Tag: China
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CAS Space Expands Space Pharma Partnership, Plans 2027 Lihong-2 Debut With Pharmaceutical Payload
CAS Space and Guangzhou Laboratory have begun jointly developing space pharmaceutical payloads and plan to conduct validation experiments for space-based drug research. The first payloads are scheduled to fly aboard the reusable Lihong-2 vehicle on a suborbital mission in the first quarter of 2027. The mission will carry out crystallization experiments involving proteins and small-molecule…
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From Recovery Milestones to Routine Reuse: What Falcon 9 Can Teach China’s Reusable Rocket Industry
As the launch industry demands lower costs, higher flight rates and greater scale, reusability is making rockets function more like transportation systems. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 was the first reusable orbital rocket to enter commercial service. Its combination of relatively low costs, frequent launches, large scale and strong reliability has made it a mainstay of the…
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China’s AI-GeoMapping System Guides 400-Square-Kilometer Gobi Survey
China’s AI-GeoMapping system has guided 400 square kilometers of 1:50,000-scale regional geological mapping in northern Alxa, Inner Mongolia, where fused remote-sensing, aeromagnetic and geochemical data helped field teams identify concealed intrusions, faults beneath sediment cover and new mineral-prospecting clues. The Hohhot Natural Resources Comprehensive Survey Center of the China Geological Survey reported on Sept. 24…
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Chinese Researchers Signal First In-Orbit Refuelling of a BeiDou Satellite
The claim surfaced in a paper submitted to the Journal of Deep Space Exploration by a team from the state-funded Deep Space Exploration Laboratory. Research papers cited in reporting suggest the operation occurred in February of last year. The researchers gave no details about how the manoeuvre was conducted. In the paper, the team said…
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China Successfully Launches Remote-Sensing Satellite 40 Group 04 on Long March 6A Rocket
China launched the Remote-Sensing Satellite No. 40 Group 04 at 4:46 p.m. Beijing Time on September 24, 2026, using a Long March 6A rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The satellites entered their planned orbit and will primarily conduct electromagnetic environment detection and related technology experiments. Chinese authorities did not disclose the number of…
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China Sets 2030 Targets for Next-Generation Communications and Low-Earth-Orbit Satellite Internet
China will accelerate construction of low-Earth-orbit satellite internet systems and integrate satellite networks more closely with terrestrial communications infrastructure under its 15th Five-Year Plan, including the development of direct-to-device satellite services and satellite Internet of Things applications. The space-based network will form part of a wider program to establish a high-performance national communications system by…
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Space Epoch Raises $343 Million to Fund Reusable Yuanxingzhe-1 Rocket
Chinese commercial launch company Space Epoch has completed a Series B++ financing round, bringing its total funding raised over the past six months to more than 2.3 billion yuan, or approximately $343 million. The capital will support the first orbital flight of its reusable Yuanxingzhe-1 methane-fueled rocket, first-stage recovery testing and the development of commercial…
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China Launches Satellite Internet LEO Group 26 on Long March 8A (Video)
China launched its 26th group of low-Earth-orbit satellite internet spacecraft aboard a Long March 8A rocket at 9:32 p.m. Beijing time on September 23, 2026. The rocket lifted off from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site and successfully placed the satellites into their designated orbit, continuing the country’s accelerated deployment of space-based broadband infrastructure. The…
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Can SAR Map Floods Without Manual Labels or Threshold Tuning?
In brief: Conventional SAR-based flood mapping often runs into two obstacles: thresholds must be adjusted repeatedly by hand, while supervised learning requires large volumes of labeled data. This paper proposes Felz-CNN, also known as the adaptive unsupervised Felz-CNN segment system (AUFCS). The method first uses Felzenszwalb superpixels to divide a SAR image into many internally…
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China Launches Four Rockets in 45 Hours as Broadband Constellation Deployment Accelerates
China completed four orbital launches with four different rockets in just over 44 hours between September 15 and 17, 2026, deploying satellites from Jiuquan, an offshore platform east of Shanghai, and the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site. The sequence involved two commercially developed launch vehicles and two rockets operated by state-owned groups, highlighting the growing…