As China prepares to increase its launch cadence further, there are plans to expand the facilities at both Xichang and Haiyang. Meanwhile, the first launch from the new Hainan commercial spaceport is expected very soon. Preparations are underway to launch the next crew to the Tiangong space station and return the trio of Shenzhou-18 taikonauts to Earth. Meanwhile, a reusable satellite capsule has also returned with experimental payloads and will be refurbished before flying again.
October began with the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The National Day holiday and week-long celebrations, also known as “golden week,” are a holiday period for many who take the opportunity to travel and reunite with family. Launch and test teams at the various launch sites remained at their posts, however, to continue with pre-launch preparations. Three launches took place soon after, within five days — one from each of the country’s three main inland launch centers — bringing the total of launches from China this year to 49.
New and extended spaceports
The first launch remains imminent from the recently completed Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Center. Situated in the Hainan Province, adjacent to the Wenchang Space Launch Site, there has been further testing at its Commercial LC-2 pad in advance of the maiden flight of the medium-lift Chang Zheng 12 vehicle. Developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, the vehicle was seen rolling back out to the pad, but a launch date is still unclear.
CZ-12 transported at the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center. (Credit: Hainan International Commercial Aerospace)
The Commercial LC-1 pad will specifically support the Chang Zheng 8 and has been undergoing propellant system testing ahead of the first launch from this location, likely also the first from the new commercial site. This is anticipated to be a standard CZ-8, potentially with more Qianfan (“Thousand Sail”) satellites for the G60 constellation. The upgraded CZ-8A, developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), is expected to debut later in December from this pad. This 3.5 m diameter launcher will have two upgraded YF-75H engines on the second stage, which will significantly increase its payload capacity to Sun-synchronous orbit from 4.5 to 7.7 tonnes.
Plans for a new commercial spaceport at, or nearby to, the Xichang Satellite Launch Center were announced last week with a one billion Yuan capital investment in the project. Xichang is nestled in the hillsides of the southern Sichuan mountain region and supports launches of the older and established Chang Zheng 2, 3, and 4 vehicles, which use storable but highly toxic hypergolic propellants. Active since 1984, the site consists of two launch complexes, LC-2 and LC-3 — plans for LC-1 were scrapped, and the site is now a viewing area. Adding facilities for the new generation of liquid-fuelled launchers will be more challenging than the expansion at Wenchang due to the topography of the area. The site supported a launch of the “quick reaction” Kuaizhou 1A last month using a mobile launcher pad and previously supported three flights of the Chang Zheng 11 using the same approach.
A Chang Zheng 3B sits on pad LC2 at Xichang Space Launch Center in September 2024. (Credit: CCTV)
The Haiyang Oriental Space Port, situated in the coastal city of Yantai within the Shangdong province, has announced plans to increase the cadence of its near-shore launches through additional infrastructure. The region is already home to satellite and rocket manufacturing. Launches from the coastal waters in the port date back to the launch of a CZ-11 in June 2019 — China’s first successful maritime space launch. More recent launches have included Chinarocket’s Jielong-3, Galactic Energy’s Gushenxing-1S (also known as the Ceres-1S), and Orienspace’s Gravity-1, which also took its maiden flight this year from these waters. The port intends to use a dedicated launch ship and two offshore platforms to reach 100 sea launches per year by 2027. At the 2024 Oriental Spaceport Industry Development Conference, the spaceport announced plans to develop the capability for two launches a week near the coast and one launch every two weeks further out to sea.
A Chang Zheng 3B has taken its 99th flight this month and now approaches a significant milestone for this model of the vehicle. This carrier made its debut 28 years ago and is due to support the high-profile Tianwen 2 mission next May. This will visit near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamo’oalewa and become the first Chinese mission to return asteroid samples to Earth in late 2027. The CZ-3B has launched six times so far this year, including three WHG high-orbit satellite missions, and so this 100 launch milestone will more likely be achieved before the end of the year.
Galactic Energy Gushenxing-1 launches from a sea platform at Haiyang Spaceport in August 2024. (Credit: Galactic Energy)
The state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is China’s main contractor for its space program. It took the opportunity of National Day to acknowledge some recent achievements and update on some longer-term projects. The organization noted progress on both the forthcoming Chang’e 7 and 8 robotic exploration missions to the lunar south pole, named after the Chinese goddess and targeting 2026 and 2028, respectively. CASC also continues to work on the Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission, which will follow next year’s Tianwen-2 mission to deep space.
CASC’s first reusable launcher, developed by SAST, is due to make its debut next year and is still expected to take a 75 km test flight in the coming month or two. Progress is also reported on the development of its crewed Chang Zheng 10 vehicle, for which propulsion testing was completed back in June. CASC noted that this series has now fully entered the fast lane of large-scale ground test development. This will be the vehicle that is expected to land taikonauts on the moon by the end of the decade.
