Recently in China Category

credit Flight / caption: Are we looking at the future shape of China's unmanned cargo resupply spacecraft?

This 1:10 scale model of China's manned space engineering programme's Tiangong spacelab docked to a Shenzhou spacecraft was exhibited at the 60th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Daejeon, Korea in October

While talking to Chinese space programme officials in Daejeon Hyperbola was told about the cargo spacecraft that will be developed from the Tiangong spacelab, of which three could fly over the next ten years. China will use them to test technologies for rendezvous and docking, life support and experiment equipment destined for the space station  

See the cargo spacecraft design and in-orbit space station assembly pictures and video in the extended portion of this blog post 

Go here to see the video of Chen Shanguang, the chief commander and chief designer of China's Manned Space Engineering astronaut system speaking to China's state run English language news and current affairs channel CCTV-9. Go here for more China manned space programme CCTV videos and here for videos related to Shenzhou missions care of Google

Here is Flightglobal's recent Chinese Moon programme story with pictures of the country's latest concept for its space station planned for 2020. Find other Flightglobal stories about China's space programme here and go here for past Hyperbola blog postings about the new super power's orbital endeavours

Senior China space programme officials spoke at the 60th International Astronautical Congress' "Late breaking news" session on the morning of 15 October, giving an insight into the country's planning for long term space missions and manned flights beyond low Earth orbit

In the above video an overview of the history of the Chinese manned programme is given as well as details about future missions including a 60,000kg space station in 2020. There are also brief references made to concept studies for a manned lander, presumably lunar, exploration mission

Read this story for more details about the three-crew space station and manned Moon mission planning

Go here for more IAC 2009 videos

credit: CMSE / caption: this is a three module station

These Chinese space station concepts were presented by China Manned Space Engineering deputy general designer Wang Zhonggui at International Astronautical Congress in Daejeon, Korea on 15 October. The space station would be about 60tons and would be operational from 2020 with Shenzhou providing crew transport and cargo spacecraft that will use structural technology from China's rednezvous and docking test vehicle Tiangong that will be launched in 2011. Zhonggui also explained to Fligthgloal that a Chinese manned Moon mission was under discussion by the space programme's scientists though no timeframe for any mission had been discussed 


credit CMSE / caption:

caption:European Space Agency director general Jean-Jacques Dordain is second from right

During a short conversation with European Space Agency director general Jean-Jacques Dordain this morning here in Paris, at the 3rd European Conference for Aerospace Sciences,  Hyperbola asked him about India, South Korea and China

During the first public meeting of the Reveiw of US human spaceflight plans committee on 17 June Dordain had referred to these three countries specifically during his telecon with the meeting - listen below -  when talking about the future of the International Space Station

With an extension of the life of the ISS to 2020 and beyond becoming increasingly likely (the Review committee will address the issue this month) there is a need to start discussing who will provide what beyond 2015. This had been the notional date for the end of ISS use when it was originally agreed in the 1990s although no date appears in the inter-agency framework agreement that underpins ISS

With China's proven crew transportation capability and India's plans to have its own manned space programme by about 2015 these two countries could prove crucial to ISS logistics support. South Korea is another soon-to-be space faring nation with its Korea Space Launch Vehicle (built with the help of Russia's Khrunichev Space Center) expected to launch for the first time later this month

I can't see any political problems with Korea and India, Korea having had a close relationship with the US since the Korean war in the 1950s and the billion citizen democracy and superpower-to-be India's ties with the US have been strengthened over the last ten years. But China's involvement faces a lot of US Congressional obstacles, I can't see how that officially Communist government is going to get onboard anytime soon

But either way Dordain's view is that "the question of these countries" must be raised soon and to not raise the question of other countries involvement in ISS and these nationos in particular is in Dordain's opinion, "the very worse thing we could do"
   

U.S. Human Space Flight Committee-Washington, DC Part 2 from U.S. HSF Committee on Vimeo.

Hyperbola videos can be watched on its YouTube channel Flighthyperbola and the videos of channels Flighthyperbola subscribes too

Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space engineering programme, speaks about his coutry's plans for human spaceflight at the Space Foundation's 25th National Space Symposium (NSS) on 2 April

Zhou expands on comments he made to Flight during the interview with him on 31 March that can be seen here

Thanks to the Space Foundation and its audio visual team from www.ceavco.com for providing the video. This clip of Zhou is the first of a number of clips from various NSS sessions that will appear on Hyperbola

The chief designer of China's manned space programme, Zhou Jiaping, speaking now at the National Space Symposium's international space agency session, has just said that after Shenzhou-9 docks with the target vehicle Tiangong-1 the country will launch a spacelab module and then a cargo vehicle that will dock with that laboratory. This two-spacecraft complex will be joined by a Shenzhou spacecraft. The lab module, cargo vehicle and Shenzhou are the three spacecraft types and together they make up the space lab. Zhou called this the second stage of the manned programme

The comments by Zhou add detail to his 31 March interview with Flight

credit: CCTV / caption: Could Long March 5 be man rated?

In a 23min 44s one-on-one interview with Flight the head of China's manned space programme, Dr Zhou Jianping, talked about the future of the Shenzhou spacecraft, the country's space laboratory plans, how the docking missions will be organised, what Shenzhou-7's mission meant for those plans and what training the astronauts have had. Go through to the extended portion of this blog post to see the interview video and other videos relating to China's space programme

credit ESA / caption: what is it? click on the image to see a larger version in the same browser window

Go through to the extended portion of this blog post to read this edition of News Bites but for fun have a guess at what the above image is of and write your answers in the comments box. The letters I and G should be ignored as they were scribbled onto the image by an unknown former Flight International magazine staff member way back in 1982 - if that is any clue...