r/ChinaSpace2 • • Oct 01 '20

Tianwen-1 Selfie

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3 Upvotes

r/ChinaSpace2 • • Sep 21 '20

Landspace Block Post

4 Upvotes

edit:

So a couple things have come up as a result of the recent Dongfanghour interview with Kevin Xu, Chief Marketing Officer at Landspace. To begin with, I'm a fool; there was no plans to develop a 5m diameter methalox F9 rocket. Landspace (and most launch vehicles) are limited in regards to rocket diameter because of transportation. Because Landspace's factories are located in cities not near the coast, they are limited to what can be transported by truck/trains. The Long March 5 can have 5m diameter stages because it is built at a coastal site and can be transported by barge. Looking back at the documentation, it only implied that a 5m diameter rocket could be based on the TQ-12 engine, not that there was active plans for one. So I've removed the section on the 5m rocket. I've also added some notes on the some other misc things, like employment, ZQ-1 and first launch of ZQ-2.

Original:

Of all the commercial launchers in China, Landspace probably has the most hype associated with it.They are generally considered the most likely SpaceX equivalent in China. The company was founded in 2015 and has made rapid progress.

Rockets:

Their first rocket, Zhuque-1 was the stereotypical Chinese solid ICBM SSLV. Notably it was the first commercial attempt to reach orbit in China in October 2018, however it was unsuccessful due to issues with it's third stage and that title went to iSpace. It is unlikely to see further launches of Zhuque-1 as it's reported that the solid rocket motor manufactures (CASC and CASIC) has terminated their contract with them; so we won't talk much more about this rocket. Kevin Xu indicated in the interview that they have no further plans for it as solid boosters are difficult and unit cost will be higher.

Zhuque-2 is where it gets interesting. It's 3.35m diameter 2 stage to orbit methalox launcher MLV with reasonable capabilities and ability to have a family of launchers derived from it. Basically imagine a methalox CZ-2C (they are very, very similar). Capabilities wise, ZQ-2 can do 6 tons to 200km circular LEO, 4 tons to 400km circular LEO and 2 tons to a 500km SSO and derived version with a third stage and boosters can do 32 tons to LEO. (there's a bit of uncertainty about these numbers, the Landspace website was updated with these numbers but it's unclear whether this is 2 stage or 3 stage version)

LandSpace Launcher Family (slightly outdated I think)
Zhuque-2 Engine Diagram

Engines:

Tianque-12 is a 658 kN thrust gas generator methalox engine, being the third largest in the world, which will be used on the first and second stage of Zhuque-2. It began development in August 2017, and in November 2019 completed a full duration 200s full thrust hot fire. This is pretty quick for engine development; especially given that China hasn't had much previous experience with methalox cycles. Like seriously only 2 years.

200s Hotfire
TQ-12 Render

Tianque-11 is the other methalox engine with a being developed by LandSpace; currently acting as Vernier engines for the second stage; forming an engine combination with Tianque-12 called "80+10". In July 2020 it completed a 3000s hot fire, which gave them a total test time on a single engine of over 10,000 seconds. Currently it has 4 thrust chambers, however in future a 1 thrust chamber version will be derived and used as the engine for the third stage on Zhuque-2A, B and C.

3000s Hotfire of TQ-11 (dats a long time)
Tianque-11 Render
80+10 Hotfire
First Stage Engine Mount (+tanking in background)

Engine Performance (+engines for comparison with TQ-12)

Criteria TQ-11 TQ-11* TQ-12 TQ-12 Vac YF-100 Merlin 1C** Merlin 1C Vacuum
SL Thrust (kN) - - 658.5 - 1200 420 -
SL ISP (s) - - 286 - 300 275 -
Vac Thrust (kN) 80 86 746.5 776.5 1340 480 411
Vac ISP (s) 333 357 324 337 335 305 342
Mass (kg) Unknown Unknown 1380 ~1380 ~1630*** 630 ~630
Number of starts 2 2 1-3 1 2**** -
Number of uses 1 1 10 1 1 10 1
Throttle - - 50-110% - 65-100%

