04 March 2021
Leonard David sums it nicely up in his recent article on his INSIDE OUTER SPACE blog: "China appears to be on the verge of a one-two punch in both the country’s human space flight program as well as its robotic planetary exploration plans. Before the end of June, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) notes it anticipates the lofting of the 20-metric-ton core space station module, Tianhe, or Harmony of Heaven. Also, China is targeting an attempted landing on Mars in May-June with the Tianwen-1’s lander/rover - the country’s first independent mission to the Red Planet."
MORE on Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE blog ...

02 March 2021
Rocket manufacturer iSpace said on 1 March on its WeChat account that it has completed investigation of its launch failure, vowing that the firm will ramp up efforts on management and technology improvement. "Following 28 days of investigation and analysis, we have completed problem location analysis, fault simulation and recurrence, test verification and assessment and improvement measures." The flight failure of the SQX-1 Y2 rocket was located within a piece of insulation foam that had fallen off and fell on the IV grid rudder, causing the rudder to be blocked under aerodynamic pressure, and the foam was blown off again from the rudder later during the flight. After the rudder resumed the control system to track the command, the rudder deflection angle completed a deflection of more than 30 degrees in a short time, which caused a sudden change in the attitude of the rocket body, which led to the failure of the flight, according to the firm's analysis.
MORE...

01 March 2021
Rui C. Barbosa wrote for NASASpaceflight.com a comprehensive overview article about what is known regarding the Chinese Space Station. He lists the expected launches, the station configuration and functions of the respective station modules and how the initial utilisation could look like.
MORE...

08 March 2021
On the occasion of the International Women's Day, a portrait of Zhang Yuhua, the Deputy Chief Commander of the Chang’e 5 and Tianwan 1 space missions, was published by the online portal shine.cn. Zhang Yuhua looks back at a 3 decades long career at SAST. After graduation in 1990, she was assigned to work at SAST, just when China’s manned, lunar and Mars space missions were beginning. “I was lucky to get in on the ground floor of China’s aerospace industry,” she said. Zhang encountered her biggest setback in 2014, when the six-wheeled Yutu 1 rover, designed by her team, malfunctioned on its second lunar day. She suffered insomnia for three days and cried alone in her room, she said.
MORE...