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China Will Attempt 30-Plus Launches in 2019, Including Crucial Long March 5 Missions (spacenews.com)

New submitter starmanaj shares a report: The main contractor for the Chinese space program is planning more than 30 launches in 2019, with major missions including the crucial return-to-flight of the heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket in July. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), announced Jan. 29 that it would aim to loft more than 50 spacecraft on 30-plus launches this year. Among these will be the third launch on the Long March 5, a 5-meter-diameter, 57-meter-tall heavy-lift launch vehicle which failed in its second flight in July 2017, delaying the Chang'e-5 lunar sample return mission and the construction of the Chinese Space Station. The mission will take place in July at the coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island, CASC vice president Yang Baohua said at a Jan. 29 news conference in Beijing, which also saw the release of a "Blue Book of China Aerospace Science and Technology Activities."

64 comments

  1. Re:How much... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    very little now that Trump is taking care of things.

  2. Good for them! by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1, Troll

    I doubt they're going to get 30+ launches done in a year, unless they've been playing things really close to the vest. But I am delighted to see someone else get into what used to be called the Space Race in a big way.

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    1. Re:Good for them! by aitikin · · Score: 2

      I doubt they're going to get 30+ launches done in a year, unless they've been playing things really close to the vest. But I am delighted to see someone else get into what used to be called the Space Race in a big way.

      A shame that no one from NASA can (officially) collaborate with them...

      --
      "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
    2. Re:Good for them! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think I'd rather NASA collaborate with SpaceX to get them up to 60 launches a year.

      China is targeting 30 launches to try to catch SpaceX - Good Luck!

    3. Re:Good for them! by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      Why would the USA give free access to more of its tech under the cover of "science" and some need to "collaborate" with a Communist government?
      Thats all tech the USA had to pay for and test.
      Dont just give it all away to nations that supported North Korea, Vietnam as policy against the USA.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    4. Re:Good for them! by Gavagai80 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I doubt they're going to get 30+ launches done in a year, unless they've been playing things really close to the vest.

      Erm, China launched 37 times last year. How is aiming for 30+ this year any sort of stretch or doubtful thing? They've been "playing things really close to the vest" by launching 37 times and then planning 30 for the following year?

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    5. Re:Good for them! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Note SpaceX has never come anywhere close to 30 launches per year. 30 would easily pass them.

    6. Re:Good for them! by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Informative

      SpaceX launched 19 last year. China launched 37. SpaceX fanboys are delusional.

    7. Re:Good for them! by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      SpaceX fanboys are weird. Apparently they think they are the only ones launching stuff.

    8. Re:Good for them! by rtb61 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It's called peace numb nuts, working together instead of one trying to dominate the other, which leads inevitably to war and that means MAD mutually assured destruction. Peace is not just a symbol, peace is working together upon a basis of trust, integrity and honesty, it is the only way it works, there is no other way, apart from peace by death and extinction.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    9. Re:Good for them! by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Peace is not something any Communist party is all about.
      Spreading support for the revolution is not "peace".
      The Communist policy that gave support to Vietnam, North Korea, over Taiwan is not changing vs the USA.
      Communist governments see "working together" as a way in to spy more. To attempt to see who wants to spy.
      US tech is lost.
      The USA finds it has a lot of new Communist spies in place.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    10. Re:Good for them! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yet the US has been in more conflicts directly or indirectly in the last 50 years. So keep lying.

    11. Re:Good for them! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Why did they cooperate with Communist Russia? Why did they share technology with Russia?

      Kennedy was hoping to do the moon missions in cooperation with Russia, partly for peace and partly to save money. Concord could have been another joint project, and maybe it would have had more commercial success.

      At least by the time the ISS went up it wasn't such a problem that a lot of it was Russian.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    12. Re:Good for them! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Well, a lot of it the US stole from the Nazis. Some more they borrowed, bought, or otherwise acquired from the Soviets. Not even the Russians, the Soviets.

      Science is a very international undertaking, perhaps the most international undertaking.

    13. Re:Good for them! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1
    14. Re:Good for them! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why are we even comparing a country and a company in the first place?

