China Space Military：Recon, Satcom, Navi, ASAT/BMD, Orbital Vehicle, SLV, etc.

[Keel]

China released images taken by Gaofen-2 satellite that was put into orbit a month ago in August.

This image show Beijing.
View attachment 96689
And Shanghai

Some more:

 

[bobsm]

Really looking forward to this.


China set to launch probe on round trip to the moon

16:00 20 October 2014 by Jacob Aron
For similar stories, visit the Space flight Topic Guide

China is planning to launch an uncrewed spacecraft on a quick jaunt around the moon, in a test of technology designed to return rocks from the lunar surface to Earth.

The Chang'e 5-T1 mission is set to blast off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan, China, on 23 October. It will fly around the back of the moon and return to Earth – using a parachute to slow its decent through the atmosphere – about 8 days later.

It's a precursor to a more advanced mission planned for 2017. This future mission will send a lunar orbiter that will release a lander to touch down on the moon's surface and collect 2 kilograms of soil and rock. The lander will then blast off and dock with the orbiter for the return trip to Earth. China's most recent moon mission, Chang'e 3, placed a lander and rover on the moon last year.

Chang'e 5-T1 will test China's heat-shield technology, which is essential for surviving a high-speed re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. The country is following a path blazed by other major spacefaring nations: the US sent humans to retrieve rocks during the Apollo moon landing missions, and the Soviet Union performed automated sample-return missions in the 1970s.

The spacecraft will also carry experiments to test what happens to bacteria and plants exposed to radiation beyond low Earth orbit. China has also partnered with a Luxembourg-based firm called LuxSpace to send a tiny spacecraft called the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission around the moon. It will ride on the same rocket as Chang'e 5-T1 and broadcast a ham radio signal for amateurs to tune-in to.

http://www.newscientist.com/article...RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|online-news#.VEVUnWddXAk

 

[bobsm]

Well done.

China's dash to moon a dress rehearsal for sample return

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By
Ling Xin
23 October 2014 3:45 pm
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China raised the curtain today on the most ambitious act yet of its lunar exploration program. At just about 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the Chang’e-5 Test 1 (CE5-T1) spacecraft lifted off aboard a Long March rocket for an unmanned dash to the moon and back that aims to test technology for a sample return mission planned for 2017 and, a decade from now, possibly landing astronauts on the moon.

CE5-T1 marks China’s fourth lunar mission in the Chang’e series, named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology. Chang’e-1, launched in 2007, spent 16 months in orbit snapping the nation’s first images of the lunar surface. Previous Chang’e probes were left in space. Guiding CE5-T1 back to Earth poses a new challenge; entering the atmosphere at a speed of 11.2 km/s is nearly 50% faster than the return speed of China’s Shenzhou spacecraft, which has carried orbiting astronauts safely back to Earth’s surface.

“Earthbound experiments can’t effectively simulate the complexity of the atmospheric environment,” Hao Xifan, deputy chief designer of the CE5-T1 and Chang’e-5 missions, told China’s S&T Daily newspaper shortly before the launch. He says CE5-T1 may be the sole spacecraft launched for engineering testing during China’s unmanned lunar exploration program.

According to Hao, a skip-reentry technology will be used to slow down CE5-T1. Comparing the technology to skipping a stone on a lake, he explained that the spacecraft will first dip into the atmosphere, then jump up, and finally make a gliding reentry toward touchdown. “The jump must be well controlled. If it’s too low, the probe may be burnt. If too high, it won’t be able to land in the targeted area.”

CE5-T1 is expected to arrive in lunar orbit on 26 October. It will orbit the dark side of the moon and then head home, with a parachute-assisted landing somewhere in middle Inner Mongolia 8 days after its departure.

“Although the upcoming mission is very risky, I have full confidence [in our success],” Liu Jizhong, deputy commander of China’s lunar exploration program, told S&T Daily.

Joining CE5-T1 atop the Long March 3C rocket today are two small probes from Europe. One is a radio beacon known as 4M. Developed by LuxSpace in Luxembourg, 4M will start transmitting radio signals back to Earth for amateur space enthusiasts soon after the liftoff. The other microsatellite is PS86X1 from the virtual organization Pocket Spacecraft. They will bid farewell to CE5-T1 on the way to the moon and conduct separate lunar flyby experiments.

CE5-T1 is a steppingstone to Chang’e-5, China’s last planned uncrewed mission to the moon. Among many other tasks, Chang’e-5 is slated to collect about 2 kilograms of lunar soil and return to Earth.

