China opens first overseas center for BeiDou navigation satellite system in Tunisia
11 April 2018
The China-Arab States BDS/GNSS Center, the first overseas center for China's indigenous BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), was officially inaugurated in Tunisia on 10 April. The center is established as a pilot project between China and the Tunisia-based Arab Information and Communication Technology Organization (AICTO), an Arab governmental organization under the Arab League, to promote the global application of the BDS, said Ran Chengqi, director of China Satellite Navigation Office.
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SASTIND confirms earlier unofficial information on CZ-5 failure in July 2017
17 April 2018
The State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense finally confirmed publicly the cause of the CZ-5 failure from last summer: a quality issue in the structure of the turbopump in the YF-77 cryogenic engines of the Long March 5 core first stage.
Already during the IAC2017 in Adelaide, Australia, China confirmed that the failure of the CZ-5 was related to the first stage's core engines. In November 2017, unofficial reports emerged that the cause of the failure was pin-pointed and the talk was about the turbo pump. Several space expert websites (compare: spaceflight101.com) wrote already earlier this year that "a structural problem causing the turbopump rotor shaft enclosure cap within one of the YF-77 engines to break off and created a blockage within the propellant line."
Chinese willing to use Beidou navigation system
16 April 2018
Chinese are now eagerly looking to its own navigation app that's expected to debut next month and greatly improve the navigation accuracy to within a meter. Many netizens expressed the hope of shifting from GPS to China's own Beidou navigation and positioning system.
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China is working on wireless charging systems for rockets
18 April 2018
China's space scientists are exploring ways of using wireless charging systems, similar to those used for mobile phones or electric toothbrushes, in rocket design. According to Liu Fei, the project manager at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), dozens of devices in any rocket, including the control system and telemetry, still need to be connected with the power sources by cable. "Cables weighing hundreds of kilograms form a huge network with a wide variety of hidden dangers and a multitude of potential problems," Liu said. However, he noted that compared with small electronic products, wireless power supplies and information transmission in rockets are a very much more complicated business.
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