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

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Just now 55th launch of 2021 done! That will conclude CNSA launch assignments for this year.

Payload is TJSW-9 going upto GTO (geosynchronous transfer orbit). TJSW is a SIGNIT (& early warning) constellation run by PLASSF, this launch is a good addition to sat number 1~7 already operational. Don't know why they skip TJSW-8 but that's not unusual practice to jump order, perhaps do it next launch.

 
Earth, Moon and Solar Panel of Tiangong Space Station (CSS).
Photo taken by taikonaut Liu Boming.

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【开门红!长二丁取得今年我国宇航发射首胜】1月17日10时35分,在我国太原卫星发射中心,长征二号丁运载火箭点火起飞,随后将试验十三号卫星送入预定轨道,发射任务取得圆满成功。新的一年,我国宇航发射任务首战告捷。试验十三号卫星主要用于开展空间环境探测及相关技术试验。针对卫星的接口特殊需求,长二丁火箭首次采用直径2米的星箭分离装置。​
今年,航天科技集团计划安排40余次宇航发射任务。其中,长二丁火箭计划发射超过15次,有望创造该型火箭年度发射次数最高的纪录。本次任务是长征系列运载火箭第406次发射。(航天科技集团)​
China Aerospace
22-1-17 10:57

【Good start! Long March 2D won the first victory in my country's space launch this year]

At 10:35 on January 17, at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in my country, the Long March 2D carrier rocket ignited and took off, and then sent the Shiyan-13 satellite into the predetermined orbit. The launch mission was a complete success. In the new year, the first battle of my country's space launch mission was successful. The Shiyan-13 satellite is mainly used to carry out space environment detection and related technological experiments. In response to the special requirements of the satellite interface, a 2-meter-diameter satellite-rocket separation device was used for the first time.

This year, the Aerospace Science and Technology Group plans to arrange more than 40 space launch missions. Among them, the Long March 2D rocket is scheduled to launch more than 15 times, which is expected to set the record for the highest number of annual launches of this type of rocket. This mission is the 406th launch of the Long March series of launch vehicles. (China Aerospace Science and Technology Group)

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China’s Landspace appears to be preparing to launch its new methane-fueled rocket
by Andrew Jones — January 18, 2022

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Artist's impression of a Landspace Zhuque rocket launch. Credit: Landspace


HELSINKI — Chinese private company Landspace is working towards a first launch of its new methane-fueled Zhuque-2 rocket with the construction of launch facilities at Jiuquan.

Satellite imagery and deleted social media postings indicate that work is progressing on a new complex for facilitating methane-liquid oxygen launch vehicles at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

Timelapse and high resolution satellite imagery show the development near the national Jiuquan center in the Gobi Desert and suggest the presence of a Zhuque-2 test article. A recent, now-deleted article indicates a new flame trench has been completed at Jiuquan.

More concretely, Landspace CEO Zhang Changwu said in an interview last November that Zhuque-2 could lift off in the first quarter of 2022.

Jiuquan currently only handles launches of older, hypergolic Long March rockets and solid rockets, necessitating a new comlex.

Limited details of a complex at Jiuquan to support new launchers were laid out in a paper abstract to be presented at the virtual International Astronautical Congress in 2020. The site will provide access to low Earth orbit and Sun-synchronous orbit and have an initial launch capacity of at least 12 times per year.

The inaugural Zhuque-2 mission could be the first orbital launch attempt of a rocket using a methane-liquid oxygen propellant mix. SpaceX’s Starship could also launch in the coming months. The Federal Aviation Administration is currently working on an environmental review of Starship orbital launches.

Zhuque-2 will be powered by gas generator engines and is to be capable of delivering a 6,000-kilogram payload capacity to a 200-kilometer LEO. Alternatively ZQ-2 can carry 4,000 kilograms to 500-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit*.

The rocket has a length of 49.5 meters with a diameter of 3.35 meters, according to Landspace. A number of Long March rockets use the same diameter stages. The rocket has a mass at liftoff of 216 tons.

The first Zhuque-2 launch will be expendable, but Landspace is working on technologies including pintle injectors to develop a variable thrust version of the Tianque-12 engine to allow vertical takeoff, vertical landing and thus recover and recycle first stages.

Another Chinese launch firm, iSpace, is developing its own methalox rocket, the Hyperbola-2. The firm is planning to conduct hop tests of the first stage during 2022.

A test article of the Zhuque-2 was also spotted at a new spaceport for maritime launches in Eastern China in Chinese state television coverage in May 2021.

Landspace is one of China’s best-funded launch startups, yet its sole previous launch was the light-lift Zhuque-1 solid rocket in October 2018. That launch ended in failure, with a third stage issue resulting in falling just short of reaching orbital velocity.

The company stated ahead of the Zhuque-1 launch that its main focus was the Zhuque-2, targeting a first launch in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic would have been a factor in delays. The company has however been active in building infrastructure in the meantime, setting up an intelligent manufacturing base in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province and establishing a $1.5 billion medium and large-scale liquid rocket assembly and test plant at Jiaxing, also in Zhejiang.

The launch of Zhuque-2 is expected to be the first orbital attempt of a liquid propellant launch vehicle developed by a Chinese private firm and could be seen as a marker of progress in China’s nascent commercial sector.

So far Landspace, OneSpace, iSpace and Galactic Energy have all launched solid rockets, with the latter two reaching orbit at least once.

In addition to Landspace and iSpace, Galactic Energy, Space Pioneer, Deep Blue Aerospace and others are also developing liquid propellant launchers and vertical takeoff, vertical landing capabilities.

The Chinese government took the policy decision in late 2014 to open up portions of the space sector to private involvement.

Policy support and guidance — including regulations for launch and small satellites and national strategies supporting “satellite internet” — as well as investment, from a mix of venture capital and government-linked investment vehicles, has followed in recent years.

China Rocket, Expace and CAS Space, commercial spinoffs from state-owned CASC, CASIC and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) respectively, are also active in launch in China.


Link: https://spacenews.com/chinas-landsp...ring-to-launch-its-new-methane-fueled-rocket/
 
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