China Roundup: Chang’e 6 lands on the moon and record-breaking EVA – NASASpaceFlight.com

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China’s Chang’e 6 landed on the far side of the moon and sampled it, while the Shenzhou-18 crew performed a record-breaking spacewalk at the Tiangong Space Station. In addition, ten more rockets have been launched from the country in recent weeks.

Chang’e 6 lands on the far side of the moon

China’s sixth unmanned lunar exploration mission, Chang’e 6, was launched on a Chang Zheng 5 from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. The launch took place on May 3 at 09:27 UTC.

The Chang’e 6 vehicle consists of four main parts: the orbiter, the lander, the ascent vehicle and the sample return capsule. In addition to Chinese scientific payloads, the mission includes several international contributions. The lander is equipped with a French and a Swedish scientific instrument, as well as two Italian laser retroreflectors. In addition, the spacecraft released a Pakistani CubeSat named ICUBE-Q a few days after launch.

After detaching from the orbiter in late May, it landed in the Apollo Basin on the far side of the Moon at 22:23 UTC on June 1. Once on the moon, the lander took samples and deployed a previously secret mini-rover that took a photo of the lander on the lunar surface.

Two days after landing, the ascent vehicle was launched from the Moon on its way back to the orbiter, with liftoff on June 3 at 23:38 UTC. The two arrived in lunar orbit at 06:48 UTC on June 6. The ascent spacecraft transferred the collected sample to the return capsule shortly afterwards.

The next step in the mission timeline is for the return capsule to begin its journey back to Earth. The return and landing are currently scheduled for June 25.

Tiangong crew rotation and record-breaking spacewalk

A crew rotation took place at the Tiangong Space Station in late April. On April 25 at 12:59 UTC, a Chang Zheng 2F delivered the three-man Shenzhou-18 crew into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The spacecraft arrived approximately 6.5 hours later at 19:37 UTC and docked with the space station.

The crew of Shenzhou-18 includes Commander Ye Guangfu, who previously flew on Shenzhou-13. The two other crew members, operator Li Cong and systems operator Li Guangsu, also took part in the mission for their first spaceflight.

A few days after Shenzhou-18’s arrival, the previous crew boarded their spacecraft for departure. Shenzhou-17 broke away from Tiangong at 00:43 UTC on April 30 and landed in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region about nine hours later.

The landing marked the end of a 187-day mission for the crew. Shenzhou-17 commander Tang Hongbo completed his second space flight, his first being Shenzhou-12. The mission’s operator, Tang Shengjie, and the system operator, Jiang Xinlin, both completed their first spaceflight.

About a month after arriving at the Tiangong Space Station, two Shenzhou-18 crew members performed a record-breaking spacewalk. The extravehicular activity (EVA) was conducted on May 28 and at 8.5 hours was the country’s 15th and longest spacewalk to date. During the EVA, Ye Guangfu and Li Guangsu performed multiple tasks, including installing space debris protection equipment and equipment inspections.

Three Gushenxing-1 launches in quick succession

Galactic Energy launched its light Gushenxing-1 (Ceres 1) rocket three times in eight days. The first mission, called Beautiful world, used the Gushenxing-1S which is launched from a sea launch pad. It took off at 08:12 UTC on May 29, carrying four Tianqi Internet of Things (IoT) satellites into low Earth orbit.

The missile was launched from the Dongfang Hangtiangang ship in the coastal waters of China’s Shandong province, a few kilometers from Rizhao city. This was Gushenxing-1’s twelfth mission and the first of the year.

The second Gushenxing-1 launch took place just one day later, on May 30 at 23:39 UTC. The flight took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and launched five satellites into sun-synchronous orbit on a rideshare mission called Heroes. The payload includes three meteorological observation satellites for the Yunyao-1 constellation and two satellites for testing laser communications in space.

A week later, on June 6 at 05:00 UTC, another Gushenxing-1 was launched from Jiuquan. This time it placed three Earth observation satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit. The mission, codenamed Love at the topalso carried the company’s Eros orbital test platform.

Eros is an improved version of the rocket’s upper stage, designed to remain in orbit and function as an in-space testing platform for new devices, technologies and even biological experiments. This time Eros will test an electric thruster in orbit.

Chang Zheng 3B/E | Paksat MM1(R)

A Chang Zheng 3B/E launched the Paksat MM1(R) satellite on May 30 at 12:12 UTC as part of a partnership between China and Pakistan. The satellite was developed and built by China for the Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), which also contributed some instruments to demonstrate its satellite development capabilities.

The spacecraft will replace Paksat MM1, formerly known as AsiaSat 4, which SUPARCO has leased and operated since 2018. Paksat MM1(R) will provide communications services to Pakistan and the surrounding region for an expected service life of 15 years.

Paksat MM1(R) was launched into geostationary orbit from Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China.

Kuaizhou-11 | Four satellites

On May 21 at 04:15 UTC, a Kuaizhou-11 launched four satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The payload included Wuhan-1, claimed to be the country’s first commercial infrared meteorological satellite. This was the third flight – and second successful flight – of the solid-fuel rocket developed by ExPace, a subsidiary of state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).

Chang Zheng 2D | Beijing 3C 1-4

Carrying four satellites, a Chang Zheng 2D lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on May 20 at 03:06 UTC. The payload consisted of the first four Earth observation satellites of the Beijing 3C constellation for Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology (21AT).

This launch was notable because the rocket’s first stage contained a series of lattice fins. With this, the stage performed a controlled reentry and achieved precise control of the final impact location to avoid populated areas.

Chang Zheng 4C | Shiyan 23

A Chang Zheng 4C launched the Shiyan 23 satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit on May 11 at 23:43 UTC for the purpose of ‘detecting the space environment’. Due to the secretive nature of the mission, few details have been revealed. The launch took place from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Chang Zheng 3B/E | Zhihui Tianwang-1 01

Another Chang Zheng 3B/E launched two satellites into medium Earth orbit from Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 01:43 UTC on May 9. At least one of the satellites reportedly arrived at its target orbit at 20,000 km on May 27.

The two Zhihui Tianwang-1 01 satellites are experimental communications satellites, the country’s first in medium Earth orbit and mark the beginning of a larger constellation. The satellites will conduct communications tests with other low-Earth orbit satellites and with China’s Antarctic research stations.

Chang Zheng 6C | Virginal flight

A new rocket was launched for the first time on May 7. Chang Zheng 6C lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 03:21 UTC, carrying four satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit. The latest addition to the Chang Zheng 6 (CZ-6) family can be considered a twin-engine variant of the CZ-6 or a shorter single-stick version of the CZ-6A. The new rocket can lift 4,500 kg to low Earth orbit, or 2,000 kg to a sun-synchronous orbit of 700 km.

The rocket’s first payload included a synthetic aperture radar satellite named Haiwangxing-01 – the first of a constellation of 36. In addition, CZ-6C lifted an X-band radar satellite named Zhixing-1C and two optical imaging satellites.

Chang Zheng 2D | Yaogan 42-02

On April 20 at 23:45 UTC, a Chang Zheng 2D was launched from Launch Complex 3 of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The rocket delivered a top-secret military remote sensing satellite into low Earth orbit. Very little is known about the secret cargo and its mission.

(Main image: The Chang’e 6 lander on the lunar surface, imaged by the lander’s mini rover. Credit: CNSA/CLEP)

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