30 May 2021
This week's episode of the Dongfang Hour includes details on the launch of the Tianzhou 2 cargo mission, China’s Efforts to ensure a successful deployment of Zhurong on the Martian ground and a summary of the Euroconsult webinar on China Satellite Manufacturing Chain.
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Link to the related The Dongfang Hour Newsletter - Issue #4

03 June 2021
In the early morning of the 3 June, China sent the new Fengyun 4B (FY-4B) meteorological satellite into planned orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan Province. The satellite was launched by a CZ-3B rocket at 00:17 BJT. This was the 372nd flight of a Long March rocket. The first of China's new-generation meteorological satellites in geostationary orbit, the FY-4B will be used in the fields of weather analysis and forecasting, and environmental and disaster monitoring.
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04 June 2021
CAS Space (Beijing Zhongke Aerospace Exploration Technology Co., Ltd.,) has begun to design its solid-propellant carrier rocket. Yang Yiqiang, a senior rocket scientist and founder of CAS Space, told China Daily that the rocket－ZK 2－is in the research and development stage at laboratories in Beijing and will be ready for its debut flight before the end of 2022, if everything goes according to schedule.
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04 June 2021
Professor Yung Kai-leung of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) shows the Mars Landing Surveillance Camera, developed by his university team in cooperation with the China Academy of Space Technology. The camera monitored the landing of Tianwen 1 and took images of the surrounding environment on the Mars surface. The Mars Camera weighs only 390 g but is strong and durable enough to withstand the extreme temperature differences of about 150oC experienced during the 9-month journey between Earth and Mars, and an impact shock of 6,200 G. PolyU has participated in several lunar missions before and expects to contribute to the Mars Sample Return mission.
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