[🇨🇳] China's Space Program

[Saif]

Source : https://www.newagebd.net/post/space/236882/chinese-lunar-probe-takes-off-from-moon-carrying-samples

Chinese lunar probe takes off from Moon carrying samples
Agence France-Presse . Beijing, China 04 June, 2024, 08:57

This undated handout photo taken by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and released on June 4, 2024 shows a general view of craters on the surface of the moon captured by China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe. A module of a Chinese lunar probe successfully took off from the far side of the Moon on June 4 carrying samples to be taken back to Earth, state media reported. | AFP photo.

A module of a Chinese lunar probe successfully took off from the far side of the Moon on Tuesday carrying samples to be taken back to Earth, state media reported. The achievement is a world first, and the latest leap for Beijing's decades-old space programme, which aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030. The ascender module of the Chang'e-6 probe 'lifted off from lunar surface', state news agency Xinhua said, citing the China National Space Administration (CNSA). It described it as 'an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history'.

'The mission has withstood the test of high temperature on the far side of the moon,' the CNSA said. After lift-off, the module 'entered a preset orbit around the moon', it added.

The Chang'e-6 module touched down on Sunday in the Moon's immense South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system, according to the CNSA. The probe's technically complex 53-day mission began on May 3.

The Chang'e-6 features two methods of sample collection: a drill to collect material under the surface and a robotic arm to grab specimens above the surface. After successfully gathering its samples, 'a Chinese national flag carried by the lander was unfurled for the first time on the far side of the moon', Xinhua said.

Scientists say the Moon's dark side -- so-called because it is invisible from Earth, not because it never catches the sun's rays -- holds great promise for research because its craters are less covered by ancient lava flows than the near side.

Material collected from the far side may better shed light on how the Moon formed in the first place. Plans for China's 'space dream' have been put into overdrive under President Xi Jinping.

Beijing has poured huge resources into its space programme over the past decade, targeting a string of ambitious undertakings in an effort to close the gap with the two traditional space powers -- the United States and Russia.

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[Saif]

China launches first probe to collect samples from far side of Moon

China launched a probe on Friday to collect samples from the far side of the Moon, a world first as Beijing pushes ahead with an ambitious programme that aims to send...

www.newagebd.net

China launches first probe to collect samples from far side of Moon
Agence France-Presse . Wenchang, China 03 May, 2024, 22:14

A Long March 5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-6 mission lunar probe, lifts off as it rains at the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China's Hainan Province on Friday. | AFP photo
China launched a probe on Friday to collect samples from the far side of the Moon, a world first as Beijing pushes ahead with an ambitious programme that aims to send a crewed lunar mission by 2030.

A rocket carrying the Chang'e-6 lunar probe blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China's Hainan province just before 5:30pm (0930 GMT), AFP journalists near the site said.

Heavy rain engulfed the site just minutes before the launch began, they said, with hundreds of onlookers gathered nearby to witness the latest leap for China's decades-long space programme.

Washington has warned that the programme is being used to mask military objectives and an effort to establish dominance in space.

The Chang'e-6 aims to collect around two kilograms of lunar samples from the far side of the Moon and bring them back to Earth for analysis.

State news agency Xinhua hailed it as 'the first endeavour of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration'.

It is a technically complex 53-day mission that will also see it attempt an unprecedented launch from the side of the Moon that always faces away from Earth.

'The whole mission is fraught with numerous challenges, with each step interconnected and nerve-wracking,' Wang Qiong, deputy chief designer of the Chang'e-6 mission, told Xinhua.

The probe is set to land in the immense South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system.

Once there, it will scoop up lunar soil and rocks, and carry out other experiments in the landing zone.

It must then lift off from the Moon's surface and retrace its steps back home.​

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[Saif]

China, France launch satellite

A French-Chinese satellite blasted off Saturday on a hunt for the mightiest explosions in the universe, in a notable example of cooperation between a Western power and the Asian giant.

www.thedailystar.net

China, France launch satellite

A French-Chinese satellite blasted off Saturday on a hunt for the mightiest explosions in the universe, in a notable example of cooperation between a Western power and the Asian giant.

Developed by engineers from both countries, the Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is carrying four instruments -- two French, two Chinese -- that will seek out gamma-ray bursts, the light from which has travelled billions of light years to reach Earth.