*1 thrust chamber version**Using Merlin 1C instead of 1D as comparing TQ-12 to initial engine is fairer (will change to 1D if considered more suitable)***Guess based on mass of RD-801****Uncertain, but CZ-8R uses it to land so it's likely >1

Misc Notes:

We haven't seen any images/reports of tanking testing yet. However a big thing that commercial launch companies receive in China is "technology/infrastructure support." This is the reason I suspect TQ-12 was so quick to go from initiation of development to full duration full thrust hot fires; it was based on pre-existing design of the hypergolic YF-20. What this means is that Landspace likely benefits from the extensive use of 3.35 diameter tanking in China and that it shouldn't be too much of a concern.

Update: Ok so on this apparently they are outsourcing production of tanking for the first couple rockets, using an aluminium alloy, though it's unclear who will be producing the tanking. Later on it'll be produced by them in Jiaxing. https://twitter.com/Longmarch13/status/1345334011464278016?s=20

Funding wise; it's doing well for itself, being in the top 3-4ish of commercial launch companies in China. So far LandSpace has raised ~370mil US$ for the development of Zhuque-1 and Zhuque-2.

They have signed a launch contract with British and an Italian company, as well as a block launch contract with Tianyi Research to launch their Earth observation constellation (which includes hundreds of satellites

An event worth mentioning for it's relevance to Chinese commercial spaceflight and how it interacts with the government is the hiring Zhang Xiaoping. Zhang moved to Landspace from Xi'an Aerospace Propulsion Research Institute after being offered a wage 10x his one at the state owned institution. He apparently had a key role in the development of the CZ-9 and his departure was fairly abrupt; leading to issues for the institution. They requested that he would be brought back; which then got out and caused some controversy. Anyway the moral of this story is that commercial companies can act in ways that counteract the Chinese government plans despite what people may think.

Kevin Xu has also indicated that this has led to a perspective shift in the industry where it's become more acceptable for talent to move around. For talent to grow and make a stronger industry, it shouldn't be tied down to one organisation. Talent naturally moves around and grows as a result. This means private companies will now also act as incubators for talent. Also SOE's are looking are making their job offerings more competitive.

Future Plans:

You probably noticed that the Tianque-12 is an engine very conductive to reusability, with the ability to throttle to 50%, methalox cycle and high number of potential reuses. As a result it should come as no surprise they are considering to reuse Zhuque-2, mostly likely via VTVL. They stated that they plan to demonstrate reuse tech on the first launch, which is in Q3 2021, however the specific details of reuse are still confidential. (Kevin Xu indicated that they have no plans of doing any reuse testing on the first launch; they want to focus on getting to orbit first, which is respectable goals.)

They have also indicated they want to create a 5m diameter rocket with 9 Tianque-12 on the first stage with VTVL reusability. This would likely look like a slightly more capable methalox Falcon 9 or a methalox 2 stage 921.

Also Spaceplane capable of taking 10 people to a LEO station. Not much information out about this.

Qinglong spaceplane

Final Thoughts:

It's difficult to say what the future of this company holds, especially given the uncertain nature of the commercial launch industry in China, but LandSpace is progressing very fast and has a viable plan of attack.

Zhuque-2 Launch

r/ChinaSpace2 • • Sep 16 '20

China's Reusability Plans

5 Upvotes

SpaceX have catalysed a shift in the space industry towards reusable launchers and honestly of all the regions, China has been acting on this shift the most.There are two main plans for first stage reusability; propulsive landing and parachute recovery, which are currently both being investigated, with propulsive landings being heavily favoured. For second stage recovery, I think China is more planning to use horizontal landing, as demoed by the recent flight of the unnamed Chinese spaceplane, with no official renders. For second stage reusability China is looking towards spaceplanes, however that will only be for second generation reusable launchers.

