11 October 2020
Providing financial support for African nations’ space programmes is helping China to advance its soft power on the continent, experts say. Temidayo Oniosun, a Nigerian space scientist and managing director of industry news website Space in Africa, said: “China often comes to the aid of countries and provides loans for them to acquire satellites ... China is helping African countries in the development of their space programmes by providing technological and financial support,” said Oniosun, who also monitors space and satellite industry investments on the continent. Many African nations already had good trade links with China he said, which helped in the development of space projects, he said.
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11 October 2020
The lander and rover of the Chang'e 4 probe have resumed work for the 23rd lunar day on the far side of the Moon. The lander woke up on 11 October at 11:56 h BJT and the Yutu 2 rover woke up on 10 October at 18:57 BJT, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Programme Centre of the China National Space Administration. Chang'e 4 has survived about 647 Earth days on the Moon.
During the 23rd lunar day, Yutu 2 will move northwest toward the basalt area or the impact craters with high reflectivity. It will also use an infrared imaging spectrometer onboard to investigate a lunar rock, which has a diameter of 30 cm.
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09 October 2020
This year marks the 50th anniversary of China’s Fengyun Satellite Program. Up to now, China has launched 17 Fengyun meteorological satellites in total, with 7 in orbit. The Chinese meteorological satellites Fengyun, or FY in acronym, are arranged in series. The odd number series is the polar-orbiting satellite series, and the even number series is the geostationary ones.
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Fengyun Meteorological Satellite Programme to mark its 50th anniversary - an interview with Prof. Xu Jianmin

12 October 2020
China successfully launched the Gaofen 13 optical remote-sensing satellite from the southwestern Xichang Satellite Launch Centre on 12 October at 00:57 BJT. The high-orbit satellite, was sent into orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. This satellite will serve economic development by providing information services. It will mainly be used for land surveys, crop yield estimations, environmental protection, weather forecasting, and early warnings, as well as disaster prevention and mitigation.
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(Note: Initially, the launch time was wrongly given by GT!) 
RELATED: Xichang plans for 10 launches until March 2021
12 October 2020
Xichang Satellite Launch Centre will carry out 10 space launches until March next year. This means that there are on the average 2 launches per month, with the shortes time between two mission of 5 days. Among them is also the Chang'e 5 lunar probe.
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