24 April 2022
On the occasion of the China Space Day 2022, Wu Yanhua, CNSA's Deputy Director, said on 24 April, that the engineering development of the 4th phase of its lunar exploration programme will start this year. CE-6, CE-7 and CE-8 will be launched successively before 2030 and breakthroughs in key technologies will be achieved for building an international lunar research station. CE-6 will collect samples from the far side of the Moon. Also, CNSA is planning to install a satellite constellation around the Moon to provide communication and navigation services. The main goal of the 4th phase is to carry out scientific exploration on the Moon's south pole and set-up a fundamental type of lunar scientific research station. "We are expecting that more missions will follow after 2030, so construction on the ILRS will be completed by 2035 for long-term operation," Wu Weiren, CLEP Chief Designer said. "If the lunar research station project can be successfully implemented, China will not be far away from achieving a manned landing on the Moon," said Wu. Chinese scientists and engineers are already studying how to do this.
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24 April 2022
China kick-started its annual Space Day celebrations themed "Space inspires dreams" on 24 April in South China's tropical island province of Hainan, home to Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site. The United Nations Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare, Director General of the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites Phil Evans, Russia's space agency Roscosmos Director Dmitry Rogozin, and officials with Pakistan's space agency Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission sent congratulations to China for Space Day.
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25 April 2022
The Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science and Beijing Xingjian Tianhang space technology company conducted a test for launching a rocket with a payload from a high altitude helium balloon on 24 April from Lenghu Town, Haixi Prefecture, northwest China’s Qinghai Province. The rocket reached an altitude of 25 - 40 km and recorded environmental data of the upper layers of the atmoshpere.
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23 April 2022
In the early morning of 23 April, the Chinese Space Station, consisting by that moment of the Tianhe core module and the Tianzhou 3 cargo craft, flew over New York. Astro photographer Philip Smith was lucky and took an astonishing video and some impressive photos of the Chinese Station using a 14-inch telescope in his backyard in Manorville. His visuals even show the robotic arm on Tianhe module.
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