Tianwen-1 orbit insertion, ESPI Asia NewSpace report, Space in CNY Gala - Weekly News Round-Up Ep 20

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 8 - 14 Feb.

0:00 Welcome and news summary
1:19 Tianwen-1 orbital insertion
6:37 ESPI New Space in Asia report
15:45 Chinese New Year!

1) Tianwen-1 inserts itself successfully in to Martian orbit
China’s Mars exploration spacecraft, composed of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, successfully inserted itself into Martian orbit by firing its main thrust engine (3000N) during approx. 15 mins, lowering its velocity sufficiently to be “captured” by the red planet’s gravitational field. Tianwen-1 has inserted itself in a highly elliptical orbit with a periapsis of 400 km and an orbital plane inclination of 10°. While we are still in the early stages of the mission, this is a historical moment for China, as it’s the first time it has inserted a spacecraft in a orbit beyond the Earth orbit, becoming the 6th country to do so after the US, Russia, Europe, India, and the UAE. This happened just days before the UAE’s HOPE mission inserted itself successfully in orbit around the red planet, and a couple of days before the US Mars 2020 mission follows suit (although its only a lander/rover for Mars 2020).

Worth mentioning also, we saw China publish some cool videos during the orbital insertion maneuvers, notably:
Footage from a camera locked onto the solar panels
Footage from a camera locked onto the high-gain antenna
In both cases, you see at some point Mars emerge from behind the spacecraft. While initially overexposed, the image soon reveals clearly the features of the Martian surface, and even shows some vibrations on the Tianwen-1 spacecraft as a result of the engine ignition. Definite some very cool footage.
https://bit.ly/3atW9a6

2) Publication of the ESPI Report “New Space in Asia”, including DFH (and GT!) contribution for the China Part
Detailed report published earlier this week about the large and growing “New Space” sector in Asia. While our personal favorite would clearly be the Chinese market, the report provides a great deep-dive into a number of other regional space industries, with most every chapter written by an expert of their respective market.

The report is highly recommended as a primer for understanding several of the world’s fastest-growing space industries.
https://bit.ly/3qG8qxT

3) Happy New Year of the Ox! + Chinese New Year Art of Social Media
China this week has also officially entered the year of the ox, according to its traditional lunar calendar. This probably means that the upcoming week will be quite slow in terms of news as the entire country basically shuts off during 7 to 10 days, although this year might be a bit exceptional since many have decided not to return to their home towns due to the strict testing and sometimes mandatory quarantine periods when travelling between provinces.

The cool part from a space point of view however, is that we have the traditional Chinese new year artwork from space companies--we have posted a few selections on the DFHour Twitter Handle and LinkedIn page, be sure to check them out!

Also another event worth noting: the traditional Chinese New Year gala, which is watched by almost every household on the night of CNY (interestingly while the TV is generally on with 春晚, people aren’t generally watching it with too much attention). During this new year gala, the spotlight was given to Chinese space during 3 whole minutes, during which the presentator invited the Chief designers of some of China’s most ambitious projects, including Chang'e 5, Tianwen 1, the crewed space program, and Beidou.
Each and everyone of them announced “good news”, announcing the successful orbital insertion, the 100% “made in China” Beidou systems, the safety of the Shenzhou spacecraft, and the return of the Chang’e 5 mission (and of which the capsule was on stage).

When you watch the video and when you think a little bit how important a space country China is becoming. And by observing the way the space part of the Gala was set up (music, content, …), you realize how strong the Chinese pride is for their latest achievements.
https://bit.ly/3pojD4p

This has been another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup. If you’ve made it this far, we thank you for your kind attention, and look forward to seeing you next time!

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