Chinese Satellites Have The Capability To Dodge US Surveillance

Shijian 20, China’s most advanced communication satellite, was launched in 2019. Photo: Weibo  

SCMP: Chinese satellite hints at space warfare prowess by dodging US surveillance  

A Chinese satellite has used a manoeuvre to avoid being followed by a spying US satellite, hinting at its capability in potential space warfare. 

But some defence analysts said the scenario was not new and the incident should not be seen as escalating the rivalry between China and the United States in space.

 "It is not difficult to monitor satellites," said Chinese military commentator Song Zhongping. "The US, Russia and China are all able to monitor each other's satellites in orbit. But the US will certainly plan its space infrastructure through monitoring the satellites of China and Russia."  

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CSN Editor: More details on what China, Russia, and the US are doing in space can be read here .... US, China, Russia Test New Space War Tactics: Sats Buzzing, Spoofing, Spying (Breaking Defense).

China's Tiangong-1 Space Station Is Expected To Come Crashing To Earth Within Weeks

The Tiangong-1 space station, which is expected to come crashing to earth within weeks.

The Guardian: China's Tiangong-1 space station will crash to Earth within weeks

Experts say it is impossible to plot where module will re-enter the atmosphere, but the chance is higher in parts of Europe, US, Australia and New Zealand.

China’s first space station is expected to come crashing down to Earth within weeks, but scientists have not been able to predict where the 8.5-tonne module will hit.

The US-funded Aerospace Corporation estimates Tiangong-1 will re-enter the atmosphere during the first week of April, give or take a week. The European Space Agency says the module will come down between 24 March and 19 April.

In 2016 China admitted it had lost control of Tiangong-1 and would be unable to perform a controlled re-entry.

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CSN Editor:  It's going to create an impressive streak across the sky when it enters the atmosphere.

China Aims For The Moon

China To Attempt First Moon Landing -- The Telegraph

China will next year attempt to land an exploratory craft on the moon for the first time, state media reported, in the latest project in its ambitious space programme.

China's third lunar probe will blast off in the second half of 2013, the state Xinhua news agency reported late on Monday. Other reports said it would land and transmit back a survey of the moon's surface.

If successful, the landing would be China's first on the lunar surface and mark a new milestone in its space development. It is part of a project to orbit, land on and return from the moon, Xinhua said.

China said in its last white paper on space it was working towards landing a man on the moon, although it has not given a time frame.

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My Comment: They are being aggressive in their space program .... reminds me of what NASA was like 40 years ago.

China's Space Program Is Becoming More Capable

Soldiers stand in front of the Long March II-F rocket loaded with China's unmanned space module Tiangong-1 before its planned launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu province September 29, 2011. REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic

China's Space Know-How Said Threat To U.S., Taiwan -- Reuters

China's growing capabilities in space could undercut any U.S. military response if Beijing resorted to force to bring self-ruled Taiwan into its fold, a study released Friday by a congressionally mandated U.S. commission said.

China's military is rapidly boosting its space programs to advance Communist Party interests "and defend against perceived challenges to sovereignty and territorial integrity," said the 84-page report by the Project 2049 Institute, a research group on Asia-Pacific security issues.

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My Comment: On the same day that this report on China's growing space program was released, America's space program decline was there for all to see.

The Rapid Rise Of China As A Space Power

A Delta II rocket launch. Photo: Air Force

China Now Tops U.S. in Space Launches -- Danger Room

For the first time ever, China has launched more rockets into orbit in a year than the U.S. In 2011, the Chinese sent 19 rockets into space. The U.S. sent just 18. Russia, the Walmart of space launches, fired off no fewer than 31 rockets.

The numbers, parsed in recent reports from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the nonprofit Space Foundation, might seem to herald America’s orbital decline relative to its most bitter rival. In terms of sheer numbers of rocket launches, China has been steadily catching up to America for several years. In 2010, China fired off 15 rockets, matching the U.S. for the first time.

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My Comment: The trend is for China to surpass even Russia within the next 5-10 years.

China 'To Send Its First Woman Into Space'

The Long March rocket carrying the unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou 8 blasts off from the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre Photo: REUTERS

China 'To Send Its First Woman Into Space' -- The Telegraph

China may send its first woman into space this year after including female astronauts in the team training for its first manned space docking, state media said on Monday.

Three astronauts will blast off on board Shenzhou ("Divine Vessel") IX between June and August to conduct a manual docking with the Tiangong-1 module currently orbiting the Earth, Xinhua news agency said, quoting an official with China's manned space programme.

A team of astronauts, including an unspecified number of women, are training for the docking mission and the three-person crew will be selected at the last minute, said Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief.

After the space rendezvous, the astronauts will move temporarily into Tiangong-1 ("Heavenly Palace"), where they will perform scientific experiments.

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My Comment: What took them so long?

Photo: The latest launch, to test key technologies and gather data, is China's second lunar mission

From The BBC:

A Chinese rocket carrying a probe destined for the Moon has blasted into space.

A Long March 3C rocket with the Chang'e-2 probe took off from Xichang launch centre at about 1100 GMT.

