![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Shenzhou-19-EVA-CNSA-CCTV-002-.png\")
<\/p>\nThe Shenzhou-19 crew recently conducted their third spacewalk this month as the China National Space Administration announced it is open to including international scientific payloads aboard a forthcoming Mars mission. Meanwhile, bold plans for planetary exploration have been revealed and a design has emerged for a new space telescope with a familiar design.<\/p>\n
The commercial space sector continues to develop new technology including next-generation reusable vehicles as China invests further into its space economy. Another new entrant into the market has plans for chopstick catches of a booster with a tower, while Galactic Energy is progressing with plans for a world-first electromagnetic launch pad.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This month, Taikonauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong conducted the third extravehicular activity (EVA) of their Shenzhou-19 crew rotation on the Tiangong Space Station. The pair\u2019s first EVA in December broke the record for the longest spacewalk ever conducted, lasting nine hours and six minutes; this was followed by a second EVA in late January. On March 21, the two left the Wentian module once again to install additional panels that will shield the station from space debris as well as performing routine inspections outside the station. The taikonauts were once again assisted by the station\u2019s robotic arm and crewmate Wang Haoze who remained inside the orbiting outpost.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Taikonauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong install space debris shielding on the Tiangong Space Station during their third EVA of the Shenzhou-19 mission (Credit: CNSA\/CCTV)<\/p>\n
This crew\u2019s spacewalks have become progressively shorter in duration, this one lasting seven hours. With their six-month rotation coming to an end in approximately a month, it was likely their last. For now, the Shenzhou-15 crew still holds the record of four EVAs during their visit in 2023. Cai has set a new record, however, for the total time spent outside of the station across his five spacewalks \u2013 these now exceed 35 hours. This latest EVA also illustrated the resilience of the Feitian spacesuits, exceeding their lifespan of 15 uses across three years. The China Astronaut Center has since increased this to 19 uses across four years, after evaluation.<\/p>\n
The crew for the subsequent Shenzhou-20 mission has already been selected but the names of the next three taikonauts will not be announced until much closer to the launch of the mission. The dates and times are also yet to be declared. The current crew is expected to return at the end of April, possibly in early May.<\/p>\n
The Tianlian-2 04 communications relay satellite, launched on a Chang Zheng 3B\/E this month, will add more bandwidth and capacity for data communications between crew in orbit and ground stations. Comparable to NASA\u2019s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) platform, The Tianlian-2 network provides communications between craft and satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and the ground, in particular the Tiangong space station and visiting Shenzhou spacecraft. Like TDRS, this network removes blind spots, and extending its capacity now will benefit existing communications as well as scaling up in advance of China\u2019s ambitions to grow beyond LEO, including its lunar exploration program.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Chang-Zheng-8-on-the-launch-pad-Credit-CALV.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The Chang Zheng 8 medium-lift carrier has flown five times, previously from pad LC-201 at the Wenchang Space Launch Site (Credit: CALV)<\/p>\n
Launch Pads<\/p>\n
Aerospace industry analysis (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n A new launch pad is being constructed at LC-301 of the Wenchang Space Launch Site for the forthcoming Chang Zheng 10 which will carry taikonauts to the Moon. Plans for crewed and uncrewed test flights carrying science experiments are currently being reviewed, while the launch tower for the site continues to take shape.<\/p>\n This month saw the delayed debut of the Commercial LC-1 pad at the Hainan commercial spaceport, adjacent to the Wenchang launch site on the southern coast of China. Designed specifically for the Chang Zheng 8 vehicles, the maiden launch from this pad flew another batch of 18 Qianfan satellites over the South China Sea and into a polar orbit. Five batches of these flat-packed \u201cThousand Sails\u201d internet satellites have now been launched over the past seven months. The operator SpaceSail has ambitions to launch 648 in total this year, equating to 34 further launches. The pad is reported to be able to support launches every two weeks \u2013 a cadence that will certainly be put to the test to meet SpaceSail\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, piling and foundation works continue at the site where new Commercial LC-3 and LC-4 pads will be constructed, with surface work due to start in April.