Tag: China
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Long March 2D launches Kuanfu-1 and co-passengers
China launched another satellite for its Jilin-1 remote sensing constellation orbiting the Kuanfu-1 (Wideband-1) satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on January 15. The launch took place at around 03:02 UTC from the LC9 launch complex using the Long March-2D (Y58) rocket. Together with Jilin-1 Kuanfu-1, the first mission from Taiyuan in 2020 orbited…
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Long March 3B launch opens China’s busy 2020 schedule
After the successful return to flight of the powerful Long March 5 closing the orbital launch activities for China in 2019, the country launched another secretive Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing (TJSW) satellite on January 7, opening what could be a record-breaking year. The launch took place at around 15:20 UTC using the Long March 3B/G2…
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China’s first launch of 2020 lofts mystery payload
A Long March 3B rocket lifts off Tuesday with the TJS 5 satellite. Credit: People’s Daily A Chinese Long March 3B rocket launched a satellite Tuesday toward a position in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) above Earth. Chinese state media claimed the mysterious spacecraft has a communication and television broadcast mission,…
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China publishes Chang’e 4 data one year after first landing on far side of the moon
The Yutu 2 rover is pictured on the far side of the moon soon after landing in January 2019. This image was taken by a camera on the Chang’e 4 mission’s stationary landing platform. Credit: CNSA/CLEP Chinese officials marked the one-year anniversary of the Chang’e 4 mission’s historic first soft landing on the far side…
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Long March, Soyuz and Falcon rockets topped 2019’s launch leaderboard
A Soyuz-FG booster lifts off July 20, 2019, with the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft carrying Alexander Skvortsov, Luca Parmitano and Andrew Morgan t the International Space Station. Credit: Roscosmos China led the world with 34 orbital launch attempts in 2019 — including two failures — followed by 22 flights from Russian-operated launch pads and 21 satellite…
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Successful Long March 5 launch paves way for new Chinese space missions
China’s third Long March 5 rocket lifts off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. Credit: CCTV The third launch of China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket successfully delivered its satellite payload to orbit Friday, validating engine design changes after a failure on the Long March 5’s second flight, and clearing the way for the launch…
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China’s Long March 5 rocket poised for crucial return-to-flight launch
China’s third Long March 5 rocket rolled out to its launch pad Dec. 21 at the Wenchang space center on Hainan Island. Credit: Xinhua China’s Long March 5 rocket — the country’s most powerful launcher — is set for its third flight Friday on a critical validation mission after a core stage engine failure doomed…
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China launches environmental satellite built in cooperation with Brazil
The sixth in a series of environmental monitoring satellites jointly developed by China and Brazil successfully launched Dec. 20 on top of a Long March 4B rocket. The CBERS 4A Earth observation satellite rode the Long March 4B rocket into a 385-mile-high (620-kilometer) polar sun-synchronous orbit from the Taiyuan space base in northern China’s…
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China completes core of Beidou global satellite navigation system
A Long March 3B rocket lifts off Monday from the Xichang space base in southwestern China’s Sichuan province. Credit: CASC Two Chinese Beidou navigation satellites successfully launched Monday on top of a Long March 3B rocket, completing the core of China’s independent positioning and timing network ahead of the start of global service next year.…
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China nears global coverage with the latest launch of Beidou-3M satellites
With the launch Monday of a new pair of navigation satellites, China is one step nearer to achieving global coverage with its navigation satellite system. The launch of Beidou-3M19 (Beidou-52) and Beidou-3M20 (Beidou-53) took place at 07:22 UTC, lofted by the Long March-3BGZ/YZ-1 (Y67/Y15) from the LC3 Launch Complex at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center,…