Archive for April, 2024
Author: 
April 30th, 2024
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Shenzhou-17 threesome returned to Earth today, parachuting safely into the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Shenzhou-17 crew members, Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, rocketed into Earth orbit last October, living and working aboard China’s space station for nearly a half-year.
Shenzhou 17 crew.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
A well-rehearsed armada of search and rescue teams made use of aircraft, and related hardware to quickly handle the Shenzhou-17 landing.
In-orbit handover
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Last week, China launched the Shenzhou-18 piloted spacecraft, sending three more astronauts — Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu — to the country’s space station for another six-month mission. That trio entered the station and met with the Shenzhou-17 crew on Friday for an in-orbit crew handover within the station’s Tianhe core module.
China Shenzhou-17 crew member engaged in EEG testing.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
According to China’s CGTN, the just-landed Shenzhou-17 crew carried out 84 in-orbit experiments and tests for space application, producing more than 200 samples in multiple fields such as space life science and biotechnology, space medicine, and space material science.
For videos featuring the Shenzhou-17 crew landing, go to:
https://youtu.be/Jss009M_5xA?si=JSXsLIcGAbcqj5hs
https://youtu.be/jlwKTYYLbm4?si=XF0Smjih5SiXO1D9
Posted in 
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar mission atop a Long March 5 carrier rocket at its departure site in Wenchang, Hainan province.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Launch preparations are quickening for China’s next spacecraft sendoff to the Moon – the Chang’e-6 mission.
The spacecraft now sits atop a Long March 5 carrier rocket at its departure site in Wenchang, Hainan province.
Chang’e-6 is reportedly to launch at 3:50 PM, May 3rd Beijing Time (3:50 AM, May 3rd, Eastern Time).
The 8.2 metric ton Chang’e-6 is targeted for a touchdown in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the lunar far side. The overall mission spacecraft consists of four components: an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a reentry module.
Image credit: CNSA
First-time try
If all goes as planned for this first-time attempt at gathering dust and rocks from the Moon’s far side, then placed on the ascender for transport from the surface into lunar orbit, followed by transfer into a reentry module that hauls the collectibles to Earth.
In the past, both the former Soviet Union and the United States have brought lunar samples to Earth, but none has ever obtained specimens from the far side of the Moon.
China scored the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon with its Chang’e-4 lander/rover mission back in early January 2019.
Between Chang’e-6 and the earlier Chang’e-5 lunar sample mission, the most significant difference is that the soon-to-launch mooncraft is conducting sample-return from the far side of the Moon.
Photo taking during Chang’e-5 moon surface sampling session in December 2020.
Credit: CNSA/China Central Television (CCTV)
In mid-December 2020, the Chang’e-5 mission made use of similar spacecraft components to return near-side specimens from Mons Rümker, in the region of Oceanus Procellarum.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Design and control
“The Chang’e-6 aims to achieve breakthroughs in the design and control technology of the Moon’s retrograde orbit, intelligent sampling, take-off and ascent technologies, and automatic sample-return on the far side of the Moon,” Ge Ping, deputy director of the Center of Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering for the China National Space Administration told China Central Television (CCTV).
“At present, the Long March-5 carrier rocket and the Chang’e-6 probe are in good condition,” Ge added. “All preparations for the launch are progressing in an orderly manner, following normal working procedures.”
Liao Guorui, an engineer at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, told CCTV:
“At present, the launch site has ensured the normal testing of Chang’e-6 and the Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket. Our Hainan launch site features high temperatures, high humidity, and high salt mist. We have made corresponding preparations for the environmental conditions, and we have also prepared some typhoon prevention plans to adapt to the weather in Hainan.”
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Narrow launch window
Details of the launch window were spotlighted by Zhu Haiyang, a staff member with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.
“The signature feature of the Chang’e-6 mission is that it has extra high requirements for the launch window, mainly due to the lunar orbit. In order to achieve an optimal energy, it has a high requirement for the launch time of the rocket and the time of delivery to the Lunar Transfer Orbit [LTO], so the launch window is relatively narrow,” Zhu told CCTV. “We have carried out some verifications for the ‘narrow window and multi-orbit’ technology.”