<\/p>\n Groundworks continue on new Commercial LC-3 and LC-4 launch pads (Credit: Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co)<\/p>\n China seeks international partners<\/p>\n The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced this month that will welcome international experiments on the forthcoming Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission, in addition to the six domestic scientific payloads already planned. Submissions by international partners are required by the end of June and selections will be made this October. The CNSA has issued guidelines and requirements, depending on whether the payloads would be installed on the service module for the lander-ascent craft or the orbiter-return vehicle.<\/p>\n Experiments installed on the orbiter will be expected to operate for at least three years in a 350 km circular orbit, with a maximum mass of 15 kg specified. Those on the service module will be limited to a third of this mass and will require a design life of no less than five years. This craft will enter a highly elliptical orbit of 400 by 76,000 km around Mars for around two years. Prototypes would be expected to be delivered by 2027 although Tianwen-3 is not anticipated to launch until around 2028, returning to Earth around 2030 with samples from the Martian surface.<\/p>\n Ahead of this mission, Tianwen-2 will launch no earlier than this May atop a Chang Zheng 3B\/E. This will become the first Chinese mission to return samples of an asteroid \u2013 469219 Kamo\u2019oalewa, before using Earth for a gravity assist as it moves on to study comet 311P\/PANSTARRS.<\/p>\n Diagram showing the proposed space telescope (Credit: Deep Space Exploration Laboratory)<\/p>\n Future telescope and deep space missions<\/p>\n Proposals for a new modular space telescope have emerged from the journal of the Chinese Society of Astronautics which bear more than a passing resemblance to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The concept includes a segmented mirror and a very similar-looking sunshield. The 10 m diameter primary mirror would be much larger than the 6.5 m mirror on JWST, and the total mass of 17,900 kg is more than double JWST\u2019s more conservative 6,500 kg.<\/p>\n The telescope would require at least two missions of a Chang Zheng 5 to carry the parts into orbit, where it would be assembled. This is technically complex, requiring considerable automation and posing challenges such as the delicate nature of the mirrors. One option is to use the robotic arm of the Tiangong space station to assist with the assembly. The second option would feature a robotic arm on the payload so that it can assemble itself \u2013 an approach also referred to as an On-orbit Assembly Space Telescope (OAST). This plan would first deploy the satellite platform incorporating a robotic arm with around seven degrees of freedom. A second module would then dock with this and the arm would assemble the primary and secondary mirrors. The telescope would then use its onboard propellant to maneuver to the Earth-Sun Lagrange point 2, where JWST also resides.<\/p>\n The Xuntian Space Telescope. (Credit: CIOMP)<\/p>\n This design is currently a proposal, however another space telescope is already on course to launch no earlier than late 2026. Xuntian, also known as the Chinese Survey Space Telescope, resembles the Hubble Space Telescope with a similar optical design and orbit. Xuntian will co-orbit with the Tiangong space station and can dock it for servicing and upgrades, similar to how Hubble\u2019s lifespan was extended by a series of servicing missions using the Space Shuttle. With a mass of 16,000 kg, Xuntian is currently anticipated to launch on a Chang Zheng 5B, taking advantage of the large fairing and its heavy-lift capability.<\/p>\n China\u2019s interplanetary exploration think-tank, the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, has revealed plans this week for future missions. Some of these are ambitious and would not launch until the end of the next decade but show a timely commitment considering recent rumors that NASA\u2019s budgets may be reduced. Only Tianwen-3 and Tianwen-4 are fully approved for now. Others on the timeline include a craft launching around 2033 to explore the atmosphere of Venus, and a search for possible living organisms in the subglacial ocean of Neptune\u2019s retrograde-spinning moon Triton, which would launch around 2039.