellite of the network will be able to transmit 500 megabytes of data per second. It will become operational in 2022.
These satellites, aimed at lowering cost, appear to be in direct competition with many of the new smallsat constellations being developed in the west by SpaceX, OneWeb, and others.
The leaders in the 2018 launch race:
36 China
20 SpaceX
14 Russia
11 Europe (Arianespace)
8 ULA
China has widened its lead over the U.S. in the national rankings, 36 to 33, and has likely now clinched that lead for the year. Stay tuned for my annual full report on the state of the launch industry in 2018.
The new colonial movement: Chang’e-4 has successfully established a communications link with its Queqiao relay satellite.
This success puts China one step closer to its January attempt to soft land Chang’e-4’s lander on the far side of the Moon. Once on the surface, Chang’e-4 must be able to communicate with Queqiao in order to relay data to Earth.
The new colonial movement: After five days travel Chang’e-4 successfully entered lunar orbit yesterday.
They will attempt a landing in early January, after assessing the situation and waiting for daylight to arrive at the landing site.
Link here. Lots of nice information, including the fact that Chang’e-3 seems to still be functioning in a limited manner, and that Chang’e-4 is depending not on solar panels but a radioactive thermal electric system, similar I think to the RPGs that NASA uses on its deep space missions. (I am uncertain however about this, based on looking at the video at the link, which seems to show solar panels on Chang’e-4. They could be instead panels to protect the spacecraft from the sun’s heat.)
They enter lunar orbit on December 12, and will likely land in the first week of January.
Using its Long March 3B rocket, China on December 7 successfully launched its Chang’e-4 rover/lander, aimed at being the first probe to land on the Moon’s far side.
It will take the probe five days to reach the Moon and land.
The same day China also launched two Earth observation satellites for Saudi Arabia, using its Long March 2D rocket.
The leaders in the 2018 launch standings:
35 China
20 SpaceX
13 Russia
10 Europe (Arianespace)
China has widened its lead over the U.S. 35 to 32 in the national rankings. China also looks like it is going to come close to meeting its prediction of 40 launches for 2018.
The Big Green government: Manufacturers of electric cars design the cars so that they routinely transmit information about the car’s status and position to the Chinese government.
More than 200 manufacturers, including Tesla, Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Mitsubishi and U.S.-listed electric vehicle start-up NIO, transmit position information and dozens of other data points to government-backed [Chinese] monitoring centers, The Associated Press has found. Generally, it happens without car owners’ knowledge.
The automakers say they are merely complying with local laws, which apply only to alternative energy vehicles. Chinese officials say the data is used for analytics to improve public safety, facilitate industrial development and infrastructure planning, and to prevent fraud in subsidy programs.
Outside of China the information is also gathered, but by private companies. Car owners can opt out, but that seems to me to be the unethical way to arrange this. Owners should instead be asked if they want to opt in.
In fact, the gathering of this data, privately or by governments, without the permission of the car owner, is entirely unethical and immoral. That these companies and their managers see nothing wrong with this is another illustration of the abandonment of morality in modern culture. It is also another reason why I want my hi-tech equipment to be as dumb as possible. Above all, I do not want it linked electronically beyond itself.
China successfully launched five satellites yesterday using its Long March 2D rocket.
The main payload is apparently a military surveillance satellite.
The leaders in the 2018 launch race:
33 China
18 SpaceX
11 Russia
8 ULA
8 Europe (Arianespace)
China has widened its lead on the U.S. to 33 to 31. There have also been 93 successful launches this year, which ties 2014 for the most in the 21st century. My count of the number of future launches so far announced suggests that there will be about 110 launches total in 2018, the highest number since 1990, the year before the fall of the Soviet Union.
China yesterday used its Long March 3B rocket to successfully launch two more GPS-type satellites for its planned Beidou constellation of 35 satellites.
They have launched about half the constellation this year, and plan to complete it next year.
The leaders in the 2018 launch race:
32 China
18 SpaceX
11 Russia
8 ULA
8 Europe (Arianespace)
China has widened its lead over the U.S. to 32 to 30 in the national rankings. China also seems on schedule to meet or at least come very close to its predicted 40 launches this year, a number that doubles its previous high.
China is still finding it difficult to hire the scientists necessary to run its FAST radio telescope, the largest single dish radio telescope in the world.
And why is that?
For job candidates, the major stumbling blocks often are financial incentives and research independence, researchers told the South China Morning Post. The telescope’s remote location also may give candidates pause.
George Smoot, a Hong Kong University of Science and Technology professor who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2006, said candidates interested in working in a more developed setting might think twice about spending a lot of time in an area known for its traditional rural villages.
“Another issue is how much the Chinese Academy of Sciences will influence and direct activities there,” Smoot said. “It is an issue to people unless they have some straight link.” [emphasis mine]
It must always be remembered that nothing in China is done without the government’s approval. For western astronomers, used to having a great deal of independence, this fact makes working there somewhat unappealing.
China has completed its first vertical rocket landing test, using a prototype small scale first stage very similar to SpaceX’s Grasshopper test rocket.
If I was cynical, I’d say that this isn’t just similar, it is a direct steal from Grasshopper. But then, that is generally how the Chinese have come up with their new technology, not by creating it themselves, but by stealing ideas from others and then upgrading them.
Either way, this test shows that China is devoting serious energy to making its first stages reusable.
Completing its 31st successful launch this year, China today placed two more GPS-type Beidou satellites into orbit, using a Long March 3B/G2 rocket.
The article says this is China’s 32nd launch, but that includes one failure. The leaders in the 2018 launch race:
31 China
17 SpaceX
9 Russia
8 ULA
7 Europe (Arianespace)
China has widened its lead over the U.S. in the national rankings to 31 to 26.