    15. Re:Good for them! by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      So now the USA just has to give its tech to a Communist nation for free because "history"?
      An "international" undertaking would be the NSA and other 5 eye nations.
      Supporting EU nations, Taiwan, South Korea. Nations that like and support the USA.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    16. Re:Good for them! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Your rhetorical style matches modern politics pretty well. Strawmen and outrage.

      You said "Thats all tech the USA had to pay for and test." This isn't true. US rocketry technology was developed with collaboration and input from around the world. Including very significant contributions from Nazi Germany and scientists "acquired" from Nazi Germany. Quite a few US Air Force satellites were launched on ULA's Atlas V... which uses a Soviet engine.

      Collaboration isn't "just giving" things away.

    17. Re:Good for them! by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The "German" scientists found their way to the USA legally and became supporters of the USA.
      That was not "collaboration" with West/East Germany.
      The scientists got accepted into the USA. They worked in the USA under US conditions.
      Loyalty to the USA and citizenship was often part of the needed approval to get into the USA and work on such projects.
      Thats different from China walking out with advanced US tech for free.
      Buying a lot of Soviet "engines" does not give advanced very new US tech back to Russia.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    18. Re:Good for them! by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Buran and Concordski was the result of all that Communist spying in the West.
      Communist nations don't do collaboration. They spy.

      Concord was a project between France and the UK. They used a treaty to get that set up.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    19. Re:Good for them! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because some idiot spaceX fanboi didn't have a clue about China.
      It's pretty common around here isn't it WindBourne.

  3. Re:How much... by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 4, Interesting

    you can't steal things that Elon has copylefted. Elon's philosophy is that people who steal your tech are followers, and they ultimately won't be able to compete. They'll always be 2 steps behind, analyzing what you're currently doing. Elon copylefting everything is a clever trap.

    --
    "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
  4. The Last Communist Holdout Being Space Capable... by dryriver · · Score: 1

    ...effectively means that 10 years from now you won't be able to walk down a street anywhere in the world without a Chinese satellite overhead tracking you. Thank God nobody uses Chinese any made consumer electronics or telecomms infrastructure tech, because then the Chinese really would know everything about everybody everywhere. Oh, wait... (In Chinese 21st Century, you ALWAYS live in China, even if you don't!)

    --
    Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
  5. Queue the Anti-China Trolls ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ... hypocritically harping on about copyright theft in 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...

  6. trumtardtokkbigly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    kewl story bra

  7. Re: How much... by Type44Q · · Score: 1
    So, giving good ideas to your competition causes them to expend more resources than forcing them to steal or otherwise research said ideas themselves.

    Don't get me wrong; I'm as against govt-enforced monopolies on ideas as the next thinking person... but I'm afraid that description doesn't include you. No offense.

  8. Re:The Last Communist Holdout Being Space Capable. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In China, the Soviet is in you.

  9. Re:How much... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Keep dreaming, Sparky!

  10. Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by mykepredko · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I know over the years, there have been some discussion on whether or not spaceflight should be big government funded (von Braun was a big proponent of this) or leave it to entrepreneurs/adventurers. While Paul Allen's Stratolaunch is somewhat in limbo now, it seems like in the US the trend is to go with entrepreneurs with SpaceX, Orbital and Blue Origin leading the way. Hopefully the SLS development effort will be retired, as will the Ariane 6 both being too costly compared to the commercial options meaning that the only big government launches will be from Russia and China.

    I picked SpaceX, Orbital and Blue Origin because if you total their launch manifests for 2019, they'll have at least 30 - There will be multiple manned missions in there (by Blue Origin and SpaceX) and quite an array of different capabilities.

    It's one thing for the second biggest economy in the world to have 30 launches but I think it's a lot more impressive that private capital will provide the same number of launches

    1. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Why is it impressive when private capital does it? Launching rockets just requires money. It isn't like we haven't been launching satellites for 50 years now. All of the sudden people act like launching satellites is amazing, now that the egotistical tech guys got interested in buying rocket companies so they can pretend they are saving humanity or whatever they are imagining.