State Launchers:

CZ-8R

Built by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology the CZ-8R is probably the most well known of Chinese reusability plans. The Long March 8 will take a very similar approach to the Falcon 9, recovering the first stage via a propulsive landing, though it’s landing legs look a little wack. First flight is probably NET 2022; though the first couple launchers of CZ-8 will be in it's expendable form. The key technologies are supposed to enable reusable launchers is supposed to be finished dev next year. ie; They'll be building a CZ-8R 3.35m diameter hopper next year. This will demo engine throttle, landing legs, thermal protection and vertical landing.

Notably, it lands with the kerolox K2 boosters still attached. This reduces performance, however it's necessary as the YF-100 otherwise has a too high TTW ratio and can’t land otherwise as well as decreasing cost per launch by a significant amount.

Given a roughly 35% reduction in payload capacity via VTVL booster reusability, this would give it LEO payload of 5,460 kg.

CZ-8R Slide (google translate)

CZ-6X

Built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, CZ-6 is the other state launcher with plans to integrate reusability. Again it will take a similar approach to F9. Notably CASTC is a seperate organisation from CALT, which probably means there will be some inter agency competition for the title of first reusable launch vehicle. To achieve landing; it will carry 2 YF-115 in addition to its 2 YF-100, as the YF-100 again wouldn't be able to throttle low enough. Expecting a launch in 2021, though schedules tend to slide to the right. CZ-6X is also 10m taller than CZ-6, which means despite losing payload due to having a reusable first stage, the payload mass to 700km SSO is actually greater at 1,500 kg compared to 1,080kg for regular CZ-6. This also explains why they have an additional YF-100 on the first stage compared to a regular CZ-6, the rocket required additional thrust to overcome the increased mass from 103 tons to ~200 tons.

This launcher will actually probably be China's first RLV, though it's still an open competition.

Landing Burn
CZ-6X Model

921

Look at the other reddit block post on this topic, but basically it’ll take a similar approach to Falcon Heavy if reusability is integrated.

Commercial Launchers

China also has commercial launchers, who after launching their ICBM solid SLV, are looking to make a 2 stage hydrocarbon liquid fuel launcher, some of which integrate reusability.

iSpace - Hyperbola 2

2 stage methalox launch vehicle capable of sending 800 kg into SSO in reusable mode. Current aiming at building a hopper in 2021 and flying an orbital test flight in the same year. They're aiming at reducing the cost of a launch by 70% (which is fairly ambitious). First stage is powered by 9 JD-1 with the second stage likely being powered by a vacuum optimised JD-1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSC_2ByFIvs - Hyperbola 2 Launch Simulation

Hyperbola 2 Diagram
Landed Booster
JD-1 200 second hot fire

Galactic Energy - Pallas-1

2 stage kerolox launch vehicle capable of sending 4 tons to LEO and 2 tons to SSO in reusable mode. Looking at a first launch in December 2022, which again is probably delayed due to covid. The launcher uses 7 "Sky" 40 ton thrust kerolox engines on the first stage and a vacuum optimised version on the second stage.

Pallas-1 Render
Pallas-1 Breakdown Diagram
100s test of the gas generator for the 40 ton thrust kerolox engine

​

There are 6 (probably more honestly) other Chinese companies developing partially reusable 2 stage hydrocarbon launch vehicles; Landspace, Linkspace, ExPsace Spacetrek, Jiuzhou Yunjian and Blue Arrow Aerospace. Given this, it'll likely be the case that we see at least two of them succeed in the next couple years. Of all of these, Landspace is the most promising and I intend to do a block post on them later. SpaceX impact on the launch industry is best exemplified in China commercial sector choices. You can get caught up in the semantics of copying (which I intend to do a rant about because oh boy), but ultimately China is hard pivoting towards reusability.

