China Aero & Space Weekly News Round-Up - Episode 12 (14th -20th Dec. 2020)

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup! Without further ado, the news update from the week of 14-20 December.

0:00 Intro
1:06 Long March 8 Launch
9:57 Chang'e-5 Lunar Mission
18:07 China Eastern/Juneyao Airlines IFC Joint Venture
24:33 Baidu Electric Vehicle Announcement
27:07 Outro

1) Long March 8 Launch on Sunday 20/12
Sunday morning (20/12/20) saw plans for the very first launch of China’s latest medium lift launch vehicle, the Long March 8, from Wenchang Launch Center in the southern island of Hainan. Unfortunately, the launch was scrubbed on Sunday due to a tropical storm, but we expect the launch to occur in the coming days.
The payloads will be:
- a classified EO technology satellite by CAST (XJY-7)
- Ethiopian ETHSAT6U (cubesat), in cooperation with Beijing Smart Satellite
- Guodian Gaoke’s Tianqi-12 satellite (for its IoT constellation)
- 2 satellites of Spacety: one in cooperation with CETC (Haisi-1) and the other a technology verification satellite

The Long March 8 completes the new generation launch vehicles developed by CASC subsidiaries CALT and SAST, with the generation consisting of the LM5, LM6, LM7, and which are all operational, in addition to the LM8. This latest rocket is able to put 5 tons into sun-synchronous orbit.

The LM8 is actually based on a set of rather proven building blocks, used in LM5-7, namely the kerolox YF-100 engines in it’s core stage and boosters (used also in LM 5, 6 and 7), and the YF-75 for the 2nd stage, a hydrolox engine employed already on the LM3 as well as the LM5.

While the upcoming launch is going to be expendable, it is noteworthy that LM8 will (eventually) be CASC’s first attempt at reusability. As was unveiled in 2018, CASC plans to have the first stage, together with the two side boosters, perform vertical landing, throttling the engine and using grid fins for control during the landing stage. This will no doubt mean modifications on the YF-100 to enable the engines to run at lower thrust, to be restartable multiple times (especially with the current engine layout).
https://bit.ly/38mGWoW
https://bit.ly/2KhfRLY
https://bit.ly/3h45qY5

2) Chang’e-5 Return to Earth
China’s Chang’e 5 return capsule returned to Earth in the evening of December 16th, after a perilous re-entry in the atmosphere. The capsule was located rapidly by search teams and helicopters (equipped with infrared cameras). This was live streamed on Chinese media, and was absolutely fascinating to watch.

The capsule was then transported to CAS facilities, and on the 19th of December, a ceremony was held to remove the sample container and weigh the sample, which turned out was 1,731 kg as opposed to the expected 2 kg.
https://bit.ly/3rfLxSi

3) New JV between China Eastern, Juneyao Group, and China Telecom
On December 16th 2020, China Eastern, Juneyao Group, and China Telecom jointly established a joint-venture called KDLink, which is to focus on connected aircraft. China Eastern is one of the Big-3 Chinese airlines with its main hubs in Shanghai; Juneyao Group is the parent company of Juneyao Airlines, with activities also in retail, manufacturing and finance. And China Telecom is China’s oldest telco, with an historical business in providing satellite broadband to airlines among other activities.
How the new JV, KDLink, will bring value, has yet to be determined, but it is clear that it will work on mechanisms to strengthen the business case for inflight connectivity. China currently has a very low rate of connected aircraft (less than 10%), compared to markets such as the US or Europe. Could KDLink be a trigger to a second wave of Chinese IFC?
https://bit.ly/3rir3sn

4) Baidu is Considering Making its own Electric Vehicle
Or outsourcing to other manufacturers, as the case may be. Either way, an article appeared this week quoting “three people with knowledge of the matter” saying that Baidu is considering developing their own electric car through collaboration, potentially with Geely.

Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, was the first billionaire in China to talk about the need to open the space industry to private investment, something he was doing as early as 2014.

This has been another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup. We thank you for your kind attention, and look forward to seeing you next time!
https://cnb.cx/2Wx6FFN

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Видео China Aero & Space Weekly News Round-Up - Episode 12 (14th -20th Dec. 2020) канала Dongfang Hour