<\/p>\n China remains the only other country besides the US to have successfully landed and operated a spacecraft on the Martian surface. The new plan proposes a Mars scientific research station to explore the utilization of local resources which would launch around 2038. Ahead of these, a ground simulation habitat is planned to be completed around 2030 to explore living on other worlds. This may be similar to NASA\u2019s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) project which explored the physical and psychological impacts of extended stays on the Martian surface.<\/p>\n Ignition as a Gushenxing-1 launches the Auld Lang Syne mission on March 17 (Credit: Galactic Energy)<\/p>\n Commercial launchers<\/p>\n It remains uncertain exactly what happened when an \u201cobservation\u201d occurred on March 1 at Site 95A of the Jiuquan Space Launch Center (JSLC). Through deduction, the vehicle that experienced some kind of anomaly at JSLC is widely thought to be an ExPace Kuaizhou 1A. However, rumors range from the vehicle experiencing a Kairos-style explosion a few seconds into the flight to experiencing that anomaly only moments after ignition and damaging its transport erector. There appeared to be little subsequent damage to the launch site or infrastructure and a Gushenxing-1, also known as the Ceres-1, lifted off from Site 95A a little over two weeks later on March 17. Galactic Energy wasted no time launching a second Gushenxing-1 four days after this, with both launches carrying batches of Yunyao-1 meteorological satellites. The customer, Yunyao Aerospace now has 52 members of its 90-satellite constellation in orbit and is already planning a second-generation constellation, Yunyao-2.<\/p>\n Having now carried 77 payloads into orbit across 18 flights, Galactic Energy has flown the most missions of any of China\u2019s privately owned launch providers. The company is targeting June for the maiden launch of its Gushenxing-2 rocket and late Summer for the debut of its Zhishenxing-1 (Pallas-1) vehicle.<\/p>\n The Ziyang Commercial Space Launch Technology Research Institute building (Credit: ZCSLTRI)<\/p>\n A team at the Ziyang Commercial Space Launch Technology Research Institute has reportedly been developing an electromagnetic launch system which Galactic Energy\u2019s CEO Liu Baiqi announced last year would be used in the future for a variant of the Gushenxing-2 vehicle. The project will use superconducting magnets to accelerate rockets to supersonic speeds before ignition \u2013 an approach that could be thought of as a vertical and more powerful variation of a maglev train track. The team at the Institute\u2019s Suspension Propulsion Technology Innovation Research Center intends to demonstrate and verify the system by the end of this month, with the aim of debuting a working pad in 2028.<\/p>\n The Chinese commercial space sector was a hot topic at the annual \u201cTwo Sessions\u201d in Beijing this month. The National People\u2019s Congress approves laws, budgets, and policies, while the Chinese People\u2019s Political Consultative Conference is an advisory body including representatives from business and academia. The events set the tone for China\u2019s policy priorities for the coming year and, following the sessions, various provinces and regional banks have since committed further support and investment into the sector.<\/p>\n This will further boost the country\u2019s growing commercial space economy, stimulating competition as well as development that will ultimately drive down the cost of launching payloads into orbit. It will also help launch providers meet the demand of China\u2019s ambitious plans for satellite mega-constellations. For now, there remains a disparity between the tens of thousands of satellites intended to be lofted into orbit by the end of the decade, and the current limitations of manufacturing facilities and operational rockets to carry them.<\/p>\n Render of the Astronstone AS-1, tower and chopsticks (Credit: Astronstone)<\/p>\n Deep Blue Aerospace has announced that it has concluded testing of its vacuum-optimized Leiting-RV (Thunder-RV) engine, ahead of flying its Xingyun-1 (Nebula-1) vehicle this summer. The company also secured additional Series B4 funding earlier this month and completed tests for the rocket\u2019s stage separation system in the last week.<\/p>\n Newcomer Astronstone, founded last year, has also benefited from recent investment and is said to be developing a stainless steel vehicle and a \u201cchopstick\u201d tower solution for the recovery of boosters, similar to SpaceX\u2019s Starship and Super Heavy. The two-stage AS-1 will be propelled by nine engines powered by liquid methane and oxygen and is understood to stand 70 m tall with a 4.2 m diameter.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s CEO Tang Wen has also worked on the Chang Zheng 5 and 7 vehicles. He told a recent conference in Beijing that the company intends the AS-1 to become the country\u2019s lowest-cost large-scale liquid reusable rocket, targeting a first flight next year, with an 8 m diameter super-heavy AS-2 variation planned later on the timeline.