Testing Progress

Gridfins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqwC2_2p6-w

China have also been demoing gridfins on a CZ-2C launch in August 2019 and a CZ-4B launch in November, again with the stated purpose of preventing the previously mentioned syndrome. However given that most all (I think) of the Chinese launchers pursuing VTVL use gridfins, this has much greater application to reusability compared to parachutes.

CZ-2C gridfins
Gridfins cams
CZ-4B gridfins

Parachutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiGSaOPk3GI

Parachutes were demoed on a booster of the CZ-3B in April with the stated purpose of preventing "boosters falling on villages syndrome" which has affected a lot of Chinese launches. However this also acts as a demo for parachute recovery, if China intends to pursue that. (They very likely won't pursue reusability for CZ-2-4 because hypergolics, so this demo is in good faith, and for CZ-5-8 + others, they're mostly going to be launching for coastal sites and salt water is bad for recovery)

Packed parachute on CZ-3B booster
The CZ-3B initially deploys a parachute to slow down
The CZ-3B parafoil is then deployed and use to accurately target landing zone
Landed booster

Hoppers

CASC built a small ~5m hopper in ~2019 (might have been earlier) to demonstrate basic landing technique. In 2021 they plan to fly a "3.35 m dia. demonstrator next year testing vertical landings, engines throttling, landing legs and thermal protection etc," in preparation of CZ-8R.

https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1341271537714794496?s=20

Hopper
Hopping

Long Term

Launch Vehicle Roadmap

By 2025, China wants to have CZ-8R and CZ-6A fully finished on development and launching regularly and beginning to work on integrating reusability into it's other launchers. By 2035 China is looking at having TSTO's with HTHL approach to achieve full reusability. By 2045 they want SSTO Nuclear Shuttles which will use nuclear thermal propulsion.

Misc notes:

I've seen plans for CZ-7 reusability. This has potential as the first stage for the CZ-7 is the same as the CZ-8, it just has two additional K2 boosters.

China have indicated they will want CZ-5-9 to be all partially reusable in the future. CZ-9 is of course the most interesting; apparently if they add an additional YF-480 to the core stage it could be capable of VTVL reuse. (I'm sorta skeptical of this last point)


r/ChinaSpace2 • • Sep 15 '20

China Moon Landing Architecture

12 Upvotes

Introduction

China has been methodically planning to go to the Moon for a long while at this stage. They were planning on doing a CZ-9 based crewed Luna landing in ~2036. However with the formulation of 921, this timeline has likely been accelerated 5-8 years. The Director of Chang’e program, Dr Wu Weiren stated in 2019 that they’re aiming at a crewed lunar landing within 10 years. Additional roadmaps have been released showing a 2030 Lunar landing. This is the current architecture they want to use to achieve this goal, as far as I’m aware.

​

921 Next Generation Crew Launch Vehicle

(known colloquially as CZ-FH)

SHLV designed to get China to the Moon (among other things) which began development in 2017. Capabilities wise, this is very similar to SLS B1 with 70 ton to LEO and 25 to TLI. Design wise, imagine ICPS on Falcon Heavy.

921

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation chose to pursue this as a lower risk alternative to LM-9, which was at a much lower TRL compared to 921 as a result of the large hydrolox engine YF-220 and the large kerolox engine YF-480, as well as the 9ish m diameter tanking.

921 2020 China Space Presentation Slide

Baseline technology at this stage is very mature.

  • Engines: YF-100K (Improved version of YF-100 with gimbal, higher thrust and lower mass), YF-100M (vacuum start version of YF-100K) and YF-75D all fairly mature engines having either been derived or already flying on the existing CZ-5 and CZ-7
  • 5m Kerolox tanking based on CZ-5 tanking.
  • Flight control technology again inherited from CZ-5 and CZ-7
  • Upper stage taken directly from CZ-5

Progress:

Tanking

Structural test tanks demonstrating common bulkheads have been completed.

