The Kuaizhou, based on the system that also launches China’s anti-satellite weapons (tested in 2007), marks China’s efforts to expand its space industrial efforts beyond the two state-owned enterprises that have dominated for the past five decades. The Chinese Kuaizhou-11, a solid rocket booster managed by the commercial company ExPace, failed while trying to launch two Chinese-made commercial satellites. Not all space efforts have been successful. The Beidou network is the third position, navigation, and timing constellation, after America’s GPS and Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System. With the launch of the 30th satellite, Beidou now provides position, navigation, and timing signals globally. China’s first spacecraft to travel to another planet (having already visited the moon), it will include both a lander and a separate rover the size of a small golf cart.Ĭhina has also now completed its Beidou Navigation Satellite System. It will orbit Mars for two years while examining the red planet’s atmosphere.Ĭhina’s Tianwen-1 probe is set to launch on July 23.
The United Arab Emirates’ al-Amal (“Hope”) probe was launched atop a Japanese H-2 rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima launch center. In addition, both the United Arab Emirates and the People’s Republic of China are launching missions to Mars. This week has seen South Korea deploy its first military satellite, making the Republic of Korea the 10th country to deploy a dedicated military communications satellite. Unlike the first Space Age, which was dominated by the two superpowers, this is a far more democratic Space Age, as more and more countries participate in aspects of spaceflight. Among other things, 2020 has been marked by a major revival of the Space Age, almost a Space Age 2.0.
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