<\/p>\n Cosmoleap and the Academy of Aerospace Liquid Propulsion Technology (AALPT) test-fire the YF-209 reusable engine (Credit: Cosmoleap)<\/p>\n Another startup, Cosmoleap, was the first Chinese aerospace company to announce plans for a chopstick and tower recovery system last year. The company has been sharing images and videos of progress such as drop testing in recent months and has recently revised its branding. During March, Cosmoleap and the Academy of Aerospace Liquid Propulsion Technology (AALPT) completed joint firing tests of the YF-209 reusable engine. These tests included throttling and multiple starts. The YF-209 is powered by liquid methane and oxygen and will be used on the company\u2019s forthcoming Yueqian-1, or Leap-1, vehicle.<\/p>\n iSpace recently completed another round of funding which will be invested into the development of the new Shuang Quxian 3 (Hyperbola-3) vehicle, due to make its inaugural flight in December \u2014 a mission that is expected to include an attempt to at-sea recovery of the rocket\u2019s first stage. iSpace will begin expanding its manufacturing facilities in the Sichuan Province next month, ramping up to the production of 100 engines within the next two years.<\/p>\n Lijian-2 pathfinder rolls out of the facility (Credit: CAS Space)<\/p>\n CAS Space has been testing a pathfinder of its Lijian-2 vehicle, also known as the Kinetica-2, with its transport erector. This vehicle will potentially fly in September and is one of two new designs selected to carry cargo to the Tiangong space station under new commercial supply contracts. This vehicle and the Qingzhou-1 cargo spacecraft will make their debut together on its maiden flight.<\/p>\n In another development in the last month, testing was completed on a second-stage test article of an unspecified rocket \u2014 likely to be the Chang Zheng 12B (CZ-12B) \u2014 with a YF-102V engine. This is a vacuum-optimized version of the YF-102 liquid-fuelled gas-generator cycle engine, which burns liquid kerosene and oxygen as propellants. The YF-102 flew on the maiden flight of the Tianlong-2 rocket in 2023 and was designed by AALPT for China\u2019s next generation of medium-lift vehicles, with reusability firmly in mind. The engine supports multiple restarts, throttling, and bidirectional gimballing and is expected to carry out its first commercial flight later this year. Meanwhile, the assembly line in the Shaanxi Province is gearing up to produce up to 300 units per year.<\/p>\n YF-102V engine firing on March 18 during second-stage propulsion testing for a reusable launch vehicle (Credit: CASC)<\/p>\n The Shenzhou-19 crew recently conducted their third spacewalk this month as the China National Space Administration announced it is open to including international scientific payloads aboard a forthcoming Mars mission. Meanwhile, bold plans for planetary exploration have been revealed and a design has emerged for a new space telescope with a familiar design. The commercial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6593,2008,482,7823,2009,357,2225,373,1270,5731,1716,900],"class_list":["post-23850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-astronstone","tag-ceres-1","tag-cnsa","tag-cosmoleap","tag-galactic-energy","tag-ispace","tag-kuaizhou-1a","tag-qianfan","tag-shenzhou-19","tag-tiangong-space-station","tag-tianwen","tag-xuntian"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Groundworks-continue-on-new-Commercial-LC-3-4-launch-pads-Credit-HICAL.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Diagram-showing-the-proposed-space-telescope-Credit-Deep-Space-Exploration-Laboratory.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/W020220722532684976437.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ignition-as-a-Gushenxing-1-launches-the-Auld-Lang-Syne-mission-on-March-17-Credit-_.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/The-Ziyang-Commercial-Space-Launch-Technology-Research-Institute-building-Credit-Ziyang.webp\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Astronstone-AS-1-render-Astronstone-.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cosmoleap-and-the-Academy-of-Aerospace-Liquid-Propulsion-Technology-AALPT-test-the-80-ton-engine-Credit-Cosmoleap.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Lijian-2-pathfinder-rolls-out-of-the-facility-Credit-CAS-Space.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/YF-102V-testing-on-March-18-during-second-stage-propulsion-testing-for-a-reusable-launch-vehicle-CASC-9e569ee5-03ad-424c-8e44-5f86c93a1bba.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\n(Lead image: Taikonauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong conducted the third extravehicular activity (EVA) of their Shenzhou-19 crew rotation on the Tiangong Space Station \u2013 Credit: CNSA\/CCTV)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"