NASA rover’s touchdown thrills Chinese netizens
19 February 2021
The successful touchdown of NASA's Mars rover "Perseverance", which was announced at mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, immediately thrilled Chinese social media users, with the topic rocketing atop of Sina Weibo search list, gathering over 30 million views as of press time. Chinese web users applauded the NASA craft's safe landing, and extended their sincere congratulations to the US. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) congratulated NASA for the smooth touchdown of the explorer, saying that "it is hoped that all three human missions to the Red Planet can achieve full success and make new contributions to human kind's deep space exploration."
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Geely to start making satellites
19 February 2021
A plant in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, has won the approval from the authorities, said its subsidiary Geely Technology in a statement on 18 February, without disclosing the investment amount. It said production is expected to commence eight months from now as the first piece of equipment has entered the plant, and up to 500 satellites could be produced a year for various commercial operations. The group, which is the owner of Volvo, unveiled its low-orbit satellite network plan earlier last year. It had planned to launch its first satellites in late 2020, but the plan was put off, said a company representative, without offering a new schedule.
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China Mars Orbiter/Lander/Rover - Ready for Red Planet Probing
16 February 2021
Now circuiting Mars, China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft is slated to perform systematic checks of onboard equipment. The craft used its 3000 newton engine on February 15 to place it into a polar orbit around the Red Planet. Leonard David is giving a comprehensive overview on the Tianwen 1 mission in an article on his Inside Outer Space website.
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Dongfang Hour - the 20th China Aerospace News Roundup (08 February 2021 - 14 February 2021)
18 February 2021
Blaine Curcio of Orbital Gateway Consulting and Jean Deville of The China Aerospace Blog are reporting for SpaceWatch.Global on China's main space events of the last week. This time the two experts cover Mars orbit insertion by the Tianwen 1 mission, the publication of the ESPI Report “New Space in Asia”, and the traditional Chinese New Year gala presenting 4 Chief Designer from the most prominent space projects: Chang'e 5, crewed spacecraft, Tianwen 1 and Beidou.
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