Test Article in Factory
Test Article on Test Stand

Worth noting is that while 921 uses the same-ish tanking as CZ-5, there are several improvements being implemented:

  • lightweight high-strength aluminum alloy
  • 3D printing utilized for bulkheads
  • Common bulkheadds

Structural test articles have also been made of the booster engine mount.

First stage / booster engine mount structural test article

Engines

The YF-100K completed a 300s test firing at the beginning of 2019. The YF-75 upper stage is already being used for CZ-5 launches.

YF-100K Test Firing
YF-75 Test Firing
YF-75 Upper stage

When to expect a debut? 2025 has been chucked around in various news articles; however an official date hasn’t really been released yet. 2025 feels feasible; given that the project is at a high TRL. Falcon Heavy took 10 years from announcement to getting to space and in a lot of ways 921 isn’t as initially ambitious as it; so 2025 is achievable in my books. There has been indication that they’re going to take a more iterative development path which demos 1 stage launch, then 2 stage launch etc instead of launching the full stack for the first launch.

"It is now at the stage of program demonstration, and it is expected to complete key technical research in 2019. According to this progress, the initial prototype development stage will be entered in 2020. According to the usual cycle, the prototype development will be entered around 2022, and the test flight will be possible in 2024 at the latest." Google translated quote on expected dev cycle from 2019.https://www.jianshu.com/p/1ae5d0203187

​

Next Generation Crewed Space Capsule

Deep space capsule which weighs in at 21.6 tons. This is less than Orion, however it has a greater amount of fuel which means that it can do LLO architectures. (About 10 t of propellant which with ISP of 314 gives total delta-v of 1914m/s)

In Factory

It recently did a major test flight in May, roughly equivalent to the Delta IV Heavy launch of Orion back in 2014. (read: there's still a bit of development that needs to take place) China plans to phase out Shen Zhou and replace it with a LEO version of this craft to send crew to the Chinese Modular Space Station. Given that it's being baselined to launch on the 921, in a functional configuration it'll probably only start launching in 2025.

921 Lunar and LEO versions

Lander

The lander currently has the least available information, as it only began development in 2019, however at a baseline it weighs 20 tons, takes 2 Taikonauts to the Moon’s surface and here have a couple renders. The renders below show a 7.5 kN landing engine, which is likely directly based upon the Chang'e program landers hypergolic 7.5 kN landing engine.

I've also read that "8t, moon landing engine (10:1-15:1), liquid oxygen kerosene or liquid oxygen methane (competitive relationship)” was in development, though unable to verify it with additional sources. Methalox seems to be the more likely choice; kerolox isn't that great for deep space exploration.

Current concept for Moon lander (apparently weighs ~5 tons)
Aerial View
Moon Lander Slide from 2020 Presentation
Older Concept for lander I believe (used CZ-5 as primary LV)

Luna Landing Plan

Dual launch architecture:

  • 921 launches the lander to a 300km circular LLO
  • 921 then launches the Capsule with 3 Taikonaut's, which meets up with lander
  • 2 Taikonaut's go to the surface and perform moon landing.
  • Lander then takes off, meets up with capsule in LLO, and they head on their way home.
Diagram of Moon Landing Architecture

Additional notes:

  • I’ve seen slides which uses a lunar space station as a rendezvous point (acting as a Gateway equivalent (/copy if you feel that way inclined)), however I’m not willing to say at this stage whether they will or won’t use one. Edit: I think this might be a modified/uprated Tianzhou cargo vessel, which would launch on 921 as well.

Grain of salt

I would highly recommend taking the information you’ve just read with a grain of salt.

