Galactic Energy successfully launched Ceres 1 rocket
07 November 2020
Commercial space manufacturer Galactic Energy (Beijing Xinghe Dongli Space Technology Co. Ltd.) succeeded in launching its 4-stage, solid propellant Ceres 1 rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on 7 November at 15:12 BJT, sending a satellite into 500 km SSO.
"Reaching orbit is the most basic threshold for a rocket company. Only when you cross this threshold can you talk about business and the market. Although China's commercial rocket companies started 30 years later than the United States, they are supported by national policies and encouraged by the capital market. With the unremitting efforts of entrepreneurs, the sun-synchronous orbit was today reached - in only five years of development. This is a very remarkable achievement, marking the arrival of China's commercial aerospace era. Galactic Energy entered as the first domestic company the 500 km sun-synchronous orbit what signifies that we have the ability to engage in commercial launch services, but this is only the beginning. Our goal is to make commercial rockets more reliable, more economical, and higher-density launches, which will be beneficial to complement China's state aerospace, help the rapid development of China's commercial aerospace industry." said Dr. Liu Baiqi, CEO of Galactic Energy on the companies WeChat account after the successful launch.
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photos from launch preparation on the PLA Daily's WeChat account...
The Time Transfer Performance of BDS-3 satellites significantly improved
06 November 2020
Researchers from the Time Keeping Laboratory, of the National Time Service Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed the time transfer performance of the BDS-3 signals. The results indicate that the time transfer performance of the BDS-3 satellites is over 50% higher than that of the BDS-2 satellites. In terms of the common view time comparison, the standard deviations of the zero-baseline common clock time comparison of the new BDS-3 signals are comparable to that of GPS and Galileo.
To evaluate the time transfer performance of BDS-3, the pseudorange measurement noise, precision of conventional common view (CV) and all-in-view (AV) time comparison and the instability of the precise point positioning (PPP) time transfer were analyzed. The results were published in the journal Metrologia.
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link to the publication: Wei Guang, Jihai Zhang, Haibo Yuan, Wenjun Wu, Shaowu Dong, (2020) Analysis on the time transfer performance of BDS-3 signals, Metrologia, Volume 57, Number 6, 065023, DOI: 10.1088/1681-7575/abbcc1
Chang'e 4 lunar probe resumes work for 24th lunar day
10 November 2020
The Chang'e 4 lander and rover have resumed work for the 24th lunar day on the far side of the Moon.
The lander woke up on 10 November at 3:12 h BJT, and the rover Yutu-2 woke up on 09 November at 10:17 h BJT, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Programme Centre of the China National Space Administration.
Since its landing on the Moon on 3 January 2019, the Chang'e 4 probe has survived 677 Earth days on the Moon. During the 24th lunar day, Yutu-2 will move northwest toward the basalt area or the impact craters with high reflectivity. Yutu-2 will take at least one panoramic photo, and its infrared imaging spectrometer, neutral atom detector and lunar radar will continue to carry out scientific explorations.
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Infographics: What is China's future plan for the space sector?
12 November 2020
During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), the country has conducted over 140 orbital launches: the most notable missions include landing its Chang'e 4 probe on the far side of the Moon last year and sending Tianwen 1 Mars probe into orbit in July. The country aims to become a leading space power in the world by 2045, according to a route map drawn up in 2018 by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
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Infographics: 140+ launches in 5 years. What's next for China's space industry?