19 April 2019
In March, Robert Zubrin, an US-American aerospace engineer and founder of the Mars Society visited several cities in China to mark the establishment of the Mars Society’s first chapter in the country. Sixth Tone later sat down with Zubrin in Beijing to discuss China’s spacefaring companies, the country’s lunar and Mars missions, and the future of the space race. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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20 April 2019
China sent a new satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province on 20 April at 10:41 p.m. Launched on a Long March-3B carrier rocket, it is the 44th satellite of the BDS satellite family and the first BDS-3 satellite in inclined geosynchronous Earth orbit. After in-orbit tests, the satellite will work with 18 other BDS-3 satellites in intermediate circular orbit and one in geosynchronous Earth orbit.
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RELATED
Meet the Ace team of China's carrier rocket family
The "Ace team," comprising the Long March-3A, 3B, and 3C, have been the launch vehicles for almost every Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) over the years, setting a record for the shortest time interval of 16 days between two launches.


22 April 2019
An asteroid has been named after leading Chinese astrophysicist Zhou Youyuan, with approval from the International Astronomical Union (IAU)
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21 April 2019
China's private rocket company LinkSpace successfully launched a reusable rocket in east China's Shandong Province on Friday. The RLV-T5 rocket flew to a height of 40 meters and then safely landed, in 30 seconds. On March 27, the company finished its first low-altitude launch at a height of 20 meters.
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