07 January 2019
China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre conducted an emergency training in the first days of the New Year in an effort to prepare itself for more launch missions in 2019. In a simulated emergency where a fuel leakage was detected just before a satellite launch mission, the technicians on the ground were immediately organised to deal with the incident. The training followed the real launch mission procedures, which usually included preparations, emergency response and test launch.
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07 January 2019
China started out the year by doing something that no nation has done before: It landed a spacecraft and an accompanying rover on the far side of the moon with an ambitious scientific payload package and an exciting mission ahead to study the interior structure of the moon with the help of ground-penetrating radar, among other things. Almost equally impressive from a technical standpoint, China successfully placed a communication relay satellite into a lunar halo orbit to enable the command of, and communication with, both the spacecraft and rover, which do not have line-of-sight views of Earth for direct radio contact. I had mixed feelings about these events. Now we have come to the moment of China's ascendency in space exploration. We must face the reality that it has, in a small but significant way, shown the world that it can be the first to accomplish things in space, too.
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07 January 2019
China's private space sector raised plenty of money last year despite the chilly investment climate, thanks to national support for the industry and a changing environment. In 2018, three rocket start-ups - OneSpace, LandSpace and iSpace, also known as Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology - held a total of eight rounds of fundraising, each raising 700 million yuan ($101.95 million) to 800 million yuan.
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06 January 2019
China's Chang'e 4 probe has started the exploration on the far side of the Moon thanks to the relay satellite that provides a communication link with ground control. The concept of deploying a relay satellite in the halo orbit was first put forward by U.S. space experts in the 1960s. "We will let Queqiao work as long as possible. It could also provide communication for probes from other countries if they intend to explore the Moon's far side within the lifetime of the satellite," said Ye Peijian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a senior space expert. "And that will be a Chinese contribution made to the world," Ye said.
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Notice: Chang'e 4 has sent you a new message
Click Notice: Chang'e 4 has sent you a new message to see what Chang'e 4 wants to tell you about its journey to the far side of the Moon. Try it out!