Tianzhou 3 re-entered the atmosphere
27 July 2022
After undocking from the Tianhe core module on 17 July and in-orbit space technology tests, TZ-3 re-entered the atmosphere on 27 July at 11:31 BJT. Most of the spacecraft's components burned up during the re-entry, and a small amount of its debris fell into the scheduled safe waters of the South Pacific, the CMSA said. During the period between 17 and 25 July, ground controllers used the spacecraft to gain important experience for the in-orbit construction as well as the operation and management of the space station.
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First launch of new Lijian 1 (ZK-1A) rocket
27 July 2022
A new Chinese solid-propellant rocket launched on 27 July 2022 at 12:12 BJT from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. The Lijian 1 launcher, also known as ZK-1A, is a 4-stage solid-propellant launch vehicle jointly developed by the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and CAS Space (Beijing Zhongke Aerospace Exploration Technology Co., Ltd.). It is 30 m tall, has a diameter of 2.65 m and a launch mass of 135 t. Its 200 t of trust provide a payload capacity of 1.5 t into SSO. The mission marked the 1st flight of Lijian 1. It carried 6 new satellites into space, including a new space technology test satellite and a test satellite for probing atmospheric density.
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some YouTube footage of the launch
A new small sat for real-time quantum key distribution operational
28 July 2022
A new small quantum satellite was among the 6 payloads launched with the Lijian 1 rocket on 27 July. The satellite has entered its planned orbit and is now operational, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), one of its developers, said on 28 July. The LEO satellite with a mass of approx. 100 kg was designed to conduct real-time quantum key distribution experiments between the satellite and ground station, and to carry out technical verification. It was developed in cooperation by Chinese universities and institutions such as the USTC, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology.
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Experimental satellite for atmospheric density detection
29 July 2022
An experimental satellite, which improves the inversion accuracy of atmospheric density, was among the 6 payloads launched with the Lijian 1 rocket on 27 July. It will provide technical support for orbit prediction and collision warning of space vehicles. The spherical satellite has a mass of 36 kg and a diameter of 60 cm. It is equipped with 2 receivers of the global navigation satellite system and a laser corner reflector for accurate atmospheric density inversion. It was co-developed by the National Space Science Center and the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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