15 February 2021
While the space activities of China continue to advance in breadth and depth, rather little is known about the legal and regulatory framework within the country. It is difficult to find online sources and most texts are only available in Chinese. The article for SpaceWatchGlobal by Jan Helge Mey and Dr. Ingo Baumann tries to shed some light on the current legislative situation, with a special focus on those texts governing the growing commercial space sector.
MORE...
RELATED
New ESPI Report: New Space in Asia with broad details on China
Chapter 4 - Public policies to support commercial space in China
15 February 2021
On 15 February 2021, Tianwen 1 performed its 1st Mars orbit adjustment. The probe's 3,000 N engine was ignited at 17:00 h when passing the 'apogee' of the Mars orbit. That allowed for a plane change to adjust the orbital inclination to a polar orbit. The manoeuvre also reduced the closest distance to Mars from 400 km to 265 km. There are 3 more orbit corrections expected to bring the current elliptical orbit to a circular working orbit.
MORE...
12 February 2021
Experts from the China Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), the National Satellite Meteorological Centre, Beijing Normal University as well as research institutes from France, Spain, the United States and Israel have initiated a new project to foster cooperation in strengthening global agricultural drought monitoring. Through cooperating with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and its members, the project will focus on establishing a global agricultural drought monitoring system with the Fengyun 3D, providing timely agricultural drought information services for worldwide users.
MORE...
12 February 2021
Tianwen 1 will make several orbital maneuvers to prepare for its landing attempt on Mars, which is due to take place in the coming months, experts from the China Academy of Space Technology said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily. Tianwen 1 will brake twice at the point in orbit farest away from Mars and twice when closest to the planet.
MORE...
12 February 2021
CNSA has unveiled the complete footage of the first Chinese Mars probe, Tianwen 1, as it was captured by the gravity of the Red Planet. The footage reveals Mars coming into view, the slight vibration after engine ignition, and its flight from the daytime into the night. It also shows a clear image of the solar panel, the directional antenna, and Mars atmosphere and surface topography. The video was made from the fast playback of still images at a rate of 10 frames per second. The images were taken by surveillance cameras on the solar panel and directional antenna. The cameras took images every 3 seconds for about 30 minutes.
MORE...
RELATED:
Tianwen 1's entry into Mars orbit
10 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 a wide range of activities, starting with iSpace' launch failure, the move by the the Beijing Government to prioritise satellite internet, up to OneSpace' successful suborbital launch and the Tianwen 1 mission.
MORE ...