China has launched its ninth crewed mission to the Tiangong space station, coinciding with the 55th anniversary of the launch of Dongfanghong-1, the country’s first satellite. Meanwhile, China has achieved the world’s first network of satellites using a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) in Earth-Moon space, with its DRO-B satellite completing a final manoeuver this month.
What’s more, the commercial space sector continues to expand at a rapid pace, with LandSpace having completed the assembly of its first ZhuQue-3 rocket and the 100th Tianque engine rolling off the production line in Huzhou.
Shenzhou 20 to launch to Tiangong
The Shenzhou 20 mission launched from Site 901 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Thursday, April 24, at 09:17 UTC. The mission marked the country’s 15th crewed launch to date and ninth mission to Tiangong. The first segment of the Tiangong space station launched in April 2021, and the station has been continuously occupied by taikonauts for over 1,300 days.
Sheznhou 20 crew from left to right: Wang Jie, Chen Dong, and Chen Zhongrui. (Credit: CMSA)
The three taikonauts aboard this flight were selected in February and were announced the day before launch, as is tradition. Taikonaut Chen Dong is commanding the mission and making his third trip to orbit. He previously flew on the Shenzhou-11 and Shenzhou-14 missions and has spent a total of 214 days in space to date.
Dong is joined by two crewmates who have flown to space for the first time. Mission Operator Chen Zhongrui was previously an air force pilot and Science Operator Wang Jie was an engineer with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CAST). The new crew will spend six months aboard Tiangong and is scheduled to return to Earth in October. During their time aboard the orbiting outpost, they will perform extravehicular activities (EVA) and science experiments. Thus far, China has successfully carried out 20 EVAs on Tiangong.
The Shenzhou 20 spacecraft will autonomously dock with the Tiangong station around six and a half hours after launch. The three will relieve Shenzhou 19 taikonauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze from their current rotation on the station. This Shenzhou 19 crew will return to Earth shortly after an official handover ceremony, having spent six months aboard the station. During that time, Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdon conducted three spacewalks, including a world record-breaking nine-hour and six-minute excursion, which added space debris protection to the exterior of Tiangong.
Chang Zheng 2F/G Y20 is rolled to the pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. (Credit: CCTV)
The three also conducted 88 science experiments and will return with samples from their research aboard the station. The taikonauts are currently scheduled to leave on April 28, landing at the Dongfeng site in the Badain Jaran Desert of Inner Mongolia the following morning at approximately 06:04 UTC. With Shenzhou 20, China will have launched 26 taikonauts into orbit, with a number visiting two or three times. Jing Haipeng currently holds the record for the most visits, having visited space four times.
The Chang Zheng 2F/G (CZ-2F/G) is currently China’s only crew-rated rocket. A recent redesign of the capsule interior has reportedly increased the payload capacity by 20% and the craft also has higher resolution cameras on board. The Y20 vehicle had been rolled out to the pad a week before launch for final pre-flight testing. Tiangong had also been maneuvered into the proper position for the Shenzhou 20 craft to dock. This launch date, which also coincides with China’s 10th Space Day, was chosen as the most optimal launch window that required the least amount of adjustments by the station.
Upcoming Chinese human spaceflight plans
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) recently announced that taikonauts from its fourth batch will start flying next year. Following February’s agreement with Pakistan to collaborate on human spaceflight, two Pakistani astronauts will begin training ahead of their visit to Tiangong as payload specialists. The pair will undergo a three-stage screening process, with final selections made in China. One of them will become the first foreign national to visit the Chinese station.
Render of the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft (left) and Lanyue Lander (right) (Credit: CMS/CCTV)
CMSA also gave a progress update on its lunar exploration plans. The Chang Zheng 10 (CZ-10) vehicle has been undergoing electrical system testing and will soon conduct a low-altitude hop test and a static fire. The Mengzhou capsule, which will carry China’s first taikonauts beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO), has been conducting high-altitude drop trials and will soon undergo an in-flight abort demonstration.