Chang’e-5 return capsule holding lunar specimens.
Image credit: National Astronomical Observatories, CAS
Transfer point
For this Chang’e-6 launch, 10 lunar orbits for the rocket have been designed. Chang’e-6 probe needs to enter the LTO with a perigee of 200 kilometers and an apogee of 410,000 kilometers, and the requirement for orbit entry accuracy is also extremely high.
“As for the rocket, we mainly need to send it to the LTO transfer point,” Zhu added. “In terms of process coordination before launching at the launch site, coordination and drills were also carried out around the narrow window multi-orbit technology. With higher accuracy in orbit insertion, less propellant will be consumed by Chang’e-6 for its attitude adjustment, including orientation, orbit elevation, and orbit change.”
Scoop and drill
According to James Head, noted lunar scientist at Brown University, the Chang’e-6 mission is very similar to the Chang’e-5 spacecraft and its operational strategy, acquiring scoop and drill samples, perhaps up to 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms.)
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The recently launched Queqiao-2 far side communications satellite is in lunar orbit, tested, and is fully functional to support, not only the Chang’e-6 mission, but also follow-on Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8 robotic expeditions, in support of placing an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) on the Moon, Head said.
Near side–far side dichotomies
According to Xingguo Zeng, a key member at the Laboratory of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration at the National Astronomical Observatories, Chang’e-6 is designed to address questions about the multiple lunar near side–far side dichotomies and to provide new insights into both the early impact history of the Solar System and the geological evolution of the Moon.
Image credit: Xingguo Zeng, et al.
To that end, the Chang’e-6 landing zone has been selected to lie within the lunar far side South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin in the southern part of the Apollo basin, Xingguo observed, a site that provides access to a diversity of SPA material.
Go to this informative video regarding the upcoming liftoff of Chang’e-6 at:
Image credit: Barbara David
Image credit: Barbara David
Image credit: Barbara David
Trying to shape an ambitious and steady agenda for space in Europe requires not only diplomatic aplomb but also the need for firm engineering and scientific footing. Indeed, those attributes are must haves in working with the 22 member states of the European Space Agency (ESA).
An ESA Council Ministerial Meeting is designed to shape Europe’s overall space action-plan between member states.
(Image credit: ESA – S. Corvaja)
Josef Aschbacher is ESA’s Director General, taking on that role in March 2021. He is responsible for evolving Europe’s space infrastructure, from launchers and spacecraft performing Earth observation, navigation, and telecommunication duties to robotic exploration, as well as ESA astronauts dispatched to the International Space Station.
In an exclusive interview, I discussed with Aschbacher what’s ahead for ESA during the recent Space Foundation’s 39th Space Symposium.
Go to my new Space.com story – “Mars exploration, new rockets and more: Interview with ESA chief Josef Aschbacher” – at: https://www.space.com/esa-josef-aschbacher-interview-exomars-ariane-6
Image credit: Dongfang Hour /Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s ramping up of Moon exploration involves a space-based lunar infrastructure.
The Dongfang Hour presents an excellent review of spacecraft and ground-based vehicles that will increasingly need positioning and communication services at the Moon.
Enter China’s plan to establish a lunar satellite constellation called the “Queqiao constellation.” The focus of that country’s far side and lunar south pole investigations also means that communications will require relay satellites.
Image credit: Dongfang Hour /Inside Outer Space screengrab
Essential milestone
In preparation for this lunar constellation, expected in the 2030s, China has been launching single Queqiao spacecraft: the “Queqiao” in 2018, “Queqiao-2” in March 2024, and “Queqiao-3” by the end of the decade.
In this informative video, the Dongfang Hour covers this quest for lunar infrastructure, a low key but essential milestone for the establishment of China’s future lunar outpost, the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
Go to the video at:
Chang’e-5 return capsule holding lunar specimens.
Credit: National Astronomical Observatories, CAS
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is considering applications from NASA-funded researchers to study lunar samples brought back to Earth by China’s Chang’e-5 moon mission.
