20 August 2020
The second phase of China's Tianqin project will verify the key technologies for next-generation gravity satellites, which will serve to carry out precise measurements of Earth's gravity, helping humankind tackle climate change and natural disasters, experts said. One of those technologies is the orbit-intersatellite laser interferometry. "China is on the same starting line as the US and Germany in this regard, as every country is accelerating in their breakthrough of next-generation gravity satellite technology and in competition for the leading position," said academician Xu Houze from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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20 August 2020
China's best optical Earth-observation satellite for civil use has finished its in-orbit tests and started formal operation on 20 August. At a handover ceremony at CNSA in the morning of 20 August, designers of the Gaofen 7 announced that the satellite began to serve its major users: the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Bureau of Statistics.
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20 August 2020
China's Mars probe Tianwen 1 has traveled more than 8 million km away from Earth and is functioning normally. As of 19 August, 23:20 BJT, the Mars probe has traveled 8.23 million km away from Earth. Starting from 22:20 BJT the same day, multiple payloads on the Mars probe, including Mars Magnetometer, Mars Mineralogy Spectrometer and High-resolution Camera, have completed self-check to confirm that they are in normal condition. Tianwen 1 is expected to reach the Red Planet around February 2021. After entering the orbit, it will spend another two to three months surveying the candidate landing sites before landing.
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22 August 2020
Tianwen 1 will carry out its 2nd orbital correction in September to ensure that it travels in the preset orbit, according to CASC. As the Mars probe travels further from Earth, the communication delay is increasing. Currently, the delay is about 30 seconds, and when the probe approaches Mars, the one-way time lag can be more than 10 minutes.
The probe carried out its first orbital correction on 2 August. During its flight to Mars, the probe will conduct 4 orbital corrections and a deep-space manoeuvre, according to a source from the CASC.
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