Taikonauts Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping with the new EVA lunar suit. (Credit: CMSA)
New Lunar Suits unveiled
New lunar spacesuit designs were revealed at China’s third Spacesuit Technology Forum in Chongqing at the end of September. The new extra-vehicular (EVA) suits build on two generations of Feitian space suits, which have been worn since the Shenzhou-7 mission in 2008. The Feitian name translates to “flying sky,” after legendary flying gods, and the CMSA has invited the public to submit ideas to name the new suit in a national competition.
The increased flexibility of movement in the new lightweight suit was demonstrated on stage as well as in a promotional video. Wearers were seen to walk, wave, crouch, lean, kneel, and climb a ladder. The design includes a red ribbon, which represents a sense of free flow.
New lunar suit demonstrated in various positions. (Credit: CMSA)
The helmet sports a panoramic anti-glare visor, which allows a wider field of view, and two cameras, with long and short focal lengths, which will provide first-person views to the support team on the ground. The suits also include a multi-function control console on the front, new flexible gloves, and improved joints.
Taikonaut Wang Yaping, seen in the video alongside Zhai Zhigang, remains a candidate to be the first woman to step on the surface of the moon. NASA announced 18 astronauts selected for its Artemis missions in 2020, including nine women, of which Christina Koch will travel further from the Earth than any other woman during the Artemis II mission. The crew for Artemis III, which is also planned to land crew on the lunar surface before the end of the decade, has not yet been announced. Wang Yaping became China’s first female spacewalker on the Shenzhou-13 mission three years ago when she installed hardware onto the exterior of the Tianhe core. She has already spent 197 days in space during her two Shenzhou missions — a record for the longest time by a female taikonaut.
Shenzhou-18 crew on the Tiangong space station. (Credit: CCTV)
Shenzhou 19
Three taikonauts are due to return to Earth at the end of October, completing the six-month Shenzhou-18 rotation on board the Tiangong space station. Commander Ye Guangfu is expected to be the first taikonaut to have spent over one year in space on this, his second time in orbit. The Commander previously set another record in May together with crew mate Li Guangsu. The pair left the space station for China’s longest spacewalk to date, lasting 8.5 hours when they installed a new space debris protection device.
The Shenzhou-19 crew is currently anticipated to launch on the 29th or 30th of the month atop a Chang Zheng 2F/G from Jiuquan. It will dock to the Tianhe core module of the station, and the crews will perform a handover ceremony before the Shenzhou-18 team departs the station. The new crew were selected in February, but their names are typically not announced until a day or so before launch.
It will be 25 years next month since China first launched its uncrewed Shenzhou-1 spacecraft, which was also the first launch of the Chang Zheng 2F vehicle. China became the third country to launch crew into orbit in 2003 on the Shenzhou-5 mission, returning 21 hours after launch, and now sends regular missions to its orbiting outpost every six months.
The Shijian-19 capsule is recovered at the Ejin Banner site in Inner Mongolia. (Credit: CGTN)
Reusable satellite launch and recovery
A Chang Zheng 2D carrier lifted the Shijian 19 payload to low-Earth orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Sept. 25. Unlike previous satellites in this series, this was China’s first reusable as well as recoverable satellite, consisting of a returnable capsule, which was successfully recovered on Oct. 11 at the Dongfeng landing location.
Massing 3,550 kg, the reusable satellite would typically spend between 10 and 20 days in space and is estimated to be reusable between 10 and 15 times. It can carry up to 500 kg of payload, and its samples can be delivered within five hours of landing. The turnaround time before the reflight of the satellite is said to be three months. The design can be flown in a battery-powered short-term configuration or a longer-term configuration assisted by solar arrays.
There were various payloads aboard this mission from five different countries, including Thailand and Pakistan. The Shijian name translates to “practice,” and experiments onboard included the breeding of micro-organisms in microgravity. Scientific experiments aboard previous recoverable Shijian satellites have included genetic engineering, the exposure of plant seeds to microgravity, and materials engineering tests.
Render of a Qianfan (Thousand Sails) satellite. (Credit: CCTV)
A second batch of 18 Qianfan satellites was sent to orbit this week. However the first batch that was launched from Taiyuan on Aug. 6 has prompted some astronomers to raise concerns. A group has reported the observed magnitude to be brighter than the recommended limit of magnitude seven. The scale used for apparent magnitude is reverse logarithmic, so the lower the number, the brighter the object. The limit that the naked eye can see, unaided by telescopes, is the sixth magnitude, and this initial batch was reported to have an observed magnitude that ranged from eight to four, which is notably brighter.
