Reply With QuoteLooks like a Chinabot. Yay.
Final Chinese launch tally surpasses U.S. rocket fleet
Final Chinese launch tally surpasses U.S. rocket fleet
BY STEPHEN CLARK
Posted: December 22, 2011
For the first time since the dawn of the space age, China's Long March rocket family eclipsed the annual flight rate of the U.S. fleet of space launchers Thursday with the successful deployment of a high-resolution mapping satellite.
The Long March 4B rocket lifted off at 11:26 a.m. Beijing time.
A Long March 4B booster lifted off at 0326 GMT Thursday (10:26 p.m. EST Wednesday) from the Taiyuan launching base in Shanxi province, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The 150-foot-tall rocket released a Ziyuan remote sensing satellite into orbit 13 minutes later, according to the Chinese defense ministry.
Chinese officials said the mission was flawless, marking the country's 18th successful space launch in 19 tries this year. The United States is 17-for-18 with flights of the space shuttle and the Atlas, Delta, Taurus and Minotaur rocket systems.
No more space launchings are scheduled from China or the United States this year.
China's mark of 19 satellite blastoffs also sets a record for the Chinese space program. The previous high for Chinese launches in a year was set last year with 15 flights.
U.S. launches this year completed construction of the International Space Station and deployed scientific probes to Jupiter, the moon and Mars. Chinese rockets sent more commercial payloads into space than the United States, and they launched two spaceships for the country's historic first docking in orbit, laying the foundation for a manned flight next year.
Russian and Ukrainian launchers have lifted off 33 times this year, but three of those missions ended in at least partial failures. Those numbers include two Soyuz flights from the European-owned spaceport in French Guiana, and a Zenit rocket mission from the commercial U.S.-based Sea Launch platform in the Pacific Ocean.
The Ziyuan 1-2C satellite launched Thursday is flying 478 miles above Earth with an orbital inclination of about 98.5 degrees, the defense ministry said in a posting on its website.
The 4,630-pound spacecraft was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology and is the country's first high-resolution remote sensing satellite, according Xinhua.
But secret spy satellites can likely produce sharper images.
Ziyuan 1-2C carries black-and-white and color cameras to provide officials with imagery for land resource surveys, disaster relief services, agriculture development, forestry, water conservation, environmental monitoring, city planning and other applications, according to Xinhua and the Chinese defense ministry.
The defense ministry said on its website that China will launch more than 20 satellites in 2012 to "further promote the development of the aerospace industry, national scientific and technological progress and economic development."
Missions next year include the launch of at least one human space mission to manually dock with Tiangong 1, a prototype orbital laboratory designed to test technologies for a Chinese space station.
Looks like a Chinabot. Yay.
Originally Posted by beijingwalker
But not per tonnage. I am sure.
this year. Perhaps we can tally up the past 50 yrs of launches we have had? Do we get three points for landing someone on the moon?
China is still playing catching up,no doubt about it,but what the future holds for China is pretty bright,it develops so fast.
Yeah, it really helps when you can copy someone else's homework.
how come that only China can "copy"your homework,not everyone else?there are about 200 countries on this planet.
if they surpass in busiest Airport, port, bus terminal, railways, etc won't surprised they have billion++ something people and they need to move, however to surpass in Rocket fleet, well this is quite surprising.
China still lag a lot in terms of lift power. But China's rocket appears very reliable. 18 out of 19 successful launches. Way to go.
And you copy from all of them. (Well, those who have something worth copying and are stupid enough to let you anyway.)
(Leers at Rosobornexport and Sukhoi), Seriously Bwalker, how many threads/posts are you going to make about the "glorious" people's republic in one day?
Yeah it's getting a little excessive, how about some variety huh?
On topic: Who's designs etc did they copy to make this launcher? Does anyone actually know or are we just throwing that old "China copy= their shlt" thing?
there are many types of them
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March_(rocket_family)
The same way the US fleet supassed that of UK, or the Spanish fleet surpassed one of China's Zeng HE. Apollo? US had an unsuccessful attempt in reviving it. So no, you don't get extra points, just a notable place in history. Thousand years ago area of my current country had the same population density like in the area of today's Britain. Today there is a ten-fold difference. Chinese built the first stages of Great wall when they had only 5 milion people. Times do change. Face the future.
Except when we have a great infrastructure in space to begin with. China is at the begining of being a space faring country which requires more launches than america needs to maintain its resources.
Posting Permissions