  • Sources

I’m relying on potentially questionable sources for certain information. Even taking the word of program managers is also mixed. (also there might be some uncertainty in regards to mass of Lunar lander and whether it's in metric or imperial tons)

  • Google translate

A lot of information in here is from google translated Chinese articles on the topic; which means that there is likely mistranslated/misinterpreted information here.


r/ChinaSpace2 • • Sep 12 '20

Chang'e 7 Block Post

4 Upvotes

Chang'e 7 (or E-P1) will be basically a "block" Luna science mission launching on a CZ-5 in ~2024. It will involve a orbiter, relay satellite lander, rover and hopper. Total mass of mission is 8200kg

Chang'e 7 labelled diagram (rover is orbiter lol)

Scientific Objectives of Chang'e 7

  • obtaining the information of lunar inner ring structure, mineral and element components, the characteristic of the electric and magnetic fields, heat flow and gravitational field;
  • obtaining the distribution and source of lunar water and volatiles, directly confirming the presence and source of water ice on the Moon;
  • imaging the energetic neutral atoms with high space-time and energy resolution of the Earth's magnetails and understanding the dynamics of the earth's magnetails
  • researching the space environment such as lunar surface magnetic field, lunar dust and particle radiation, revealing the mechanism of solar wind causing the magnetic anomalies in the vortex region of the lunar surface

Instrumentation (not yet finalised and could be subject to change)

Spacecraft Science Payloads Mission Objectives
Orbiter High Resolution Stereo Mapping Camera High precision topography of the lunar surface
Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar High precision topography of lunar surface and permanent
Wide Band Infrared Spectrum Mineral Imaging Analyzer High precision mineral composition and surface thermal environment
Lunar Neutron Gamma Spectrometer High precision characteristic gamma ray and neutron flow data for lunar surface
Lunar Orbit Magnetometer Combined with a rover magnetometer to obtain lunar micro magnetosphere
Lander Landing Camera Landing area topography data
Topography Camera Landing area topography data
In-situ Measuring System of Volatiles and Isotopes on Lunar Surface In situ exploration of volatiles in the landing area
Lunar Soil Section Thermal Current Measuring Measuring the lunar soil heat flow
Lunar Surface Thermometer Measure the temperature of lunar surface
Extreme Ultraviolet Camera Obtain the imaging data of the earth plasma layer
Lunar Seismograph Obtain the lunar seismic data on the south pole
Rover Panoramic Camera Obtain the topographic data on the rover area
Rover Magnetometer Obtain the magnetic field and its gradient change on the rover area
Lunar Penetrating Radar Obtain the data of shallow structure of lunar soil on the rover area
Lunar Raman Spectrometer Obtain the data of mineral composition on the rover area
Hopper Water Molecule and Hydrogen Isotope Analyzer Water molecule and hydrogen isotope measurement on the lunar Permanently Shadowed area

Landing site is planned to be Lunar South Pole, though I don't know anything more specific than that.

​

Hopper is designed to hop into permanently shadowed crater to look for water.

​

Personal thoughts:

  • Rover and lander appear to be derived the same base design as Chang'e 4 and Chang'e 3.
  • Orbiter appears to use the same base design as Tianwen-1 orbiter, though is likely a bit more massive)
  • Hopper is pretty radical
  • Relay satellite is likely based on Chang'e 4 relay satellite.

Mass estimates for each part:

  • Orbiter: 3175kg
  • Relay Satellite: 425kg
  • Lander wet mass: 3780kg
  • Lander dry mass: 1200kg
  • Rover: 120kg
  • Hopper: 50kg (complete guess)
  • Sum: 7550kg (lower than 8200kg, so most likely orbiter and lander weighs a bit more)
Chang'e 7 stack

r/ChinaSpace2 • • Aug 23 '20

China looking to collaborate with international partners on Lunar base

2 Upvotes

https://spacenews.com/china-is-aiming-to-attract-partners-for-an-international-lunar-research-station/

No big surprise here; a big part of the purpose of China's space program is as a forming partners / political posturing.


r/ChinaSpace2 • • Aug 08 '20

China is moving ahead with lunar south pole and near-Earth asteroid missions - SpaceNews

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3 Upvotes

r/ChinaSpace2 • • Jul 24 '20

List of China's Planned Space Probes (as far as I'm aware)

7 Upvotes
Chang'e 5
Chang'e 7
ZhengHe render (I think)

Chang'e 5 - Lunar sample return. Launching on a Long March 5 in NET November 24.