The Lanyue lunar lander has undergone thermal evaluations and will soon enter the landing testing phase of development. Rumours currently suggest that the third CZ-10 mission could carry a crewed Mengzhou capsule into lunar orbit for the first time in 2028. Two launches will be required to loft both the capsule and the Lanyue lander to orbit. The rocket’s maiden launch is expected to carry Lanyue for the first time, which will initially conduct an uncrewed landing on the Moon. The fourth and fifth CZ-10 launches are currently expected to carry the hardware for the first crewed lunar landing before the end of the decade.
Construction continues on the new Launch Complex 301 (LC-301) pad, which will support launch of the CZ-10 and its shorter CZ-10A cargo variant, which is expected to fly before the maiden flight of the CZ-10. This vehicle will act as a pathfinder for the crewed vehicle, demonstrating the new five-meter core stage and YF-100K engines. The rocket is scheduled to fly no earlier than late 2025, but this timeline could slip into next year. Both rockets will fly from the Wenchang Space Launch Center. China recently shared an update on Wenchang’s future, showing plans for additional launch pads.
Proposed future pad layout in Wenchang. The vehicle assembly building and pad LC-101 are seen far right, while Commercial LC-1 and LC-2 are bottom center, with eight planned pads to their left. (Credit: CCTV)
Two new pads will support CZ-10 launches, located to the left of the existing Launch Complex 101 (LC-101) and accessible via roads leading from the assembly building. The adjacent commercial spaceport is operated by the Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch company (HICAL).
This site currently has a dedicated pad for Chang Zheng 8 vehicles and another that supports up to 19 of the country’s new generation of commercially developed liquid-powered vehicles. The model indicates an intention to build an additional eight pads, with the third and fourth already under construction, which will follow the same “universal” design as the Commercial Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) pad.
A second CZ-8A recently arrived at the Wenchang spaceport, while another CZ-8 has been waiting to launch the next batch of Qianfan flat-packed internet satellites before the end of the month. Images have also emerged of Galactic Energy’s Zhishenxing-1 medium-lift vehicle, also known as Pallas-1, which is scheduled for its maiden launch from Commercial LC-2 this August.
Galactic Energy’s medium-lift Zhishenxing-1 (Pallas-1) in the assembly building (Credit: CCTV)
Distant retrograde orbit missions create Earth-Moon constellation
New details have emerged regarding the salvage of two satellites, which were initially believed to be stranded in LEO. As a result of rescuing the pair and their mission, China has established the world’s first constellation of three satellites using a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) with its Earth-Moon navigation network.
A Chang Zheng 2C rocket launched the initial pair of DRO-A and DRO-B satellites from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on March 13, 2024. The two satellites were developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). As the names suggest, they were intended to settle into a DRO around the Moon. Characterized by prograde motion around the Earth and retrograde motion around the Moon, a DRO provides a stable, periodic orbit in the Earth-Moon system, which requires minimal station-keeping.
While the project celebrates its entry into DRO with low energy consumption, this wasn’t part of the original mission profile. An anomaly on the vehicle’s Yuanzheng-1S upper stage left the two satellites stranded in LEO, spinning wildly at over 200 degrees per second. The solar arrays became disjointed due to centrifugal forces, and the satellites were left with a perigee, or the lowest point of an orbit, of less than half the intended 292,000 km.
One of the DRO-A/B satellites with damaged solar arrays. (Credit: Xinhua)
Against the odds, and applying complex calculations, the engineering team managed to stabilise the craft and perform an insertion into a lunar orbit some 123 days later, after a journey of 8.5 million km. Rather than using a more traditional but propellant-heavy Hohmann transfer, the small craft used a series of orbital maneuvers and corrections, including three gravity assists, to maneuver into position. A series of small engine burns gradually increased the satellites’ apogee, or the highest point of an orbit, and the satellites completed a lunar transfer and DRO entry using only one-fifth of the propellant that maneuvers to DRO would usually require.
