18 December 2017
Scientists are building a space center in the red deserts of northwestern China to prepare for the country’s 2020 Mars mission.
Last year, the Chinese government announced plans to launch an unmanned Mars mission in 2020, and the CAS started looking for a place to build a research base for the expedition. On a cold January day, local tour guide Zhang Qingzhe introduced Hongya, or Red Cliff: an area in the Gobi Desert, to Liu Xiaoqun, director of the Moon and Space Exploration Department at CAS, and his team, who noted it as a potential site for the base.
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19 December 2017
Chinese commercial space launch company ExPace Technology Co., one of nearly a dozen companies in China with aspirations to be China’s SpaceX, has raised a RMB 1.2 Billion (US$180 Million) series A round from eight unnamed investors. The company plans to use the latest funds to develop space launch vehicles, invest in up-stream and down-stream commercial space industry, as well as to improve its assembling capabilities, according to a company announcement. ExPace was founded in 2016 by China Aerospace Science and Industry Co. and China Sanjiang Space Industry Group Corporation CASIC as the first private company in China providing professional space launch services.
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19 December 2017
Alcomsat 1, Algeria's first communication satellite, was successfully positioned at 24.8 degrees West longitude in geostationary orbit on 18 December. The positioning took place after eight hours of controlled flight conducted by a Chinese control center, paving the way for the satellite's further operation. Alcomsat 1 was launched on 11 December 2017.
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20 December 2017
China will solicit 20,000 messages which will be sent into space by a relay satellite for the Chang'e 4 lunar probe, according to China's Lunar and Deep Space Exploration Center. The relay satellite will be launched in the first half of 2018 and Chang'e 4 lunar probe in the latter half of next year, according to the center affiliated with the China National Space Administration. People all over the world can follow the WeChat account "slecbj" to submit their wishes from 19 December 2017 to 6 March 2018.
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