Long March-5 Y3 rocket arrives at Wenchang

15:37, October 27, 2019

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  Third Long March 5 awaits final test

  The third Long March 5 carrier rocket was transported to Wenchang, Hainan province, on Sunday and will undergo final tests before its launch, the China National Space Administration said.The third Long March 5 carrier rocket is loaded at Tianjin on Oct 18. The rocket arrived in Wenchang, Hainan province, on Sunday and will undergo final tests before its launch. (Photo: China Daily)It said in a brief statement on Sunday that the rocket, carried by the China Satellite Maritime Tracking and Control Department vessels Yuanwang 21 and Yuanwang 22, left the northern coastal city of Tianjin, where it was built, on Tuesday. It will now be transported by trucks to the Wenchang Space Launch Center for mission preparations, the statement said.The administration did not say when the third Long March 5 mission will take place, only noting that it will occur "at a proper time".Yang Baohua, deputy general manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, said earlier this year that the third Long March 5 mission will be tasked with placing the 8-metric-ton SJ-20 technological demonstration satellite into a geosynchronous orbit. The satellite is the first based on Chinas new-generation DFH 5 satellite platform and will be used to verify several key satellite technologies.The strongest and most technologically sophisticated rocket ever built by China, the Long March 5 has a liftoff weight of 869 tons, and a maximum carrying capacity of 25 tons to a low-Earth orbit, or 14 tons to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Its payload capacity is about 2.5 times bigger than any other Chinese rocket.The gigantic rockets first flight was carried out in November 2016 from the Wenchang center. The second mission was launched in July 2017 at the same site but failed due to structural abnormalities inside the turbine exhaust device of one of the first stages liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen engines.Sources said the rockets future missions include sending the Chang&#39...

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  Migrant rescue ship arrives in Sicily

  The humanitarian rescue ship Ocean Viking arrives at Pozzallo harbor, in Sicily, southern Italy, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019. (Photo: AP)A humanitarian rescue ship operated by two French charities has arrived at a port in Sicily after nearly two weeks blocked at sea.Ocean Viking arrived in Pozzallo on Wednesday morning, 12 days after it rescued 104 migrants from a rubber dinghy off Libya. Ocean Viking refused a Libyan instruction to land there, as it is not considered a place of safety.A solution was reached on Tuesday when Italy said it would allow the migrants to disembark after Germany and France agreed to take them in.SOS Mediterranee, one of the charities that operate the ship, has express relief at the agreement, but noted it was only an ad-hoc solution.The migrants were from eight countries, including Bangladesh, Sudan and Nigeria. They included 41 minors and two pregnant women.

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  Chinese company releases launch plan of commercial rockets

  China Rocket Co. has officially released the launch plan of its first line of commercial rockets under the Smart Dragon series in Beijing on Saturday.Photos: China Rocket Co.The first model in the series – the Smart Dragon-1 – successfully completed its maiden flight earlier in August this year.The Smart Dragon-2 is set to complete its first test flight in 2020, after which the rocket is expected to have the capacity to conduct at least five to eight launches per year. The Smart Dragon-3 is set to complete its first test flight in 2021.Smart Dragon-2The Smart Dragon series also includes a sub-orbital spacecraft, which will allow satellite launches for various purposes in different weights and orbits.Meanwhile, China Rockets Tenglong series are able to carry medium- and large-scale satellites to form constellation networks.Smart Dragon-3The Tenglong vehicles will also feature a reusable launch system, which will allow for the recovery of some or all of a rockets components.China Rocket says its Tenglong series aims for high performance and quick launches."The competitive advantages of the Dragon series of commercial rockets include its ability to build on the high quality of the Long March series of rockets and to provide a variety of launch options," said Li Shaoning, vice general engineer of China Rocket.China Rocket is one of over 150 firms in the countrys commercial space sector since the government opened up the industry in 2014.In the next 10 years, China Rocket plans to raise at least 10 billion yuan, more than 1.4 billion US dollars – with the governments help – for commercial rocket launches.Based on the constellation networking plan among domestic space companies, there will be at least 3,000 satellite launches in the next 10 years. This shows the ambitiousness of Chinas space enterprises, as well the expansion of future demand, said Tang Yagang, president of China Rock...