05 October 2020
SpaceWatchGlobal is reporting that China is pushing ahead with developing a giant Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation competing with SpaceX, Amazon and OneWeb. SpaceWatchGlobal is quoting the Washington DC-based analyst Bhavya Lal and California State University’s Professor Larry Press. Press, professor of information systems at the California State University, mentioned a recent Chinese spectrum filing in a blog of the CircleID website. China “has filed a spectrum application with the International Telecommunication Union for two constellations with the cryptic names GW-A59 and GW-2” for a total of 12,992 satellites, Press said. “We heard about an announcement of a constellation with nearly 13,000 satellites,” Bhavya Lal confirmed.
MORE...

02 October 2020
Joseph Ibeh from Space in Africa reported that the Ethiopian 6U cubesat ET-SMART-RSS is planned to be launched by the end of December from Wenchang cosmodrome on Hainan Island. The ET-SMART-RSS was jointly built by engineers from the Ethiopian Space Science & Technology Institute (ESSTI) and Beijing Smart Satellite Technology (SMART). As a result of this cooperation, ESSTI and SMART are looking for opportunities to jointly develop business models in Africa.
MORE...

03 October 2020
Brian Harvey has long written about China’s space program as well as the space programs of India and Japan. This is a second edition of his book on China’s expanding space program, successor to the edition published in 2013. It provides a good overview of the breadth of Chinese space activities, as well as what has led up to China’s current projects and their future ambitions.
MORE...

01 October 2020
On 1 October, CMSA announced the selection of the 3rd batch of taikonauts for China's upcoming space station missions. Among those 18 new recruits is only one woman. The 18 new taikonauts were categorised to qualify for three different services: 7 will become spacecraft pilots, 7 will learn the skills of spaceflight engineers, and only 4 will become mission payload specialists. Next, they will start their advanced taikonaut training before being assigned to a space mission.
MORE...