Chang'e 4 lander and rover start work for the 20th lunar day
15 July 2020
The lander and rover of the Chang'e-4 probe have resumed work for the 20th lunar day on the far side of the Moon. The lander woke up on 15 July at 5:48 h Beijing Time, and the rover awoke on 14 July at 12:53 h. Both are in normal working order, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Centre of the China National Space Administration.
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Long March for Tianwen 1 Mars mission moved to launch pad
17 July 2020
The Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket to lift China's Tianwen 1 Mars probe was moved to the launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province in the morning of 17 July, according to the China National Space Administration. The administration said in a statement that the rocket was moved out of its testing complex at around 8:00 BJT and spent nearly two hours on the tracks toward the launch pad. Next, engineers will conduct final examinations and then pump in the propellants before the launch, it added.
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Deep-Space antenna in Kashgar and Jiamusi upgraded and ready for support of Tianwen 1
17 July 2020
Xi'an Satellite Control Center announced on 17 July it has built a super-strong deep-space monitoring network to support the China's firt Mars exploration mission - Tianwen 1. Once the probe has entered Earth-Mars transfer orbit, the control center's two monitoring stations, in Kashgar of northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Jiamusi, in northeastern Heilongjiang Province, will provide monitoring support for it. Efforts have been made to upgrade equipment at the two stations. Since October 2017, the new ground station in the province Neuquén in Argentina's Patagonia region in complementing China's deep-space network.
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Hong Kong disaster relief base becomes unlikely target of US’s national security law sanctions
21 July 2020
A Hong Kong scientific satellite station that receives data from civil remote sensing satellites has become an unlikely victim of US sanctions. The Hong Kong Satellite Remote Sensing Ground Receiving Station, run by the Institute of Space and Earth Information Science of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was set up to monitor natural disasters, but the US now says it will not renew the cooperation protocol between the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the institute. The founder of the institute that runs the base says the sanctions are ‘funny’ and there is nothing secret about its work. Lin added that China now has another station in Hainan province, which is able to provide similar data.
MORE by Kinling Lo of SCMP...