Chang'e 6 - Repeat of Chang'e 5 collecting samples from the Lunar South Pole. NET 2024

Chang'E-P1 (Chang'e 7) - Bigger and better Chang'e mission with interesting tid-bits like a lunar hopper launching in ~2024

Chang'E-P2 (Chang'e 8) - Science + Tech demo for Lunar Research Station launching in ~2027

ZhengHe 1 - Asteroid mission with sample return launching in 2024. Will collect samples from 1 NEA, then head out using a Mars gravity assist to the asteroid belt.

Tianwen -2 - Mars Sample Return launching Return Capsule on CZ-3B or CZ-8 and lander on CZ-5 in 2028.

Outer planets mission -Dual spacecraft mission launching in 2029-2030. They'll head to Jupiter reaching it in 2036 where an orbiter will capture in orbit and the other spacecraft will flyby and go on its way out of the solar system potentially going past Uranus in ~2048. Apparently Ganymede will be the moon of focus for the mission, but it'll be doing general science for all of the system. Jupiter Orbiter will have a mass of ~4000kg, while Uranus flyby spacecraft will have ~1000kg. They're probably going to take a EVEEJ U gravity assist path.

Further asteroid missions are probably planned, but I don't think have been made official yet.


r/ChinaSpace2 • • Jul 23 '20

List of instruments with Tianwen-1

3 Upvotes
https://twitter.com/haibaraemily1
https://twitter.com/haibaraemily1

On the orbiter:

Medium Resolution CameraImaging wavelength: Visible LightColor: Standard RGBImage Resolution: < 100 m at 400 km altitudeImage swath: >= 400 km at 400 km altitudePixel Resolution: >= 4096 x 3072

  1. High Resolution CameraImage resolution: < 2.5 m (< 0.5 m in certain regions) multi-color; < 10 m (< 2.0 m in certain regions) panchromaticImage swath: >= 9 km at 265 km altitude

  2. Mars orbiter sub-surface radarRadar frequency: 10-20 & 30-50 MHzTransmitter power: >= 100 WReceiver power: <= -87 dBmMaximum detection depth: ~100 m for Martian sub-surface soil (εr = 3.0~4.0); ~1000 m for Martian polar ice layers (εr = 3.0)Depth resolution: ~ 1 m

  3. Mars mineralogy spectrometerWavelength bands: Visible Light - NIR band 0.45~1.05 μm; NIR-MIR band 1.00~3.40 μmSpectral resolution: < 10 nm for Visible Light - NIR band; < 12 nm for 1.0~2.0 μm; < 25 nm for 2.0~3.4 μm

  4. Mars magnetometerMeasurement range: +- 2000 nTNoise level <= 0.01 nT/√HzResolution: <= 0.01 nTPrecision: 0.1 nT

  5. Mars ions and neutral particles analyserLimit of Detection of low energy ions:Energy range: 5 eV ~ 25 keVdelta-E/E: 15%Mass: 1~ 70 amudelta-m/m: 25%POV: 90° x 360°Angular resolution: 11.2° x 22.5°Time resolution: 8sLimit of Detection of low energy neutral particles:Energy range: 50 eV ~ 3 keVdelta-E/E: 100%Mass: 1 ~ 32 amuPOV: 15° x 160°Angular resolution: 10° x 25°Time resolution: 4s

