08 June 2021
CASC tested a new rocket-booster parachute system during the recent launch of the meteorological satellite Fengyun-4B from Xichang. Developed by an institute under the corporation, a 300m2 parachute helped the rocket boosters to land in a predetermined location, narrowing the range of the landing area by 70 percent. The parachute system can adjust the posture and reduce the speed of falling boosters when falling back to the ground, finally leading them into a targeted area. It is an efficient and low-cost recovery system to make rocket debris recovery more precise and controllable.
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07 June 2021
On 7 June, CNSA released a new hi-res image taken by the Tianwen 1 orbiter on 2 June at 18:00 BJT. It shows the Zhourong rover and its lander on the Mars surface. Two bright spots are visible in the upper right corner of the photo. The larger one is the landing platform, and the smaller one is the Zhurong Mars rover. The dark area surrounding the landing platform might be caused by the influence of the engine plume during landing. The symmetrical bright stripes in the north-south direction of the landing platform might be from fine dust when the landing platform emptied the remaining fuel after landing.
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04 June 2021
Professor Yung Kai-leung of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) shows the Mars Landing Surveillance Camera, developed by his university team in cooperation with the China Academy of Space Technology. The camera monitored the landing of Tianwen 1 and took images of the surrounding environment on the Mars surface. The Mars Camera weighs only 390 g but is strong and durable enough to withstand the extreme temperature differences of about 150oC experienced during the 9-month journey between Earth and Mars, and an impact shock of 6,200 G. PolyU has participated in several lunar missions before and expects to contribute to the Mars Sample Return mission.
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04 June 2021
CAS Space (Beijing Zhongke Aerospace Exploration Technology Co., Ltd.,) has begun to design its solid-propellant carrier rocket. Yang Yiqiang, a senior rocket scientist and founder of CAS Space, told China Daily that the rocket－ZK 2－is in the research and development stage at laboratories in Beijing and will be ready for its debut flight before the end of 2022, if everything goes according to schedule.
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