07 December 2018
CFOSat, the China-France Oceanography Satellite, has obtained more than 400 pieces of marine environmental data in its first batch of data transmissions, a month after it took off from China's Gobi Desert. The data includes the distribution and moves of cyclones, location and intensity of typhoons, which helps researchers forecast the weather more accurately, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Liu Jianqiang, the project's Chinese Chief Scientist, who is also a Deputy Director-General of the Ocean Satellite Center of Ministry of Natural Resources, told media that the satellite, still in the test phase, is expected to operate after three months.
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10 December 2018
The second orbit trimming for China's Chang'e 4 lunar probe was completed on the afternoon of 09 December at Kashgar Observation and Control Station in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The second orbit modification aims at confirming the status of the probe and check whether it can receive the information, laying the foundation for the next modification. "We have just completed the second orbit modification for Cheng'e 4 and then we will conduct the third one to ensure that it can precisely enter the lunar orbit and prepare for a soft landing of the probe," said Li Peng, an assistant engineer with Kashgar Observation and Control Station.
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09 December 2018
CCTV footage shows the careful and solid preparations of the Chang'e-4 lunar probe in the space test facilities. CASC staff is checking the equipment of the probe and the lander. Sun Zezhou, Chief Designer of Chang'e 4 explains the specific of the mission and gives a glimps on the needs for future deep-space missions.
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08 December 2018
Ma Li is a rocket technician with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. He is now engaged in a new round of preparation for the next blasting off of the Long March rockets. Ma said this kind of frequent launching was something that could be hardly imagined four decades ago when he just started to work for the academy.
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09 December 2018
China launched on 06 December its first experimental base project for space solar power stations. The base is set to be located in Bishan District of Chongqing Municipality in the country's southwest. The Chongqing University, China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) and the Xidian University jointly signed the cooperation deal with the Bishan District government at a forum on space solar power station technologies. The aim is to research into space-based solar power (SBSP), that is, to collect solar power in outer space and then transmit it to the earth.
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08 December 2018
China's Chang'e-4 lunar probe was launched in the early hours of 08 December, and it is expected to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon. A Long March-3B rocket, carrying the probe including a lander and a rover, blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 2:23 h Beijing Time, opening a new chapter in lunar exploration.
The scientific tasks of the Chang'e-4 mission include low-frequency radio astronomical observation, surveying the terrain and landforms, detecting the mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure, and measuring the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration announced.
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link to launch video
related
China launches Chang'e-4 probe to shed light on Moon's dark side
Backgrounder: China's journeys to the Moon
press release (in German) by University Kiel about its Lunar Lander Neutron Dosimetry experiment on Chang'e 4