19 June 2018
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology is known as a prestigious developer of carrier rockets, but in the near future, it may acquire a new tag: China's first space tourism provider. Engineers at the academy in Beijing's southern outskirts are designing a new spacecraft to send anyone willing to pay US$200,000 to US$250,000 on a suborbital journey to get a magnificent view of the stars and experience weightlessness, according to the academy, part of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp and the country's largest rocket maker.
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19 June 2018
Scientists at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have completed the world's first ceramic manufacturing experiment under microgravity, using digital light processing technology aboard a European parabolic flight aircraft in Switzerland.
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18 June 2018
After Chang'e-3 accomplished its mission, China's space sector debated Chang'e 4's destination. Some were in favor of landing on the near side of the Moon again, because it's safer. "I disagreed with that. Why should Chang'e 4 repeat what Chang'e 3 had done? We should not be afraid of failure in scientific exploration. We need innovation," Ye Peijian, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and one of China's leading space experts said.
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14 June 2018
A micro satellite, developed by the Harbin Institute of Technology in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and sent into an orbit around the Moon, has started to transmit data back to Earth. Two micro satellites, Longjiang 1 and Longjiang 2, were sent along with the Queqiao lunar satellite. Longjiang 2 successfully reached its destination near the Moon on 25 May, and entered a lunar orbit with the perilune at 350 km and the apolune at 13,700 km. However, Longjiang 1 suffered an anomaly and failed to enter lunar orbit, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Longjiang 2, weighing 47 kg, has become the world's first lunar orbiter developed by a university.
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14 June 2018
China and Saudi Arabia on 14 June jointly unveiled three lunar images acquired through cooperation on the relay satellite mission for Chang'e 4 lunar probe.
This is an important cooperation achievement between China and Saudi Arabia in the relay satellite mission, the China National Space Administration said in a statement. An optical camera, developed by the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology of Saudi Arabia, was installed on a micro satellite, named Longjiang 2, which was launched together with Queqiao. The micro satellite is orbiting around the Moon. The camera, which began to work on 28 May, has conducted observations of the Moon and acquired a series of clear lunar images and data. According to a memorandum of understanding signed between China and Saudi Arabia on 16 March 2017, the two countries will share the scientific data in this cooperation.
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China, Saudi Arabia unveil lunar images gained from space cooperation
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14 June 2018
The relay satellite for the Chang'e 4 lunar probe has entered the planned orbit, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on 14 June. The Queqiao satellite entered the Halo orbit around the second Lagrangian (L2) point of the Earth-Moon system, about 65,000 km from the Moon, at 11:06 a.m. on 14 June after a journey of more than 20 days. "The satellite is the world's first communication satellite operating in that orbit, and will lay the foundation for the Chang'e 4, which is expected to become the world's first soft-landing, roving probe on the far side of the Moon," said Zhang Hongtai, president of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).
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