According to the South China Morning Post these applications are to be considered April 26 in a review meeting being held at the China University of Geosciences’ Nanwangshan campus in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
In December 2020, China’s Chang’e-5 lunar mission rocketed back to Earth 3.8 pounds (1,731 grams) of lunar rocks and soil from its Oceanus Procellarum exploration site on the near side of the Moon.
Photo taking during Chang’e-5 surface sampling.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
NASA coordination
NASA has green-lighted space agency-funded researchers to apply for access to China’s lunar samples returned to Earth via that country’s Chang’e-5 Moon mission.
In a statement provided today by NASA to Inside Outer Space: “NASA is continuing to coordinate with U.S. researchers that applied for Chang’e-5 lunar samples. The agency is aware that as part of the application process CNSA will interview the international loan applicants soon, virtually and in-person. NASA understands that five U.S. applicants have been selected to participate.”
Late last year, in a communiqué from the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) the space agency explained that it had certified its intent to Congress to allow NASA-funded researchers to apply for access to the Chang’e-5 samples.
Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects Chang’e-5 lunar sample return capsule.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“The Chang’e-5 samples originate from regions of the moon not yet sampled by NASA and are expected to provide valuable new scientific insight on the geological history of the moon, which could provide new understanding of the Earth-moon system and potentially inform NASA’s future lunar exploration plans,” the NSPIRES statement added. “Applying for samples will ensure that United States researchers have the same research opportunities as scientists around the world.”
More lunar samples
In the meantime, China Moon exploration planners are detailing the country’s next robotic lunar probe mission, Chang’e-6, expected to be launched May 3, from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island.
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar sample return mission elements.
Credit: CNSA
This Chinese lunar lander is to set down in the south pole-Aitken Basin on the lunar far side and gather samples, then rocket those specimens to Earth. The targeted far side landing site is within the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin on the floor of the Apollo basin.
Similar to the successful Chang’e-5 return sample probe, Chang’e-6 will consist of four components: An orbiter, lander, ascender and Earth re-entry module.
Chang’e-6 will seek to retrieve one to two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of lunar samples, according to Chinese lunar experts. If successful, Chang’e-6 would mark the first returned samples from the Moon’s far side.
Moon cooperation
As noted by James Head, a lunar expert at Brown University, Chang’e-6 experiments onboard the lander that were not carried on Chang’e 5 include DORN, a radon detection experiment from France, NILS, a lunar surface negative ion detector from Sweden/ESA, and INNRI, a passive laser retro-reflector from Italy.
Image credit: CNSA
“The landing site is most likely to be in the mare patch in southern part of the Apollo basin and will return not only the first far side mare samples, but also fragments excavated and deposited from the Apollo and SPA basins,” Head explains.
For more information, go to my earlier Space.com story — “China’s Chang’e 5 moon samples, beyond NASA’s reach for years, are finally available to US scientists” – at:
https://www.space.com/china-moon-samples-change-5-nasa-researchers
Artist’s view of International Lunar Research Station to be completed by 2035. Credit: CNSA
China is providing new details regarding the country’s plan to establish an International Lunar Research Station.
The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), according to state-run outlets, will consist of sections on the lunar surface, sections in lunar orbit and sections on Earth, and it will be built in two phases.
Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, rolled out current ILRS thinking while attending a space conference as part of Space Day of China activities. The China conference started on Wednesday in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province.
CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
First, second phase
Wu said the first phase of the ILRS construction project will see a “basic station” built by 2035 in the lunar south pole region, one that will constitute scientific facilities, able to carry out scientific experiments to develop and utilize local lunar resources on a limited scale.
The second phase will see expansion of the station, set for completion by 2045.
This phase involves a Moon-orbiting space station as a research hub for lunar research – as well as scientific experiments and research for a future human landing on Mars, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Image credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)/China Central Television (CCTV)/SciNews.ro/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Robotic lunar exploration
Wu noted that the basic ILRS will benefit by a sequence of lunar robotic mission: the upcoming Chang’e-6 sample return mission to the Moon’s far side; Chang’e-7 in 2026 to do environment and resource surveys in the lunar south pole region; and Chang’e-8 in 2028 to carry out tests aimed at the on-the-spot utilization of lunar resources.