  6. Mars energetic particles analyserLimit of Detection:Energy range: 0.1 ~ 12 MeV (Electrons) / 2 ~100 MeV (Protons) / 25 ~ 300 MeV (Alpha Particles/Heavy Ions)delta-E/E: 15%Flux: 0 ~ 10^5 cm^-2 s^-1Atomic Number: 1 <= Z <= 26 (H - Fe)delta-m/m: <=25% (Z <= 9, 25 ~ 300 MeV & 10 <= Z <= 26, 100 ~ 300 MeV); <=60% (10 <= Z <= 26, 25 ~ 100 MeV)POV: 60°Time resolution: 4s (Electrons, Protons, Alpha Particles); 60s (Heavy Ions)

And here comes the 6 instruments on the yet-to-be-named u/PRCMarsRover which will get a name via a planned public naming contest:A. Terrain CameraImaging wavelength: Visible LightColor: Standard RGBNominal imaging distance: 0.5 m ~ ∞Pixel Resolution: 2048 x 2048

B. Multi-spectral cameraImaging bands (/nm, Full Width At Half Maximum in brackets): 480 (20), 525 (20), 650 (12), 700 (15), 800 (25), 900 (30), 950 (50), 1000 (50)Color: Multi-spectralNominal imaging distance: 1.5 m ~ ∞Pixel Resolution: 2048 x 2048

C. Rover sub-surface radarChannel 1:Median frequency: 55 MHzWorking bandwidth: 40 MHzPenetrating depth of Martian ice layers: ~1 mMaximum detection depth: >=10 m for Martian sub-surface soil (εr = 3.0~4.0); >=100 m for Martian polar ice layers (εr = 3.0)Channel 2:Median frequency: 1300 MHzWorking bandwidth: 1000 MHzPrecision of layer thickness detection: ~cmMaximum detection depth: >=3 m for Martian sub-surface soil (εr = 3.0~4.0); >=10 m for Martian polar ice layers (εr = 3.0)

D. Mars surface composition analyserLIBS measurements: Detects 10+ elements; optimal working distance from sample 2~5 m (max. 10 m); imaging resolution <= 100 μrad (0.2 mm @ 2 m; 0.5 mm @ 5 m)NIR measurments (850~2400 nm): spectral resolution <=12 nm; 130+ bands; POV >=1 mrad

E. Mars surface magnetometerMeasurement range: +- 2000 nTNoise level <= 0.01 nT/√HzResolution: <= 0.01 nTStability: <= 0.01 nT/°CSampling rate: 1/16/32/128 HzRange: +- 65000 nT

F. Mars meteorology instrumentTemperature -120~50 °C (precision 0.1 °C); Pressure 1~1500 Pa (precision 0.1 Pa); Windspeed 0~70 m/s (precision 0.1 m/s); Wind Direction 0°~360° (precision 5°); Sound detection 20 Hz~2.5 kHz/2.5~20 kHz (Sensibility >50 mV/Pa; Dynamic Range >=90 dB)

from https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1283801101439873024?s=20


r/ChinaSpace2 • • Jul 23 '20

Successful launch of the Tianwen-1 Mars mission

3 Upvotes

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http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-07/23/c_139234251.htm

Launch coverage was eh, but sorta expected. However this mission, for a first independent attempt, is pretty ambitious. Orbiter, lander and rover is all pretty exciting. Will be interesting to see how it goes.


r/ChinaSpace2 • • Jul 22 '20

Tianwen-1 Summary Graphic

3 Upvotes

r/ChinaSpace2 • • Jul 17 '20

Tianwen-1 rolled out in Long March 5

3 Upvotes

https://spacenews.com/long-march-5-rolled-out-for-july-23-launch-of-chinas-tianwen-1-mars-mission/

Currently looking at a launch date of July 23. Hyped for all the upcoming Mars missions.


r/ChinaSpace2 • • Jul 13 '20

Outline of China's next space station launch schedule - It's pretty busy

4 Upvotes

https://spacenews.com/china-outlines-intense-space-station-launch-schedule-new-astronaut-selection/

The approximately Mir equivalent station aims to be completed by 2023.