The third satellite in the constellation, DRO-L, was previously launched into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) in February 2024 and now communicates with its siblings via K-band microwave signals. DRO-A remains in DRO, while DRO-B recently left DRO at the end of last month and now operates in Earth-Moon space, according to the CAS’s Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization. Together, the three make up a cislunar network that will support China’s lunar campaign.
The constellation provides key infrastructure that will support autonomous navigation and orbit determination services, as well as communication between Earth and the Moon. It can track multiple assets in cislunar space and will provide high-precision time signals for activities on the lunar surface.
The first ZhuQue 3 being assembled. (Credit: Landspace)
Chinese commercial space sector continues to boom
Chinese company LandSpace has continued to make staggering progress on its rockets and engines, with the 100th Tianque engine recently rolling off LandSpace’s production line this month. The company will use nine of these on the first stage of its forthcoming ZhuQue-3 (ZQ-3) rocket, which is due to take its maiden flight in the second half of this year. The company’s Huzhou facility is reportedly capable of supporting the production of up to 200 engines and 15 launch vehicles per year, and Landspace is investing heavily in its rocket assembly and testing site located nearby in Jiaxing.
The first stage of the initial ZQ-3 vehicle recently completed assembly and will now undergo ground testing and verification tests on its two stages. It could launch from Jiuquan as early as July and is set to become China’s first reusable launch vehicle. LandSpace won’t, however, attempt to land a first stage until a later mission next year.
LandSpace’s engine manufacturing now incorporates 3D printing technologies, which have increased production rates and reduced waste. ZQ-3 is similar in height and payload capacity to the Falcon 9, but is constructed from stainless steel. Last September’s 10 km hop test demonstrated several key aspects, including an in-flight engine restart and precise control over landing, with the vehicle landing less than two meters from its intended target.
Tianque engines in the factory. (Credit: CCTV)
Its predecessor, the ZhuQue-2 (ZQ-2), became the world’s first methane-burning rocket to reach orbit in December 2022. An enhanced ZhuQue-2E (ZQ-2E) version made its debut last November, utilizing the Tianque 15A vacuum-optimized engine, which will also power the upper stage of the ZQ-3. The vehicle has since entered mass production at the company’s Jiaxing factory, with at least one vehicle ready for delivery and launch.
Following its inaugural launch, the ZQ-2E was expected to fly more than once before the end of last year; however, five months later, the vehicle has yet to launch again. The delays may be attributed to a performance issue noted on one of the five engines during that maiden flight. Unconfirmed rumours have suggested the SatNet test satellites, which flew aboard a Chang Zheng 2D at the start of the month, were originally contracted to fly aboard the ZQ-2E.
The ZQ-2E currently uses the Tianque-12A (TQ-12A) version of the engine, as will the initial ZQ-3 vehicle. Latest images from the factory have shown the improved TQ-12B model for the first time, which will eventually power the ZQ-3. The first stage of the new vehicle is expected to be tested soon at a new static fire test stand in Qiankun, which is nearing completion.
HOS-1 platform, which will support launches at the Haiyang Spaceport. (Credit: Space Pioneer)
While LandSpace has been making staggering progress with ZQ-3, other companies in China’s commercial space sector have also been making significant strides.
Space Pioneer is expected to conduct a static fire of its Tianlong-3 rocket from its offshore HOS-1 platform at the Haiyang Spaceport in the near future. The company’s previous test in Gongyi last June resulted in the first stage unintentionally lifting off due to a structural failure in the stand’s anchoring mechanism, which has since delayed the rocket’s development. The maiden launch is currently expected to take place in July or August.
With a capacity of 17,000 kg to LEO and 14,000 kg to SSO, the company describes the vehicle as a direct competitor to the Falcon 9, stating that it will have the largest capacity in China’s current commercial space industry. Space Pioneer displayed a revised version of its future Tianlong-3M single-core rocket topped with a crewed vehicle at this month’s National Defense Science and Technology Expo in Shanghai. The company describes the reusable spaceplane as being part of its longer-term vision and claims it could one day carry 60 passengers in point-to-point journeys around the Earth.
(Lead image: Chang Zheng 2F/G lifts off with the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft – Credit: CCTV)
