17 May 2019
China sent a new satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province at 11:48 p.m. on 17 May. Launched on a Long March-3C carrier rocket, it is the fourth BDS-2 backup satellite and the 45th satellite of the BDS satellite family. After being sent to the geostationary earth orbit and in-orbit tests, it will be connected to the BDS to provide users with more reliable services and enhance the stability of the constellation.
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17 May 2019
LandSpace successfully conducted the full system hot firing for its TQ-12 liquid-fuel rocket engine, the first 80 t-thrust-level LOX+LCH4 rocket motor in China. The test was successfully conducted at the company's Huzhou facility. TQ-12, as the world’s third model of LOX+LCH4 liquid-fuel engine, is developed independently by LandSpace. Within one week, the TQ-12 engine underwent four test runs with the longest run lasting about 20 seconds. The stable and rapid initial start and shut down of the engine, along with relative appropriate parameters in test run period, manifests that the performance of the engine meets the qualifications.
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Private company LandSpace successfully tests liquid oxygen-methane rocket engine
17 May 2019
LandSpace has successfully tested an 80-tonne thrust liquid oxygen-methane engine. The engine, named TQ-12, was independently developed by the private rocket company and has the third-highest thrust level among liquid oxygen-methane engines globally. The engine is environmentally friendly, low-cost, easy to operate and reusable. The successful test shows that China's private rocket companies have mastered the key technologies of the 100-tonne liquid propellant rocket engine, according to the company.
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17 May 2019
China will set up a center for high-resolution Earth observation in the port city of Qingdao to provide satellite data assistance for marine science and technology innovation. The State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence has recently signed a cooperation agreement with the city government of Qingdao, to promote applications of the Gaofen remote sensing satellite data in marine environmental monitoring, maritime rights and interests maintenance and disaster prevention.
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16 May 2019
Yutu 2, the first rover on the far side of the Moon, has found materials from deep inside the Moon that could help unravel the mystery of the lunar mantle composition and the formation and evolution of the Moon and the Earth.
Using data obtained by the visible and near infrared spectrometer installed on Yutu 2, a research team led by Li Chunlai, with the National Astronomical Observatories of China under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, found that the lunar soil in the landing area of the Chang'e 4 probe contains olivine and pyroxene which came from the lunar mantle deep inside the Moon. The first important scientific discovery of the Chang'e 4 probe since it made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon was published online in the latest issue of the academic journal Nature.
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link to original publication of the findings in Nature magazine:
Chang’E-4 initial spectroscopic identification of lunar far-side mantle-derived materials
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article about Yutu 2's findings on National Geographic
Chinese rover finds strange rocks that may come from deep inside the moon
article about Yutu 2's findings in Scientific American
From the Lunar Far Side, China’s Rover Reveals Moon’s Hidden Depths