19 February 2021
A plant in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, has won the approval from the authorities, said its subsidiary Geely Technology in a statement on 18 February, without disclosing the investment amount. It said production is expected to commence eight months from now as the first piece of equipment has entered the plant, and up to 500 satellites could be produced a year for various commercial operations. The group, which is the owner of Volvo, unveiled its low-orbit satellite network plan earlier last year. It had planned to launch its first satellites in late 2020, but the plan was put off, said a company representative, without offering a new schedule.
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16 February 2021
Now circuiting Mars, China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft is slated to perform systematic checks of onboard equipment. The craft used its 3000 newton engine on February 15 to place it into a polar orbit around the Red Planet. Leonard David is giving a comprehensive overview on the Tianwen 1 mission in an article on his Inside Outer Space website.
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19 February 2021
For the first time in human history, a fleet of three probes deployed from the UAE, China and the US set sail in July 2020 and took the seven-month interplanetary journey to Mars. The spacecraft from the UAE and China managed to enter Mars orbit on February 9 and 10, respectively. Although the last to reach Mars, Percy will be the first to land, because the UAE craft is designed only to orbit and Tianwen-1 will spend three months or so orbiting before a planned landing in May or June.
MORE with infographic comparing the differences between Tianwen 1 and Perseverance
18 February 2021
The first group of taikonauts who have been selected for the mission of building China's space station is currently undergoing training for extravehicular activities (EVA), preparing for the scheduled manned space mission. At the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing, Wang Yaping, China's 2nd woman in space in June 2013, put on training suits weighing more than 120 kg and entered a large water tank with the help of a mechanical arm. During the training session lasting more than four hours, seven divers assisted Wang to complete her tasks, while staff also monitored proceedings from a control room.
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18 February 2021
Blaine Curcio of Orbital Gateway Consulting and Jean Deville of The China Aerospace Blog are reporting for SpaceWatch.Global on China's main space events of the last week. This time the two experts cover Mars orbit insertion by the Tianwen 1 mission, the publication of the ESPI Report “New Space in Asia”, and the traditional Chinese New Year gala presenting 4 Chief Designer from the most prominent space projects: Chang'e 5, crewed spacecraft, Tianwen 1 and Beidou.
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18 February 2021
The Secure World Foundation and Caelus Foundation released the report "Lost Without Translation: Identifying Gaps in U.S. Perceptions of the Chinese Commercial Space Sector". U.S. commercial space actors firmly believe that competition from China will be an inevitable part of their future decision-making. However, beyond this surety, there are significant gaps in understanding of how this competitive relationship will develop. For US stakeholders, it remains unclear who their Chinese competition will be, what resources they will have, and what rules they will operate under. By comparing common U.S. stakeholder perspectives with discourse and analysis on China’s commercial space sector, this paper highlights where more effort is required to better understand these emerging dynamics.
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Report Release Event: Lost Without Translation: Identifying Gaps in U.S. Perceptions of the Chinese Commercial Space Sector