Surrey Satellites wins £110m contract during PM's visit to China
03 December 2013
Surrey Satellites signed a £110 million agreement with a Chinese technology company to work on a new satellite system under the auspices of a memorandum of understanding on UK/China space co-operation signed by the chief executive of the UK Space Agency, David Parker, and his Chinese counterpart.
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First Hong Kong-made and developed instrument heading for the Moon
02 December 2013
Change'e 3 Camera Pointing System jointly developed by researchers of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) is the first Hong Kong-made and developed instrument being deployed for the countrys lunar exploration programme since its launch in 2007. Professor Yung Kai-Leung, Associate Head of PolyUs Department of Industrial and System Engineering, and his partner have a wealth of experience in making sophisticated space tools for different missions. These include the Mars Rock Corer for the European Space Agencys 2003 Mars Express Mission, the Space Holinser Forceps for the then MIR Space Station, and the Soil Preparation System for the Sino-Russian Space Mission in 2011. All these space tools were made in the Universitys well-equipped Industrial Centre.
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The US and China - is there a way for cooperation?
02 December 2013
Leonard David is taking the successful launch of Chang'e 3 as an occasion to reflect on the hindrances of cooperation between China and the US in space exploration. In September this year he spoke to former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin who made clear statements: “But - and this is a key ‘but’ - China will not cooperate with us because they think we’re such good guys,” Griffin said. “They will want to do so if, and only if, we have a space program sufficiently grand in its scope and goals that it is clearly in their interest to work with us. Right now, we have little to offer. ... We have no sensible overarching civil space policy, no grand goals, no compelling plans. Why would they want to work with us?”
In the SpaceNews article, Griffin offers even more insights: “I do understand the national security concerns about giving away technology. However, I think the risks of the United States giving away technology are far lower from a national security perspective than the risks of not being engaged with the world,” Griffin said. “It is never wrong for the U.S. to try to figure out ways to engage with other societies, whether or not they are friends or adversaries. If you are talking, you are not fighting.”
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As China goes to the Moon, prize teams stay in the race
02 December 2013
When the X PRIZE Foundation announced in September 2007 the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP), there was considerable optimism at the time that the winner, whoever that might be, would be the next entity to soft-land a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. That optimism - or, perhaps in retrospect, irrational exuberance - has now all but disappeared. Chang’e-3, of course, can’t win the prize: government organizations aren’t eligible. Nonetheless, the fact that, six years after the prize’s introduction, the first spacecraft that (at least in principle) could technically meet the prize’s requirements was built by a government space agency with access to significant national resources speaks to the difficulty of the challenge that the prize organizers may have greatly underestimated.
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