According to Wu, after completion, the ILRS will consist of the lunar surface section, the lunar orbit section and the Earth surface section, with infrastructure such as an energy power system, a command and information system, and a lunar surface transportation system.
“This stage of the ILRS will have energy supply, central control, communication and navigation, Earth-moon roundtrip transport, and lunar surface scientific research functions,” reports Xinhua. “It will be capable of carrying out multi-disciplinary and multi-target scientific and technological activities on a large scale over a long period of time, with activities including scientific exploration, resource development and technology verification.”
Image credit: China Manned Space Agency
International involvement
China’s ILRS program, Wu said, is to embrace 50 countries, 500 international research institutions and 5,000 overseas researchers to help develop the station, manage facilities, and share scientific research results.
The ILRS has been initiated by China and is jointly developed by multiple countries and organizations. New ILRS partners include Nicaragua, the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization and the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences.
China’s Global Times reports that the ILRS is currently led by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and Russia’s Roscosmos.
China’s Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter.
Credit: CNSA
Mars return sample
According to the Global Times, Wu also stated that China plans to launch the Tianwen-2 mission around 2025, to carry out flyby exploration and return samples from a small asteroid.
Around 2030, Tianwen-3 is planned to be launched to execute a sample return mission from Mars, Wu said.
Illustration of the scientific payloads mounted on Zhurong Mars rover that landed on the Red Planet in May 2021. The group picture of the rover (left) and the lander (right) was taken by the WiFi camera (Image Credit: the ChinaNational Space Administration (CNSA). NaTeCam: Navigation and Terrain camera. RoMAG: Mars Rover Magnetometer. MSCam: Multispectral Camera. MSC-1: MarsClimate Station (Wind field and sound probe). MSC-2: Mars Climate Station (Air
temperature and pressure probe). MarSCoDe: Mars Surface Component Detector. RoPeR(CH1): Mars Rover Penetrating Radar (channel 1). RoPeR (CH2): Mars Rover
Penetrating Radar (channel 2).
Credit: Steve Yang Liu, Et al.
“Currently, looking at the progress of various countries around the world, our country is expected to become the first country to return samples from Mars,” Wu remarked. China has begun planning the construction of the world’s first Mars sample laboratory.
Also, a feasibility study is underway for a Tianwen-4 mission to explore Jupiter and its moons, followed by the arrival at Uranus, according to Wu.
Wenchang Moonport
In related news, Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA also noted the country’s planned human lunar landing program.
“The program development for major flight products, including the Long March-10 carrier rocket, the manned spacecraft Mengzhou, the lunar lander Lanyue and the lunar landing suits, is all done, and their prototype production and tests are underway in full swing,” said Lin.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Lin added that work on China’s human-carrying Moon lander has been basically completed. Also, the Wenchang launch center to be the human lunar exploration departure point is under construction.
Per China Central Television (CCTV), Lin said that unlike the space station effort, the Moon landing mission needs taikonauts to master the operation of Mengzhou spacecraft and Lanyue lander in normal and emergency flight conditions, including rendezvous and docking of the spacecraft and lander, and manually avoiding obstacles during the lander’s descent.
Shenzhou-18 crew: astronauts Li Guangsu, Ye Guangfu, Li Cong.
China’s next human spaceflight is targeting an April 25 liftoff of the three-person Shenzhou-18 crew to the country’s space station They will be launched at 8:59 p.m. Beijing Time on Thursday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
Chinese astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu will carry out the Shenzhou-18 mission with Ye as the commander.
Ye was crew member of China’s Shenzhou-13 mission, with both Li Cong and Li Guangsu making their first flight, selected from the country’s third-batch of taikonauts.
Shenzhou-18 logo.
Image credit: CMS
Six month stay
The soon-to-be-launched crew are scheduled to stay in orbit for about six months and return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in late October.
According to China Central Television (CCTV), the new crew will perform two to three spacewalks and implement six cargo outbound deliveries through the space station’s cargo airlock module.
The now orbiting Shenzhou-17 trio will meet with the Shenzhou-18 crew prior to that threesome returning to Earth on April 30 at the Dongfeng landing site.