    2. Re: Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Northrup Grumman ( nee orbital ) launch far less than ULA, and there is nothing entrapaneureal about orbital, let alone NG.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    3. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

      Blue Origin has 0 orbital launches planned -- if you count Chinese suborbital launches I'm sure they've got a lot more. Orbital has 2 launches planned this year according to my googling, and has never topped 2.

      At any rate, "communist" China agrees with you that private enterprise is the better strategy for space -- which is why they've been encouraging their private space industry, which is a pretty crowded sector now which should hopefully produce orbital results soon.

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    4. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by skam240 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Why is it impressive when private capital does it?"

      Because private capital is taking over a domain that had, up until recently, been strictly based on government programs. How is it not impressive that private companies are seeing a profit motive in such things when in the past they clearly weren't? It speaks wonders to how far what had mostly been government funded development in such areas has come.

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    5. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Launching rockets just requires money.

      Not exactly. Blue Origin has all the money in the world but they still aren't near launching any payload. Their suborbital hopper doesn't count, and New Glenn just had a new launch visual with no hardware in sight.

      All of the sudden people act like launching satellites is amazing,

      Because it is, especially now that we're in an age of multiple launch providers, each with its own concept of access to space.

      now that the egotistical tech guys got interested in buying rocket companies so they can pretend they are saving humanity or whatever they are imagining.

      Oh, again with the bitter statements. It's a good thing that we have some people willing to spend the capital you think is a waste for your government.

    6. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      A single launch of a reusable spacecraft is worth more than all of PR^HLA's.

    7. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      I don't get it. Why is it impressive where the money comes from? There have been plenty of of private launch companies (including Chinese ones). I think people think SpaceX is something new. Very weird. It guess it is the Elon effect.

    8. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Weird. There are other private launch providers. Do you guys really think SpaceX is the only private one? Very strange. Must be the Elon effect. Oh well, idiots abound.

    9. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I never said SpaceX is the only launch company (and I feel that you're ignoring my example because I said Blue Origin, despite having a lot of money, has yet to showcase any development).

      I've seen a lot of them start and die in the late '90s to the early 2000s.

      But I'll bite.

      There are other private launch providers.

      Stratolaunch? Just announced they're retiring their only ways of achieving orbit.

      Virgin Galactic? Not targeting orbital capacity the last time I saw it.

      Rocketlab? Targeting a different market.

      Sierra Nevada? They're still iterating on their DreamChaser and doesn't have a booster except ULA.

      ULA? Doesn't count, as will ISRO, Roscosmos, and other government funded ventures.

      Back to the point: a lot of money won't take you anywhere. You need the proper engineers, technicians, and managers to achieve your goal.

    10. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2nd biggest is the Euro area, USA is now 3rd.

    11. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      Hopefully ... the Ariane 6 both being too costly compared to the commercial options

      That's an unrealistic hope. Ariane is seen as strategically important by Europe. We want an independent launch capability, because we've been screwed over by the Americans in the past.

      Arianespace is progressing toward the first Ariane 6 launch at a pace that gives me hope they'll be able to transition to reusable rockets (also in development already) in a reasonable timeframe.

    12. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Ariane won't be retired because there isn't a commercial alternative in Europe. The EU isn't going to give up its launch capability.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    13. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by mykepredko · · Score: 1

      It would be a shame, but from what it sounds like in AvWeek, it's a real possibility that Ariane is going to be allowed to die out. The Ariane 6 looks like a non-starter with it's launch costs being 2x and more than that of SpaceX.

      I think they really need some bold leadership there that is willing to look at different operational models if they're going to survive.

    14. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by mykepredko · · Score: 1

      See the answer I just posted on that.

      I don't see Arianespace being allowed to continue with the current business model - they really need somebody new and aggressive to change the direction they're going in because unless they do, I can't see them being allowed to continue.

    15. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      Which AvWeek article is that? Can't find it using their search function.

    16. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Except for manned launches, rocket launching in the US has been pretty much private sector for a long time, by the likes of Boeing and Lockheed. Government is certainly a major customer, but that's not going to change. ArianeGroup is also a private company.

