22 June 2022
Chinese researchers from the Institute of Geochemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences found for the first time fragments of seifertite and stishovite, minerals formed from silicon dioxide at high temperatures and pressures, in the CE-5 samples of lunar regolith. The sample also contained silicon dioxide and silica glass. This marks the first time for seifertite to be found in the samples from outside the Earth. Meteorite impact is an important geological process for the combination of materials on the lunar surface, which serves an important factor for controlling the formation and evolution of lunar soil.
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21 June 2022
Liu Yang has touched the hearts of millions with a letter to her two children that was made public after she set off into space for the second time on 5 June. "You're my strongest armor and softest spots. I didn't allow you to see me off at the launch site because I was afraid that I would burst into tears," Liu wrote in the letter to her daughter, 8, and son, 6. "I promise you that I will build a big house in space and fill it with the dreams of many. I also promise you I will take many beautiful pictures so you can share them with others. I will also take your wishes to space. You have my word," she said in the letter.
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21 June 2022
At the 75th session of the Executive Council of World Meteorological Organization on 20 June, the head of the China Meteorological Administration, Zhuang Guotai announced that the data produced by the country's two Fengyun series meteorological satellites will be shared with global users.
Fengyun 3E and Fengyun 4B are used to help monitor and forecast weather, as well as prevent and mitigate disasters. FY-4B, launched in June 2021, has a resolution of 250 m. FY-3E, the world's first civilian early morning orbit weather satellite, launched in July 2021, was designed to improve global weather forecasting by filling in the gap in data at specific times of the day. It has a global revisiting time of 6 hours.
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19 June 2022
Setting up a living environment is the first task for the SZ-14 crew when they arrived on 5 June at the space station, which had been left in an uninhabited state after the departure of the Shenzhou 13 crew in April.
The priority of the SZ-14 crew is to activate the essential systems for human living, such as oxygen recycling, drinking water and the sleeping environment, according to Wang Saijin, Deputy Chief designer of the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre. The taikonauts have checked the functionality of the "appliances" in the kitchen, such as the microwave oven, water heater and garbage disposal equipment.
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Watch the Shenzhou-14 crew's first week at China's space station
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20 June 2022
Chinese scientists at the CAST have developed a metallic-based thermal-control coating for the SZ-14 crewed spaceship that can protect the taikonauts from extreme heat and cold during their stay in orbit. The new coating works in two ways: providing low solar absorption to help reduce the sun's effect on the spacecraft's internal temperature and providing low infrared emittance to block heat release from internal sources. The thermal-control coating was first used on the SZ-13 spacecraft, which was launched on 16 October 2021. It kept the cabin environment within acceptable temperature ranges (between 18 and 26oC)
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15 June 2022
Making the rounds on Twitter and various news feeds is that China may have picked up signals from alien civilizations. Leonard David, author of his website "Inside Outer Space" reached out to an expert in this field to understand what is behind the signals. Leonard David got answers from Dan Werthimer, the Marilyn and Watson Alberts SETI Chair in the Astronomy Department and Space Sciences Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. He works with the Beijing Normal University SETI researchers.
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