Image credit: JAXA/SLIM
Image taken shortly after landing, the Ultra-small SORA-QI photo of SLIM in nose-down mode. Image credit: JAXA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
It’s Alive (again!).
Last night (the night of April 23rd), control teams for Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) reported they were able to successfully communicate with SLIM. They confirmed that SLIM had survived the lunar night cycle for the third time.
“SLIM has maintained its primary functions even after three overnight stays, which was not anticipated in its design. We will continue to closely monitor SLIM’s condition and hope to identify areas that deteriorate depending on the lunar day and night environment, as well as areas that are not prone to deterioration,” a SLIM posting notes on X.
A photo of the surface of the Moon taken after the overnight awakening was taken with SLIM’s navigation camera. The Moon is bright overall and the shadows are very short.
SLIM landed on the Moon on January 19, 2024.
Go-getter space entrepreneur and pragmatic rocketeer, Peter Beck of Rocket Lab..
Image credit: Barbara David
Extremely busy with an eye on the future.
That’s a short and sweet assessment of Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO. In the pantheon of private space groups, Rocket Lab is a roaring success and Beck wants to keep it that way.
Rocket Lab Electron launcher on New Zealand LC-1 launch pad.
Image credit: Kieran Fanning/Rocket Lab
Ask Peter Beck to weigh the firm’s past and where it’s headed. His response: “We joke that a Rocket Lab year is like a dog year. One Rocket Lab year feels like five.”
Artwork depicts Neutron launch vehicle for deploying large spacecraft and satellite constellations.
Image credit: Rocket Lab
In my exclusive interview with Beck, I caught up with the enterprising entrepreneur during the Space Foundation’s 39th Space Symposium, held earlier this month.
For Beck’s look at today and what’s ahead for his company, go to my new Space.com story — Building rockets and looking for life on Venus: Q&A with Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck – at:
https://www.space.com/rocket-lab-peter-beck-interview-april-2024
Book Review: Space and the Warfighter – How Space Technologies Transformed U.S. Military Actions; Spacehistory101.com Press (2023); 232 pages; softcover; $28.97.
I recently returned from the Space Foundation’s mega-symposium in Colorado Springs, a meeting that highlighted U.S. military space prowess and issues of warfighting.
The reader will greatly benefit by taking a read of this informative volume, one that takes you into the history, background, and evolving U.S. Air Force thinking regarding military conflict in space.
Anchored primarily in past military operations, such as Desert Shield and Desert Shield, and noting the formation of the U.S. Space Force, the book features contributions by leading military historians.
Space has become a vital part of the national defense plan of the United States. The message is that use of space systems for warfare in the past was not as understood, nor appreciated as they are today. Desert Storm did involve the full arsenal of military space systems – the first large-scale integration of space systems in support of warfighting.
This book not only underscores the history of utilizing space for military means, but also the progression and organization of space doctrine and policy.
Image credit: U.S. Air Force/SSgt Vanessa Valentine
I was particularly drawn to what influence the 9/11 attacks in September 2001 had on the application of space systems and also the need for security of those assets. To this point, protection of launch facilities, including at that time space shuttle operations like the mission of STS-108. That flight of Endeavor was the first space shuttle launch following the September 11 attacks.
Space and the Warfighter spotlights military need for early warning, communications, satellite-gleaned weather data, as well as positioning, navigation and timing capabilities. For instance, roughly 100 satellites supported military operations in Afghanistan and the surrounding region; use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) has become omnipresent over time.
In an afterwords section, this fact is flagged: “The two Gulf Wars, and the decade separating them, generated and demonstrated a revolutionary transformation in American warfighting – a transformation in which space-based communications and [Positioning, Navigation and Timing] PNT, among other systems, used capabilities originally conceived and developed for strategic purposes to support theater or tactical operations.”
This has fundamentally changed, the book continues, with the U.S. military now relying heavily on orbiting space systems “in an increasingly congested and contested domain.”
For more information on this book, under the SPACE 3.0 Foundation, go to:
https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_30%3ASpacehistory101.com+Press