    17. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by mykepredko · · Score: 1

      Can't find the link either - the latest article on Arianespace was either Friday or Monday and I did comment on it. There is http://aviationweek.com/space/... which was part of the discussion and I commented on that as well.

      AvWeek has the world's worst website for a news organization. Amazing articles, shitty, slow website with content appearing and disappearing all the time.

    18. Re:Equal to Blue Origin, Orbital & SpaceX by skam240 · · Score: 1

      Did you not read my post all the way through or are you an alien?

      Let me both repeat myself and expand a bit on the topic. Increasingly private enterprise has been engaging in areas of space tech that they never had anything to do with. Normal humans think it's impressive when things move from the strictly government funded domain to the publicly funded domain. It suggests a level of accessibility to things once considered sci-fi when the funding for such a thing doesn't require the massive wealth of nation states.

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  11. Re:How much... by Gavagai80 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, Elon's philosophy is that he doesn't mind if another company beats his to achieving things if that makes the things be achieved faster. He's been urging automakers to go electric for ages, he's been rooting for Blue Origin and all the little rocket companies, etc. Certainly hasn't ever taken any steps to harm competitors. He started his current companies because he was a rich guy who wanted to solve more interesting/important problems, not to make money.

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  12. Re:The Last Communist Holdout Being Space Capable. by Gavagai80 · · Score: 3, Informative

    China has 250+ satellites in orbit already... way more than Russia, way more than any country except the USA. If they really care about you so much, they've known what they want to know for a long time.

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  13. Good luck to china by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Hopefully, CONgress/trump are taking notice. China will have man on the moon within 7-9 years.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:Good luck to china by skam240 · · Score: 1

      "Hopefully, CONgress"

      HAHAHA, I see what you did there! You're so clever!

      "China will have man on the moon within 7-9 years."

      Anyways, we've landed more people on the moon then I even care to look up. It's great China is catching up to our decades old accomplishments and all but how about we aim for better than replicating shit we did half a century ago.

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    2. Re:Good luck to china by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyways, we've landed more people on the moon then I even care to look up.

      There are only 11. And most of them are dead or dying.

      It's great China is catching up to our decades old accomplishments and all but how about we aim for better than replicating shit we did half a century ago.

      Maybe if you cared to actually maintain a presence there would be no need for us to replicate this.

    3. Re:Good luck to china by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      The US can't even send a person into space and hasn't been able to for years so I don't know why you are looking down at China for. They have more capabilities in space than the US does right now. Maybe you could hitch a lift into orbit sometime with them?

    4. Re:Good luck to china by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Catching up to you. Just like they are catching up with pollution. They will be number one before you know it.

    5. Re:Good luck to china by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Americas were populated by Asians centuries ago before the US was even founded. What's your point exactly?

    6. Re:Good luck to china by skam240 · · Score: 1

      "The US can't even send a person into space and hasn't been able to for years..."

      Because of poor planning. We have a new shuttle in the works now thanks to Obama but Bush Jr. didn't want to pay for one despite the eminent retirement of the shuttles active during his presidency.

      Of course none of that refutes the fact that China is replicating half century old American accomplishments. It would be equally impressive if they "invented" personal computers.

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  14. "Launching rockets just requires money." by mykepredko · · Score: 1

    I know the engineers, scientists, mathematicians, chemists, aerodynamicists, material scientists, etc. involved in the various efforts to get into space would find your statement quite offensive.

    Launching satellites *is* amazing - read up on the subject some time.

  15. Misleading title by TentativeFate · · Score: 1

    The missions aren't really that long, if they're all scheduled for a single day, March 5.

  16. Re:How much... by hackertourist · · Score: 3, Informative

    Elon has copylefted nothing with regards to SpaceX. The main source for information is off-the-cuff announcements via Twitter. No papers describing the rocket, much less CAD or source code. This has to do with ITAR legislation (which makes it a crime to publish such information).

    You're thinking of Tesla, which did publish information on the Supercharger design.

  17. Re:How much... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    I wish Tesla fans were so accepting too.

    One thing Tesla could do to help is to open up their supercharging network. In Europe they are fitting CCS connectors so it's just the backend that they need to sort out, i.e. some way for non-Tesla owners to pay.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC