07 March 2018
The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) revealed that it is researching an aerospace plane and "solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles". China plans to launch a homegrown, reusable space plane in a project codenamed "Tengyun Project" (or Cloud Riding Project). The spacecraft, now at an early stage of research, can transport people or a payload into orbit from an ordinary airport and then return to Earth.
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07 March 2018
China launched a scaled-down model of a multi-purpose, re-usable space plane from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Inner Mongolia, as part of its race to develop space travel technology. The hypersonic space drone lifted off, accelerated to more than five times the speed of sound and reached orbital altitude before returning safely to ground, according to a researcher with knowledge of the experiment. China’s goal was to develop a space plane for both military and civilian missions, capable of travelling fast enough to penetrate missile defence systems and with the heft to help rebuild satellite networks or lift tourists to space. Development of the prototype was led by the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Centre in Mianyang, Sichuan province. Also known as Base 29, the military-run facility has some of the most advanced wind tunnels for hypersonic research in the country.
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05 March 2018
China will complete the construction and fitting work of a prototype of its 500-t liquid rocket engine within this year, Liu Zhirang, Head of the No.6 Research Institute of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), who is also a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, said on 5 March, China's Science and Technology Daily reported. Liu said China is currently tackling problems on key technologies of three types of liquid rocket engines for its heavy-lift rockets - they are the 500-ton engine fueled by liquid oxygen and kerosene, 200-t and 25-t engines using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as fuel, and the country has also completed thermal tests on core modules together with some sub-models for the engines.
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05 March 2018
Chinese researchers have achieved a global image of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence which can clearly indicate vegetation productivity, according to the Science and Technology Daily. Applying the data from the carbon dioxide observation satellite TanSat, the researchers monitored the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and identified the chlorophyll fluorescence of terrestrial vegetation with high accuracy. The global image of the chlorophyll fluorescence showed vigorous vegetation productivity in the corn belt in North America, European plain, and agricultural regions in East Asia in July 2017, as well as Amazon forest in December.
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05 March 2018
China is planning to build a base on the Moon, according to Zhao Xiaojin, Party Chief of the China Academy of Space Technology at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). In the initial stages, the planned Moon base will be controlled by artificial intelligence robots, and after a manned lunar-landing, it will be occasionally managed by human beings. The unmanned base on the Moon will greatly improve lunar exploration efficiency, as it will be able to provide many facilities that can be used for thorough scientific research, Jiao Weixin, a space science professor at Peking University, told the Global Times on 04 March. Compared to the U.S.'s space station in lunar orbit (Deep-Space Gateway; now called: Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G)), China's Moon base will be more practical and efficient in conducting research, said Jiao, explaining that human beings in lunar orbit play only a limited role in lunar surface expeditions.
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05 March 2018
China will launch the Tianhe 1 core module of its space station around 2020, said Zhou Jianping, Chief Engineer of China's manned space programme and also a member of the national committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, on 4 March.
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