China's dash to moon a dress rehearsal for sample return | Science/AAAS | News

 

[JSCh]

Launch video

 

[JSCh]

First Private Moon Mission to Launch on Chinese Rocket Today
By Mike Wall, Senior Writer | October 23, 2014 07:00am ET

Artist's concept of the 4M mini-spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch on a trip around the moon on Oct. 23, 2014 aboard a Chinese Long March rocket.
Credit: OHB/LuxSpace


The first privately funded mission to the moon is scheduled to blast off Thursday (Oct. 23), hitching a ride on a Chinese Long March rocket.

The 4M mission, a project developed by Luxembourg-based company LuxSpace, will piggyback on a Chinese moon flyby unofficially dubbed Chang'e 5-T1, which aims to test out technology for a future lunar sample-return mission. Liftoff is set for 1:59 p.m. EDT (1759 GMT) Thursday from China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

If all goes according to plan, the Chang'e 5-T1 spacecraft will zoom around the moon and back toward Earth, ultimately sending a test capsule barreling into our planet's atmosphere on Oct. 31. The main purpose is to try out tech that could get moon dirt and rocks to Earth — the goal of China's Chang'e 5 mission, currently slated to blast off in 2017.

The 31-pound (14 kilograms) 4M payload is attached to the Long March's upper stage, which will also perform a close lunar flyby and return to Earth's neighborhood. 4M will transmit signals continuously during its space journey, and LuxSpace hopes amateur radio operators around the world will listen in. Indeed, the company will offer prizes to people who participate.

​

 

[JSCh]

Chang'e 5T1, the grey bell shaped object is the re-entry module on top of the service module.

 

[JSCh]

News and movie from last night’s successful launch of 4M | Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (4M)

News and movie from last night’s successful launch of 4M

After a thunderstorm two hours before liftoff, we had clear sky to see our carrier Long March 3C boosting “through” the Orion constellation and heading towards the Moon. Here is a movie from the liftoff.


Liftoff of Long March 3C from Xichang Satellite Launch Center on 23.10.2014 (1759 UTC) with its hitchhiker 4M

4M successfully activated and started to transmit to Earth. Since then we continuously collect this data received from stations all over the world (so far from Argentina, Brazil, USA, and Australia). Temperature variations indicate that the last stage of the rocket is smoothly rotating, i.e. making 4M’s journey to the moon and back so far not too harsh.
===============================================
4M Data Warehouse is running

 

[JSCh]

我国成功发射实践十一号08星(图)
2014-10-27 15:58:36 来源：新华网 我要评论

　 　
10月27日14时59分，我国在酒泉卫星发射中心用长征二号丙运载火箭，成功将实践十一号08星发射升空，卫星顺利进入预定轨道。实践十一号08星主 要用于开展空间科学与技术试验。用于发射的长征二号丙运载火箭由中国航天科技集团公司所属中国运载火箭技术研究院研制。这是长征系列运载火箭的第197次 飞行。新华社记者李响摄

At 14:59 on October 27, China successfully launched Long March 2C that put ShiJian 11-08 satellite successfully into orbit. Used mainly for space science and technology test. This is the 197th launch of the Long March series of launch vehicles.

 

[JSCh]

Chang'e 5T1 would start the return trip or enter the trans-earth injection orbit at around 7:30 pm China time tonight.

Chinese lunar orbiter prepares for home trip- China.org.cn
Xinhua, October 27, 2014

China's experimental spacecraft, designed to fly around the moon and back to Earth, entered lunar orbit on Monday and is making necessary preparations for its trip back home.

The orbiter, launched Friday last week atop an advanced Long March-3C rocket, entered the Moon's gravitational sphere of influence Monday at noon, and is expected to remain there for the next 32 hours.

It is currently orbiting at around 60,000 kilometers from the moon and is making required adjustments for its transfer from the lunar orbit back to the terrestrial orbit scheduled for late Tuesday.

The test orbiter will then maneuver on the edge of the Earth's atmosphere to slow from a speed of 11.2 kilometers per second before re-entry, a process that generates extremely high temperatures.

The eight-day program is a test run for Chang'e-5, China's fourth lunar probe that is aimed to gather samples from the moon's surface.

Earlier reports said Chang'e-5 will be launched around 2017, marking the last phase of China's three-step moon probe project.

China carried out Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-2 missions in 2007 and 2010, respectively, capping the orbital phase, the first phase of a three-step moon probe project.

The ongoing second phase saw Chang'e-3 soft land on the moon carrying the country's first moon rover Yutu onboard in December 2013. Chang'e-4 is the backup probe of Chang'e-3 and will help pave the way for future probes.

 

[bobsm]

Here are some spectacular pix from the CE-5T1 mission.

 

[applesauce]

Here are some spectacular pix from the CE-5T1 mission.

nice, theres a side of the moon you dont normally see

 

[JSCh]

 

[terranMarine]

mission accomplished, capsule retrieved

 

[sweetgrape]

mission accomplished, capsule retrieved

 

[aliaselin]

range of JL-2 is 8,000 km? No, 16,000