The rocket will shoot the craft into the trans-lunar orbit, after which the satellite is expected to reach the Moon in about five days.

Chang'e-2 will be used to test key technologies and collect data for future landings.

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Chinese Moon Landing Gets Timetable

From Global Times:

The timetable for China's first manned moon landing, as well as the launch of a space station, lab and probes to explore Mars and Venus, was announced by scientists over the weekend.

Chinese analysts, however, dismissed international concerns that Beijing is engaging in an outer-space arms race, stressing that recent activities and future missions are for scientific purposes and for the benefit of mankind.

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China's Militarization of Space Continues

Chinese Satellite Test -- Inside The Ring, Washington Times

China recently conducted a space test involving two satellites that rendezvoused several hundred miles above Earth in a maneuver analysts say will likely boost Beijing's anti-satellite weapons program.

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More News On China's Space Program

Two Chinese Satellites Have Close Encounter in Orbit -- Discovery News
Close Encounters of the Worrisome Kind? Chinese Satellites Meet in Space -- Discover Magazine
China’s Secret Satellite Rendezvous ‘Suggestive of a Military Program’ -- The Danger Room
Satellite pulls new manoeuvre in space -- Toronto Sun
Two Chinese Satellites Rendezvous in Orbit -- Universe Today
Chinese On-orbit Rendezvous Analyzed [The Space Review] -- Space News
Two Chinese satellites rendezvous in orbit -- New Scientist

China's Moon Rocket May Take A Cue From The Saturn V

Saturn V A behemoth rocket to reach the moon NASA

From Popular Science:

My rocket is almost as big as your rocket.

China's new moon rocket design is in the class of the old Saturn V that once launched U.S. Apollo astronauts to the moon. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology says that the proposed rocket would have a thrust of 3,000 metric tons, just shy of the 3,470 metric tons of thrust generated by the Saturn V's first stage, Aviation Week reports.

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Remembering A Former Caltech Rocket Scientist And The Founder Of China's Space Program

China's Rocket Pioneer: Left: A Chinese Long-March 4-B rocket blasts off on Nov. 6, 2004. Right: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits Qian Xuesen on August 2, 2008. Xinhua

From Popular Science:

Qian Xuesen has died at 98; he helped found Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory before being deported as a suspected Communist.

One can only imagine how history might have played out if the United States had not deported a Chinese-born Caltech rocket scientist on suspicion of being a Communist in 1955. Qian Xuesen first fought his deportation, but later accepted his fate and went on to become the founder of China's missile and space programs. His death this past Sunday comes as China broadens its space exploration efforts to become a potential challenger to a troubled U.S. space program, or perhaps a partner.

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China Works For Mars And Moon Missions

From RIA Novosti:

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Alexander Peslyak) - The launch of a Russian Phobos Grunt probe to Mars on October 16 has been delayed until 2011.

The delay also affects China's first mission to Mars. The 240-pound Chinese Yinghou-1 spacecraft was to be mounted atop the Russian spacecraft for transport to the Martian orbit, where it was to be released before the Russian spacecraft landed on Phobos.

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China Says Will Push Space Programme To Catch Up West

From Breitbart/AFP:

China said Thursday its rapidly growing space programme was the crowning achievement of the nation's high-tech transformation and pledged to continue to develop it to close the gap with Western countries.

"I believe a space programme represents a country's high technology and I believe China has already become a major country in high technology," Vice Minister of Science and Technology Li Xueyong told reporters.

"Our success shows not only the progress of the space programme but also our overall level of science and technology," he said at a press briefing.

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China Starts Building New Space Launch Centre

Chinese astronauts at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in a remote desert area of northwest China's Gansu province. The country has begun construction of its fourth space launch centre as the nation gears up for future manned space flights aboard a new generation of carrier rockets, state media has reported. (AFP/Xinhua/File)

From Yahoo News/AFP:

BEIJING (AFP) – China on Monday began the construction of its fourth space launch centre as the nation gears up for future manned space flights aboard a new generation of carrier rockets, state media reported.

Work started on the Wenchang Space Satellite Launch Centre on southern Hainan island, which will become China's first coastal launching pad when completed in 2013, the Hainan Daily reported.

Chang Wanquan, member of the powerful Central Military Commission, and Chen Qiufa, head of the State Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, attended Monday's groundbreaking ceremony, the report said.

China's space programme is run by the nation's military.

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China's First Mars Orbiter In Russia For Launch: State Media

Image: Yinghuo-1, the 110-kilogramme (242-pound) Chinese satellite.

From Space Daily:

China's first satellite to probe Mars has been transported to Russia for a launch later this year, state media reported Thursday.

Yinghuo-1, the 110-kilogramme (242-pound) Chinese satellite, is scheduled to be launched along with Russia's "Phobos Explorer" aboard a Zenit rocket in October after final testing, the Beijing News said.

After entering Mars' orbit -- 10 to 11 months later -- the orbiter will probe the Martian space environment, with a special focus on what happened to the water that appears to have once been abundant on the planet's surface.

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