Tag: China
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China launches spy satellite triplet for third time this year
A Long March 4C rocket lifts off Saturday with three Yaogan 31 military satellites. Credit: Xinhua Three Chinese military satellites launched Saturday aboard a Long March 4C rocket, joining six others China has sent into orbit since the start of the year on ocean surveillance missions. The three Yaogan 31-series satellites took off at 0219…
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China’s Long March 7A rocket successful on second flight
China’s Long March 7A rocket lifts off from the Wenchang launch base on Hainan Island. Credit: Xinhua The second flight of China’s new medium-lift Long March 7A rocket successfully placed an experimental satellite into orbit Thursday, following a failed launch of the same configuration last year caused by a problem in a booster liquid oxygen…
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China lofts three military Yaogan satellites in Chang Zheng 4C launch
China continues to upgrade its oceanic surveillance systems with the launch of three new satellites from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Group 04 of Yaogan Weixing-31 satellites launched at 02:20 UTC on 13 March from launch pad 94 of the LC-43 launch complex on a Chang Zheng 4C rocket. As usual, Chinese media refer…
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China launches Chang Zheng 7A rocket on its Return To Flight mission
China has successfully launched the second Chang Zheng 7A (CZ-7A) rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on Hainan Island, thus recovering from the first failed launch that took place almost one year ago. Carrying the mysterious Shiyan 9/Xinjishu Yanzheng-6-02 satellite, liftoff took place at 17:51 UTC on 11 March from the LC-201 launch complex.…
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China preparing to build Tiangong station in 2021, complete by 2022
China is gearing up for its next big leap in space exploration: the construction of its modular crewed space station, the Tiangong. Starting in 2021, the construction of the Tiangong orbital space station is expected to be complete in 2022 after eleven missions, including three launches of different modules, four launches of cargo vehicles and…
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Another trio of Chinese military satellites successfully deployed
A Long March 4C rocket takes off Feb. 24 with another trio of Yaogan 31 military satellites. Credit: Xinhua Weeks after the launch of an earlier trio of Chinese military satellites, another spacecraft triplet successfully took off Feb. 24 aboard a Long March 4C rocket on a clandestine mission that analysts believe may involve spying…
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Spectacular video released from China’s first Mars mission
China’s space agency has released a pair of spectacular video clips from “selfie” cameras on-board the country’s Tianwen 1 spacecraft as it braked into orbit around Mars on Feb. 10. One of the videos shows Tianwen 1’s high-gain directional antenna shaking from vibrations caused by the spacecraft’s main engine, which fired for 15 minutes to…
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China’s first Mars mission enters orbit around Red Planet
A camera on-board the Tianwen 1 spacecraft captured a view of Mars earlier this month as it approached the Red Planet. Credit: CNSA/CASC China placed is first spacecraft into orbit around Mars on Wednesday, continuing an international blitz on the Red Planet one day after the arrival of a spacecraft from United Arab Emirates and…
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China, with Tianwen-1, begins tenure at Mars with successful orbital arrival
The Tianwen-1 orbiter, lander, and rover mission to Mars from the People’s Republic of China has successfully arrived at the Red Planet following an approximately 15 minute Mars Orbit Insertion burn that placed the craft into orbit. The arrival capped a seven-month cruise to Mars and marks the start of a multi-pronged scientific mission that…
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China launches military satellite toward geostationary orbit
A Long March 3B rocket takes off with the TJS 6 satellite. Credit: CASC A mysterious Chinese government satellite, believed to be a military-operated early warning station, successfully launched into orbit Feb. 4 on top of a Long March 3B rocket. The three-stage, 184-foot-tall (55-meter) rocket lifted off from the Xichang space center at 1536…