Early Starlink satellites met similar observations and concerns from the astronomical community, prompting a number of mitigation techniques to be tested and implemented. These include the application of a dielectric mirror film coating to reduce the satellites’ brightness and adjusting their orientation to avoid reflections that would be seen on the ground. The newer Starlink v2 Mini satellites operate at the seventh magnitude, while the Direct-to-Cell variations are understood to be brighter currently. Time will tell if the operator, Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology, will apply mitigation techniques to the design of subsequent batches.
Ship Cam of the launch via https://t.co/udOXU34ldB pic.twitter.com/MCTKTdQ0K1
— Ace of Razgriz (@raz_liu) September 24, 2024
Launch Roundup
A Jielong-3 (or Smart Dragon 3) launched on Sept. 24, at 02:32 UTC from the sea launch vessel Dongfang Hangtiangang, in the coastal waters of Haiyang spaceport in the Shandong province. Aboard were multiple payloads including Ganzhou-1, a C-band radar sensing satellite, which will cover the northwest region of China from an altitude of 500 km. This is the first of an expected constellation of six satellites which will provide global availability for imaging within 10 to 12 hours. The mission also carried an optical sensing satellite carrying meter-level sensing instruments developed by the Jilin University. This was the fourth sea launch for this medium-sized, four-stage vehicle which has a 3.35 m fairing and measures almost 32 m in height.
This was the fourth flight of the Lijian-1, also known as the Kinetica-1 — a four-stage, solid fuelled carrier developed by CAS Space. The mission launched from the pad at Site 130 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Sept. 24, at 23:33 UTC. On board were five satellites including AIRSAT-01 and 02 which have Ku-band synthetic aperture radars (SARs) sporting a resolution better than 1 m. They will mainly be used for all-day and all-weather high-resolution microwave remote sensing of the ground but will also verify new SAR technologies. The flat-panel system aboard uses the unfolded cylindrical parabolic SAR antenna for the first time on any satellite, with onboard imaging processing capabilities. CAS Space is, meanwhile, progressing with its Kinetica-2 carrier, and announced the completion of the first 12 m long liquid oxygen tank last month – one of six that will be used on the vehicle’s first stage.
A Chang Zheng 2D launches Shijian 19. (Credit: Shanghai Aerospace)
As noted above, a Chang Zheng 2D launched China’s first reusable as well as recoverable satellite on Sept. 27 at 10:30 UTC from Site 9401 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The capsule, which can be reused up to 15 times, was recovered on October 11 from the Dongfeng landing location at Ejin Banner in the far west of Inner Mongolia.
A Chang Zheng (Long March) 3B/E launched from LC-2 at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China, on Thursday, Oct. 10, at 13:50 UTC carrying the third Weixing Hulianwang Gaogui satellite. This was the 99th flight by this version of the CZ-3 vehicle and the third internet communications satellites from this series that it has carried into a geostationary transfer orbit within seven months. Little is known about the payload, which was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology.
Chang Zheng 6A launches a second batch of Qianfan G60 satellites from pad LC-9A at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. (Credit: CCTV)
Chang Zheng 6A | G60 Polar Group 02
Launching from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China’s Shanxi Province, a Chang Zheng 6A carried a second batch of 18 Qianfan satellites for the G60 constellation into polar orbit, the first of which were launched in early August. The launch took place on Oct. 15 at 11:06 UTC. The medium-lift CZ-6A burns liquid kerosene (RP-1) and oxygen and uses four strap-on solid rocket boosters. This was its sixth mission of the year. Active since 2022, this vehicle has had seven successful launches to date but has drawn attention on recent missions following breakup events on the upper stage after deployment causing debris. This was notable on the prevous G60 launch after which LeoLabs reported tracking at least 700 trackable fragments of debris that were distributed between 320 km and 1,500 km approximately.
The second of two launches from China on Oct. 15 took place from Site 9401 (SLS-2) at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 23:45 UTC. A CZ-4C carried the Gaofen-12 high resolution remote sensing satellite to a Sun-synchronous orbit. This is one of a series of satellites using SAR imaging for the China High-definition Earth Observation System, or CHEOS. These support land, crop and urban planning as well as disaster support and mitigation. The satellite is reported to have sub-meter resolution and is suspected to be a civilian variation of the Yaogan-29. This flight was only the second of the year for the Chang Zheng 4C but its 55th overall. This vehicle has been used to lift many Yaogan, Gaogen, Fengyun and Shiyan payloads into orbit since it first became active in 2006. This was the 540th launch for the Chang Zheng vehicle family.
(Lead image: Taikonaut Wang Yaping in the new lunar EVA suit. Credit: CMSA)
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