China names Moon rover "Yutu"
26 November 2013
China has chosen the name "Yutu" (Jade Rabbit) for its first Moon rover, after a worldwide online poll challenged people to come up with names. Li Benzheng, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of China's lunar programme, announced the name at a press conference on Tuesday. "Yutu is a symbol of kindness, purity and agility, and is identical to the Moon rover in both outlook and connotation. Yutu also reflects China's peaceful use of space," said Li. In Chinese folklore, Yutu is the white pet rabbit of Chang'e, the Moon goddess who has lent her name to the Chinese lunar mission.
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China successfully launched experimental satellite
25 November 2013
China successfully launched the Experiment-5 satellite (Shiyan Weixing-5 (SW-5) into a preset orbit with the Long March-2D carrier rocket at 10:12 a.m. Monday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The satellite will conduct technological experiments and environmental surveys.
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MORE details on this launch and the Shiyan Weixing series of satellites by Rui C. Barbosa on nasaspaceflight website
What the expert says: Kulacki is commenting on the "Wolf Clause" and the future direction of China's space science and technology
23 November 2013
Gregory Kulacki, China Project Manager and Senior Analyst published an interesting article which gives deep insight into "Strategic Options for Chinese Space Science and Technology" and earlier this month he was commenting on the so called "Wolf Clause" in his blog contribution for the Union of Concerned Scientists, titled: "Wolf Usurps NASA Authority on International Cooperation".
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IAC2013 report in Aviation Week with interactive info graphic on the assembly of CSS
23 November 2013
Aviation Week's authors Frank Morring, Jr., Bradley Perrett, and Amy Svitak are giving their detailed report on the IAC2013 Beijing in an article for the magazine. At the end of the article, Aviation Week is a link to a very informative interactive info graphic on the assembly of the Chinese Space Station - CSS, which was provided by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology.
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