19 September 2018
China plans to launch the heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March-9 in 2028, said an official of China National Space Administration (CNSA) at the World Conference on Science Literacy 2018 on 18 September. China will launch its first Mars probe in 2020, which is expected to orbit, land and put a rover on the Red Planet in 2021, after ten months of flying. The second Mars mission will be a sample-return mission, scheduled for 2028. China will also probe asteroids and undertake an exploration mission to the Jupiter system around 2030.
He also mentioned that China promotes the cooperation between government and social capital and will improve government procurement of commercial aerospace products and services. A new regulation regarding rocket launchers will be released shortly. Furthermore, China supports open and shared commercial space launch sites.
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18 September 2018
The Institute of Aerospace Information Research has helped Mongolia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Thailand and Belgium to install virtual ground stations as revealed at the fourth International Symposium on Earth Observation for Arid and Semi-Arid Environments, which began in Xining, capital of China's northwestern Qinghai Province, on 17 September. The institute's self-developed virtual ground stations were equipped for receiving near-real time data from China's remote satellite ground stations.
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17 September 2018
China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, will start formal operation and open to Chinese astronomers in 2019, according to the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC).
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13 September 2018
A group of Brazilian students will start to receive postgraduate studies this month at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) as part of the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS) cooperation programme which turns 30 this year. The Regional Center for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (RCSSTEAP-China), which was inaugurated at the BUAA in 2014, has offered scholarships for Brazilian students in the master's and PhD programs in space technology.
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13 September 2018
About 770 exhibitors from 43 countries and regions will showcase their latest advancements in the aerospace industry at the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition (Airshow China) will be held from 6 to 11 November in the southern port city of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province. Models of China's new generation carrier rockets, the core module of China's space station, the Chang'e 4 lunar probe and relay satellite will also be displayed at the show, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
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Issue no 22 of the GoTaikonauts! newsletter was just published. The focus of reporting is on the quarterly news in China’s space programmes and selected background reports.
Issue no 22 - Content
• Quarterly Report October - December 2017
• Hard Road to Commercial Space
The past of the Chinese commercial launch service
(including a detailed list of Chinese commercial launch efforts - also for download in the "downloads" section)
• Commercial Space Takes off in China
The new player in the Chinese launcher and satellite business - Part 2
• To Mons Rümker and back with Chang'e 5
Visit by taikonaut Chen Dong to the Neubrandenburg Space Day 2017
• The Indian Space Programme - India's Incredible Journey From the Third World Towards the First
A book review
For details on the subscription, please, consult the section "Newsletter".