03 August 2017
Russia and China will sign a space cooperation program for 2018-2022 in autumn to jointly explore the Moon and conduct the Earth’s remote probing, Glavkosmos space launch operator told TASS on 03 August. "Work is nearing completion with the direct role of Glavkosmos to draw up a programme of Russian-Chinese space cooperation for 2018-2022, which should be signed in the autumn of 2017," the company said.
Glavkosmos is the coordinator and the contractor for a portion of the works in this programme. As Glavkosmos explained, cooperation with Chinese partners envisages the following areas: the exploration of the Moon and outer space, space vehicles and ground infrastructure, hardware components and materials, the Earth’s remote sensing data.
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02 August 2017
China's Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft on 01 August successfully released a cube satellite (CubeSat) while in orbit, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC). Signals from the CubeSat were received by ground technicians right after the release, said the CASTC. The CubeSat was launched inside the Tianzhou-1 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province on 20 April.
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28 July 2017
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced a goal for its team to launch a Mars Rover by 2020 with an expected landing date to the planet by 2021. The CNSA will guide the orbiting exploration and roving probe from the China's Space Command Center in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. "The best and most direct method to look for evidence of life on Mars is to explore the surface,” said Zheng Yongchun, Associate Researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory (NAO). "Mars will be a key focus of China's deep space exploration in the future."
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China to build first Mars simulation base
27 July 2017
‘Mars village’ to be built in an arid area of Qinghai province as China plans future missions to the Red Planet.
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27 July 2017
Matthias Maurer is the new German space traveller in the ESA astronaut corps. He is currently completing his basic astronaut training, which involves commuting between Cologne, Houston and Moscow. Beijing will be added to his travel itinerary in summer, as Maurer was already responsible for maintaining Sino-European relationships at ESA before joining the astronaut programme. Now, for the first time, astronauts and taikonauts will train together in the Far East. He would find a trip to the 'Heavenly Palace' - China's space station - as wonderful an experience as a flight to the International Space Station ISS.
Martin Fleischmann, editor at the German Aerospace Centre DLR, interviewed Dr. Matthias Maurer.
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29 July 2017
China is developing a new generation of atomic clock, which it aims to use on the Beidou Navigation Satellite System, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) on 28 July. The microwave mercury ion clock is currently one of the most accurate tools for measuring time by tracking atomic movement in the microwave range, said Wang Nuanrang, project leader at the CASTC. It can provide extremely precise measurements of time that can be used in the fields of deep space exploration and satellite navigation.
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20 July 2017
A new Chinese experiment showed in early July that quantum teleportation works between the ground and space. The experiment was performed using the Chinese quantum research satellite QUESS-Micius launched in 2016. It worked at a distance of 1,400 kilometers, many times as far as the previous teleportation record. A quantum physicist says the experiment is “profound” in that it could help lead to supersecure, superfast quantum internet. No people or things were teleported, only properties of photons – or particles of light – using a physics theory called quantum mechanics. The experiment was a proof of concept.
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