05 June 2018
China plans to send 11 more meteorological satellites into orbit by 2025 to further improve its weather forecasting accuracy and ability to cope with natural hazards, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The planned satellites include three Fengyun 3 satellites in polar orbit, two Fengyun 4 satellites in geostationary orbit, one dawn-dusk orbit climate satellite, one high-precision greenhouse gas detection satellite and one hyper-spectral satellite.
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05 June 2018
On 5 June at 9:07 p.m., Beijing Time, China launched the new Fengyun 2H meteorological satellite to improve the accuracy of weather forecasting and provide better meteorological services to countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. The Fengyun 2H was launched on a Long March 3A rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
A geostationary orbit satellite, Fengyun 2H is the last in the Fengyun 2 series. The Fengyun-4 series will dominate China's new generation geostationary orbit meteorological satellites, said Zhao Jian, deputy director of the Department of System Engineering of China National Space Administration (CNSA). In response to a request from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO), the position of Fengyun 2H will be changed from original 86.5 degrees east longitude to 79 degrees east longitude. This means the Fengyun series satellites will be able to cover all the territory of China, as well as countries along the Belt and Road, the Indian Ocean and most African countries, according to the CNSA.
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06 June 2018
Looking back at his own working experience in NASA, Keith Cowing, is giving some interesting food for thought about US cooperation with China. In his comment for NASA Watch, he states: "I was working at NASA in the 1990s when we were tasked with planning to bring the former USSR/Russia into the space station program. Xenophobia abounded. Indeed, you can take everything that circulated back then about how awful the Russians were and just replace that with "China". But we made it work and the ISS is a stunning physical manifestation of what nations can do when they elevate something like space exploration above petty politics. ... A new NASA Administrator and an embryonic space policy being formulated by the National Space Council will have to deal with the issue of China. They have a plan and they are sticking to it with steely determination. Do we just pretend they are not there or do we look back at history's successes and embrace China - and other nations - in the exploration and utilization of space?"
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08 June 2018
Russia and China have signed four agreements in the area of nuclear energy. The fourth agreement concerns the supply of radionuclide heat units (UHR) used as parts of radioisotope thermoelectric generators to power equipment in China's space programme, for use in lunar exploration in particular, Rosatom said. The signing ceremony was held on 8 June in Beijing and attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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