23 August 2018
A TV series loosely based on the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" project, China's nuclear and space program, recently began airing on Beijing Satellite TV and the video streaming site Tencent Video. The 43-episode series, The Glory and the Dream, directed by Han Xiaojun, is about a group of friends, who go from fresh college graduates to established engineers at a rocket research center in Southwest China.
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21 August 2018
Beijing-based private space company LandSpace completed the final assembly of its solid propellant rocket on 20 August for a scheduled fourth-quarter launch, which will be the first Chinese private-sector commercial rocket to go into orbit. The proprietary three-stage solid propellant rocket by LandSpace, named Zhuque-1, is 19 meters tall with a 1.35-meter diameter and a takeoff mass of 27 metric tons and thrust of 45 tons. It will carry a small China Central Television satellite for space science and remote sensing for a state broadcaster, said the company.
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21 August 2018
A ginger-root-shaped asteroid named Toutatis, which poses a potential threat to earth, might have formed from the merger of two smaller asteroids, say researchers from China and the United States. China's second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, rendezvoused with Toutatis on 13 December 2012, at a distance of 770 meters with a relative velocity of 10.73 km per second. It was the world's first close fly-by observation of Toutatis. The probe took high-resolution images providing a number of discoveries.
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17 August 2018
Chinese researchers have successfully completed the first test of the propulsion system for the experiment module of the country's planned space station. The test consisted of eight procedures that covered all working conditions of an in-orbit experiment module. It also simulated possible errors the module may encounter in space, according to a research institute affiliated with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
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22 August 2018
China has developed a high accuracy four-meter-aperture optical mirror, an important tool for deep space and astronomical observation. Developed by Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics, and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the silicon carbide aspheric optical mirror measures 1.6 tonnes. The silicon carbide used in production provides more stability to the surface of the mirror, allowing for greater accuracy at 20 nanometers.
In addition to the mirror, the research group also developed the manufacturing equipment used for the mirror's production and owns the IP rights for the equipment.
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16 August 2018
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT), a major manufacturer of the Long March series rockets, has announced it has spare capacity on seven rockets offering launch services for commercial satellites. The first will be at the end of this year. China's Long March-5, the country's largest carrier rocket, still has a weight vacancy of 100 kg, and can carry payloads to a geostationary transfer orbit with a perigee at 200 km and apogee at 40,000 km.
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