The 930-kilogram (2,050-pound) satellite "successfully" took off around 3:00 pm (0700 GMT) aboard a Chinese Long March 2-C rocket from a space base in Xichang, in southwestern Sichuan province, China's National Space Administration said. Gamma-ray bursts generally occur after the explosion of huge stars -- those more than 20 times as big as the sun -- or the fusion of compact stars.​

 

[Saif]

China successfully launches new satellite into space

China successfully launched a new satellite, Shijian-26, into space on Thursday using a Long March-4B carrier rocket. The launch took place at 12:12 pm (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. Shijian-26 is designed primarily to support national land surveys, en

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

China successfully launches new satellite into space

Xinhua
Published :
May 29, 2025 12:39
Updated :
May 29, 2025 12:39

China successfully launched a new satellite, Shijian-26, into space on Thursday using a Long March-4B carrier rocket.

The launch took place at 12:12 pm (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

Shijian-26 is designed primarily to support national land surveys, environmental monitoring, and other related fields, offering information services that contribute to the country's economic development.

This launch marked the 579th mission of the Long March series of carrier rockets.​

 

[Saif]

Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth staying six month in space

Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Wednesday after six months on the country’s space station, state media footage showed, as Beijing advances towards its aim to become a major celestial power...

www.newagebd.net

Three Chinese astronauts return to Earth staying six month in space
Agence France-Presse . Beijing, China 30 April, 2025, 13:24

Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Wednesday after six months on the country’s space station, state media footage showed, as Beijing advances towards its aim to become a major celestial power.

China has ploughed billions of dollars into its space programme in recent years in an effort to achieve what President Xi Jinping describes as the country’s ‘space dream’.

The world’s second-largest economy has bold plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by the end of the decade and eventually build a base on the lunar surface.

Its latest launch last week ferried a trio of astronauts to the Tiangong space station, heralding the start of the Shenzhou-20 mission.

They have taken over from Shenzhou-19 crew Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, whose landing capsule touched down in the northern Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday.

Shortly after the landing, the Xinhua state news agency said the mission was a ‘complete success’, adding that the trio were in ‘good health’.

Pictures from state broadcaster CCTV showed the capsule, attached to a red-and-white striped parachute, descending through an azure sky before hitting the ground in a cloud of brown desert dust.

Teams of officials in white and orange jumpsuits then rushed to open the golden craft, and one planted a fluttering national flag into the sandy soil nearby.

The Shenzhou-19 crew had worked on the space station since October, where they carried out experiments and set a new record for the longest ever spacewalk.

They were initially scheduled to return on Tuesday, but the mission was postponed due to bad weather at the Dongfeng landing site, according to Chinese authorities.

Wang, 35, was China’s only woman spaceflight engineer at the time of the launch, according to the Chinese Manned Space Agency.

Commander Cai, a 48-year-old former air force pilot, previously served aboard Tiangong as part of the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022.

Song, a 34-year-old onetime air force pilot, completed the group of spacefarers popularly dubbed ‘taikonauts’ in China.

Last week, China saw off the Shenzhou-20 team in a feast of pomp and pageantry at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Base in the barren desert of northwestern Gansu province.

A military band and crowds of flag-waving well-wishers bade farewell to the crew before they blasted off on a Long March-2F rocket.

State media reported that they assumed control of the space station after a handover ceremony with its former occupants on Sunday.

The all-male Shenzhou-20 crew is headed by Chen Dong, 46, a former fighter pilot and veteran space explorer who in 2022 became the first Chinese astronaut to clock up more than 200 cumulative days in orbit.

The other two crew members — 40-year-old former air force pilot Chen Zhongrui, and 35-year-old former space technology engineer Wang Jie — are on their first space flight.

During their six-month stint, the crew will carry out experiments in physics and life sciences and install protective equipment against space debris.

For the first time, they will also bring aboard planarians, aquatic flatworms known for their regenerative abilities.

China’s space programme is the third to put humans in orbit and has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon as it catches up with the two most established cosmic powers, the United States and Russia.

Tiangong — whose name means ‘celestial palace’ in Chinese —is its tour de force.

China has never been involved in the International Space Station due to opposition from the United States.

Washington plans to return to the Moon in 2027, though the election of president Donald Trump brought uncertainty over the mission’s fate.​