CASC poised for a record space year
03 January 2018
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, CASC, said on 3 January that the corporation would conduct 35 launches in 2018, the most missions in its history. 2018 would be its busiest and most important year, as many of its projects would enter key phases, and the numbers of experiments and launches would be the highest in its history. The missions include the launches of the Chang'e-4 lunar probe, Long March-5 carrier rocket and BeiDou navigation satellites, the corporation said.
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All key parts of BeiDou satellites made in China
02 January 2018
All the key components of China's BeiDou navigation satellites are made in China, ending reliance on imports, Xie Jun, Chief Designer of the Beidou system, said on 2 January. Key components such as traveling-wave tube amplifiers, microwave switches, and high-power current source controllers are now all made in China instead of being imported, Xie said. He also said his team has mastered all the core technologies for the global BeiDou network of satellites, aiming to make it as good as the Global Positioning System (GPS).
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Tiangong 1 re-entry expected for between beginning of February and end of March 2018
14 December 2017
The Permanent Mission of China to the UN in Vienna issued a notification on the re-entry of Tiangong 1.
"China attaches great importance to the re-entry of Tiangong-1. For this purpose, China has set up a special working group, made relevant emergency preparedness plans and been working closely with its follow-up tracking, monitoring, forecasting and relevant analysing. Until 26 November, Tiangong-1 had been orbiting at an average altitude of 296.0 km (perigee: 281.7 km; apogee: 310.2 km; inclination: 42.65°). Currently, it has maintained its structural integrity with stabilized attitude control. According to the latest forecast, its re-entry is expected between the first 10 days of February and the last 10 days of March 2018. Tiangong-1 weighed 8.5 tons at launch, 10.5 metres long, with a maximum diameter of 3.35 metres. Tiangong-1 uses methylhydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide as its engine fuel. Based on analysis, the remaining small amount of fuel will be burned and destroyed along with its structural components during the course of re-entry and will therefore not cause any damage on the ground."
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China to promote space remote sensing development in 2018
26 December 2017
China will make more efforts in space remote sensing development in 2018 and prepare for the launch of the Gaofen 7 high-resolution remote sensing satellite, said the Director of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation (NASMG), Kuresh Mahsut. The goal of the Gaofen series is to provide all-weather, 24-hour services covering the entire globe. China will also promote the research and development of Ziyuan III 03 and 04 satellites in the new year.
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