12 April 2021
In the 8th Episode of Dongfanghour, Blaine Curcio and Jean Deville sat down with Ian Christiansen and and Rob Ronci - the two authors of the report: "Lost Without Translation: Identifying Gaps in U.S. Perceptions of the Chinese Commercial Space Sector". The document reflects the perception of U.S. space actors of the their colleagues in China and the Chinese space ecosystem. During the one hour-long conversation, the hosts discussed report findings, areas for further research, and even a little bit of rampant speculation.
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12 April 2021
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is drawing up a plan for the country's space development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), said Zhang Kejian, head of the CNSA. The intention is to to boost aerospace as a strategic emerging industry in the next 5 years.
During this period, China will promote priority science and technology projects in the aerospace field. These will include the lunar exploration programme's 4th phase, interplanetary exploration such as asteroid reconnaissance, heavy-lift carrier rockets, and reusable space transportation systems, Zhang told Xinhua.
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12 April 2021
China's Long March-7 Y3 rocket, which will launch the cargo craft of China's space station, has arrived at Wenchang launch site on Hainan island. The rocket, alongside the Tianzhou 2 cargo craft that has already been transported to the Wenchang Space Launch Centre, will be assembled and tested at the launch site, China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) said on 12 April.
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12 April 2021
Hainan plans to launch 4 satellites around the end of 2021, beginning construction of the Hainan Earth-Observation Satellite Constellation System. This space-based network, funded by the Hainan provincial government, will be extended to a constellation of 10 satellites with multispectral and SAR capabilities and will be capable of monitoring all of the South China Sea in real time.
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