Chang'e V lunar probe to undergo return to earth test
26 June 2014
China will conduct simulation tests on the return to Earth of the Chang'e V lunar probe at the end of this year, and China's goal for future deep space exploration is the solar system, People's Daily reported on Wednesday. Ouyang Ziyuan, China's chief scientist for the lunar probe project, made the announcement at the opening ceremony of the 22nd International Planetarium Society Conference held in Beijing on June 24.
Russian space agency preparing to locate GLONASS stations in China
24 June 2014
A memorandum on the deployment of three GLONASS ground stations in China and of three Beidou stations in Russia could be signed shortly. "The memorandum has been prepared for signing. Roscosmos has confirmed the plans to cooperate and to locate the stations on mutually-beneficial terms," Sergei Savelyev, deputy head of the federal space agency Roscosmos, told Interfax on Tuesday.
China aims to send rover to Red Planet within the next six years
24 June 2014
China has ambitious plans to touch down on Mars by 2020, likely with a rover, and to collect its own samples from the red planet 10 years after that, Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of the country’s lunar project has revealed during the 22nd International Planetarium Society Conference in Beijing.
According to the Beijing Times, he said the new Mars programme aimed to create space probes - an orbiter and rover - for Mars. They will help answer questions including if there is extraterrestrial activity on Mars and whether it is hospitable to life. Ouyang gave timetables including collecting samples from the planet by 2030, according to the newspaper.
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China's domestic navigation system accesses ASEAN market
19 June 2014
Three model satellite stations based on China's domestically made Beidou navigation system were shown to the public Wednesday in an industrial estate in Thailand, the first step of Beidou into the ASEAN market. It is a part of a cooperative agreement signed between China and Thailand. Li Deren, chairman of the Wuhan Optics Valley Beidou Geo-Spatial Information Industry Co., LTD, a participant in the project, said at a seminar that all such base stations will be completed in Thailand within two years.