23 May 2020
"In developing the new-generation manned spaceship, it feels obvious that China has significantly improved its manufacturing of spacecraft, especially if you compare our latest efforts with the Shenzhou spacecraft," said Zhang Bainan, chief designer of the trial version of China's new-generation manned spaceship. China's aerospace technology level is cutting-edge in the world, and the development of many other spacecraft and satellites benefited from improvements in our manufacturing ability, he added. During an interview with CCTV in March 2019, Zhang said he was doing something that had never been done by anyone else as he had previously followed other countries' experience which was less risky and led to a higher success rate. Now that China's aerospace technology is approaching the world's advanced level, its designers are facing more decisive risks.
MORE...

21 May 2020
The First Expert Group Meeting on Ground Station Networking of SMMS (Small Multi-Mission Satellites) Constellation Programme was held from 11-13 May 2020 through teleconference. Experts and officials from Bangladesh, China, Iran, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Turkey and the project management team from APSCO Secretariat participated in the meeting. Discussions on the Implementation Proposal of Ground Station Networking of SMMS Constellation Programme were carried out based on recommendations, comments and review item discrepancies raised by the experts from Member States.
MORE...

21 May 2020
Researchers using China's new Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), the largest single-dish scope in the world, are piecing together a technological strategy to carry out a major and sweeping search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
What if China someday announces that this hunt has been successful? How would such a claim be verified, and what might the consequences be? And could an unofficial international SETI race already be underway? Space.com asked several SETI authorities to flesh out the implications of China being the first nation to get a ping from ET.
MORE...
First SETI Observations with China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST)

22 May 2020
As the first satellite of the Hongyun Project, a low-orbit broadband communication satellite system developed by CASIC, it has completed more than 180 communication tests, worked stably for more than 8,800 hours, carried out more than 5,000 instructions and conducted more than 20 in-orbit observation tests on a spectral thermometer.
MORE...