Tag: China
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How America fell behind China in the lunar space race—and how it can catch back up
For the last month, NASA’s interim administrator, Sean Duffy, has been giving interviews and speeches around the world, offering a singular message: “We are going to beat the Chinese to the Moon.” This is certainly what the president who appointed Duffy to the NASA post wants to hear. Unfortunately, there is a very good chance…
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Geely’s Geespace Launches Global Headquarters Project in Hangzhou
Geespace, the commercial aerospace subsidiary of China’s Geely Holding Group, said it has launched construction of its global headquarters in Hangzhou and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with local investment partners. The deal with Zhejiang Jinkong Investment Management, Hangzhou Capital and Hangzhou High-Tech Venture Capital will support investment and industrial development aimed at building a…
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China’s Guowang megaconstellation is more than another version of Starlink
US defense officials have long worried that China’s Guowang satellite network might give the Chinese military access to the kind of ubiquitous connectivity US forces now enjoy with SpaceX’s Starlink network. It turns out the Guowang constellation could offer a lot more than a homemade Chinese alternative to Starlink’s high-speed consumer-grade broadband service. China has…
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After recent tests, China appears likely to beat the United States back to the Moon
In recent weeks, the secretive Chinese space program has reported some significant milestones in developing its program to land astronauts on the lunar surface by the year 2030. On August 6, the China Manned Space Agency successfully tested a high-fidelity mockup of its 26-ton “Lanyue” lunar lander. The test, conducted outside of Beijing, used giant…
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Launch Roundup: SpaceX, Chinese, and Russian missions make up busy week
Two Chinese rockets, a pair of Russian missions, a trio of Falcon 9 launches, a New Shepard, an Electron, and the long-awaited tenth flight of Starship were scheduled to fly this week. In Russia, a Soyuz rocket launched a modernized version of the Vostok capsule that flew crewed missions in the 1960s from Baikonur, while…
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Launch Roundup: Vulcan and Ariane launch ahead of Starlink missions
After a week of weather delays across the U.S, launch cadence increases as providers strive to catch up with the backlog. An Ariane 6 carrying a weather satellite launched ahead of a navigational technology satellite and a classified payload launched atop Vulcan. A Chinese Chang Zheng 5B rocket also launched on Wednesday. Three Falcon 9…
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Launch Roundup: Russian and European science missions launched during busy week
Seven launches took place this week. Four of these are Falcon 9s, with SpaceX launching two customer missions and two Starlink missions. Internationally, Russia and Europe have both launched science payloads, while, in Australia, Gilmour Space intended to attempt to launch its Eris rocket once again, but has delayed again, into next week. In China,…
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Launch Roundup: Chinese cargo resupply mission, Falcon 9 launches Kuiper satellites
This week features several missions scheduled to launch from sites all around the world. China has launched its latest cargo resupply mission to the Tiangong space station, while Gilmour Space had expected to attempt the maiden launch of its Eris rocket from Australia – this is now delayed into next week. As usual, SpaceX is…
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The Space Traffic Report: Starlink, ISS docking, and upcoming Falcon 9 & Kuiper launches
This past week marked a relatively quiet period for orbital launches, but there was still plenty of movement above Earth — from a new batch of Starlink satellites joining the constellation, to supply missions coming and going from two different space stations. Here’s your weekly rundown of what moved in orbit and what to watch…
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China accelerates toward lunar goals as reusability programs gain momentum
China has conducted two spacewalks from its Tiangong space station in as many months and is advancing on its lunar exploration plans with a successful pad abort test of its crewed Mengzhou capsule. Meanwhile, an experimental spacecraft has made advances in in-space refueling. Meanwhile, the next generation of reusable Chinese commercial rockets, many of which…