Chinese Space Program 11 - International Protests of a Chinese Test of an Anti-Satellite System

           The United States military utilizes low earth orbit satellites for guiding "smart" bombs, military communication networks and surveillance. The Chinese 2007 demonstration of the capability to destroy satellites in orbit showed that U.S. satellites were now vulnerable to destruction by countries which might be enemies in the future. The U.S. lodged a protest with the Chinese government over the test which destroyed an old Chinese weather satellite. The U.S.

Chinese Space Program 9 - Satellite Launches from 2007 to Present

          Today I am going to talk about recent Chinese satellite launches. In 2007 China launched two navigation satellite, an ocean survey satellite,  a Nigerian communication satellite, two remote sensing satellites, two communication satellites, a Brazilian remote sensing satellite and a lunar orbiter. 

Chinese Space Program 8 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center

          Today I am going to start a series of posts about Chinese launch facilities. The first facility I am going to cover is the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center(JSLC). The JSLC is located about a thousand miles west of Beijing in the Gobi desert. It is over three thousand feet above sea level. The very dry location which has extended daylight hours.

Chinese Space Program 7 - Other Countries Satellites 1

           I mentioned in a previous post that China has been building and launching satellites for other countries. This is not a unique practice since other countries have launched satellites for countries without their own space programs. However, in most cases, these other countries launch services have been aimed at making money. In China's case, there seems to be more to it.

Chinese Space Program 6 - History 6

              In the fall of 2011, China launched its first space station, the Tiangong 1, aboard a Long March 2F/G rocket. It was launched into orbit without a crew. Its mission was to serve as manned laboratory and a test platform for orbital rendezvous. The Tiangong 1was remotely maneuver into different obits during its mission. The Tiangong 1 is intended to be the first in a series of three Tiangong space stations with the largest to be launched in 2023.

Chinese Space Program 3 - History 3

       The Cultural Revolution, which was started by Mao in 1966, convulsed China. During the Cultural Revolution, many bureaucrats, teachers, and other professionals were purged and forced to work in the countryside as Mao sought to removed "capitalist" elements from positions of authority. The turbulence that ensued did serious social and economic damage to China.   

Chinese Space Program 2 - History 2

         At the end of World War II, the Russians and the Americans both captured German rocket scientists and rocket technology. Mao Zedong led a communist revolution and rose to power in China in1949. Concerned with the U.S. threat to use nuclear weapons in the Korean War in the early Fifties, Mao decided that China needed to have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them in order to be respected and taken seriously by the other major powers.

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