Astronaut Jing Haipeng praised China's progress in engineering and technology for space travel on Wednesday as the crew of the Shenzhou-11 mission made their first public appearance since returning to Earth.
The missions were selected from a road map for a long-term space science program and will delve into some of the most fundamental questions such as the formation and evolution of the universe, the formation and evolution of the solar system, and the study of exoplanets and potential extra-terrestrial life. The unveiled missions are a space-weather observatory mission in collaboration with the European Space Agency, a global water cycle observation mission, the Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Thermosphere mission, the Einstein Probe, and the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory.
A 180-day "survival experiment" is near its end mid-week. Four Chinese volunteers--three men and one woman--have been living inside a sealed space capsule in south China's Shenzhen City. An objective of the space simulation is to test technologies that could support China's deep-space exploration projects. The effort is evaluating how food, water, and oxygen can be used and recycled under controlled conditions. More than a dozen Chinese and overseas institutions are involved in the experiment, including the Astronaut Center of China, Harvard University, and the German Aerospace Center.
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp plans to build a global real-time communications satellite network by 2020, a senior company executive said. Sun Weigang, chief engineer at the State-owned space giant, said the Hongyan satellite system will be composed of 60 small satellites operating in low orbits and 20 ground stations around the world. The system will provide a wide range of civilian services such as ground data collection and exchange, ship identification and tracking, mobile broadcasting as well as navigation signal enhancement, he said.
China on Saturday successfully launched the first of its new generation of geostationary weather satellites, Fengyun-4A, marking a national record 20th space launch for 2016. The 5,400kg FY-4A is the experimental first spacecraft in a new series of meteorological satellites. Fengyun-4 satellites will carry four main instruments for enhanced imaging, vertical atmospheric sounding, lightning mapping and space environment monitoring. Orbiting at an altitude of 35,786 kilometres, the satellites will provide high spatial, temporal and spectral resolution observations of China and surrounding areas, improving weather forecast and monitoring.
Video footage from Chinese broadcaster China Central Television posted on Chinese online forums around 20 November shows what appears to be a new torpedo-carrying missile being test-fired from a land-based inclined containerised launcher: an indication that the People's Liberation Army Navy is seeking to further enhance its anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
A non-toxic propulsion system developed by Chinese scientists will enable satellites to carry more payload and save on satellite launching costs, the system's developer said Tuesday. The ammonium dinitramide technology used in the system proved successful when it was tested in the Shijian-17 satellite sent into space last month, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said in a statement.
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