Welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup! In this week's episode we bring you:
1) Chang’e-5 Lunar Return Mission
Tuesday morning (24/11 Beijing time) saw the launch of Chang’e-5 at Wenchang Launch Center in Hainan. The launch was a success, and represents China’s first lunar sample-return mission. It is also the first sample-return mission since the Soviet Luna 24 mission in 1976. After a number of maneuvers in its Earth-Moon trajectory, the spacecraft successfully entered lunar orbit.
2) China Satcom replacing older broadcast satellites
An article by Satellite World revealed that China Satcom would be replacing a number of older broadcast satellites in 2021-2023. All satellites would be purchased from CAST, and based on the DFH-4E platform. The satellites would launch on LM-3B, China’s current workhorse for GEO. The transaction was said to reach 3,918 billion RMB (approx 600 million USD).
Below is a list of the satellites:
Chinasat 6D (to replace 6A; C & Ku band payloads)
Chinasat 6E (to replace 6B; C & Ku band payloads)
Chinasat 9B (to replace 9A; Ku BSS band payloads)
In addition, the Chinasat 26 (Ka band) satellite will be a welcome addition to the currently operational Chinasat-16, the Shijian-20, and the future Chinasat-19.
3) The Trump Administration could blacklist 89 companies with “military ties”
According to Reuters, the Trump administration is preparing to blacklist 89 Chinese companies, including a large number of major aviation companies such as COMAC (building the C919) and the aerospace conglomerate AVIC. U.S. suppliers will ”need special licenses to sell a broad set of commercially available items to such companies” according to the piece by Reuters.
Are we heading towards a “post-Cox Report” situation for aviation as well?
If this blacklist is made official and effective before the Biden administration take-over, this could lead to a total disruption of the civil aviation industry in China. The blacklist bears a strong resemblance to the restrictions US space companies faced when selling to China, after the Cox Report in 1998. The consequences on both sides would be more massive for aviation:
- China is no small market to Boeing. It represents 20% of the entire global commercial aviation market, and where Boeing is a dominant player alongside Airbus.
- The disruption would be devastating for the Chinese civil aviation market. While China’s local supply chain has grown tremendously, it still depends heavily on non-Chinese suppliers. Aircraft like the C919 are likely to come to a full stop.
4) CASIC Methalox Engine
Expace released photos of its Mingfeng methalox engine earlier this week. The engine completed a systems-level hot test, with the test verifying the integrity of the engine system, thrust chamber, combustor, turbo pump, valve, and final assembly.
Expace is more famous up to this point for having developed the KZ-1A fast-response solid rocket. With the KZ-1A, Expace has built a pretty reliable, fast-response rocket that can be deployed using a transporter erector launcher.
5) World 5G Convention in Guangzhou
The World 5G Convention opened in Guangzhou last week. During the Convention, the Chief Designer of BeiDou 3rd Generation, Yang Changfeng, noted that all core components of BeiDou-3 were being manufactured domestically. Yang also noted that around 80% of phones in China are now equipped with BeiDou-3 chip sets. Yang linked BeiDou-3 with 5G by noting that many elements of 5G will rely on highly precise location data.
-----------------------------------------
Follow us on YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter (https://twitter.com/DongFangHour), as an audio podcast, and on our official website: https://www.dongfanghour.com/
