ChallenBlog

On Monday 1st Dec,2008,  “Yaogan 4″ (called Jianbing-8 by some foreign countries) is launched successfully from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Yaogan 4 launched

This “Yaogan  IV” satellite is going to help on land resources surveying, crop yield estimate and disaster prevention and relief.

It is launched by Long March-2D Launch vehicle, and this is the 113th launch of China’s Long March family.

The Yaogan series of remote sensing satellites are launched on:
“Yaogan I”   (Jianbing-5) - April 27th, 2006 from Taiyuan launch center
“Yaogan II”  (Jianbing-6) - May 25th, 2007  from Jiuquan launch center
“Yaogan III” (Jianbing-7) - Nov 12th, 2007  from Taiyuan launch center
“Yaogan  IV”(Jianbing-8) - Dec 1st, 2008   from Jiuquan launch center

Data from Chang’e-1 tells ever accurate positions of the vertex and nadir of the moon for the first time. As measured, the moon is more spherical than the Earth.

The oblateness of the moon is calculated as 1/963.7256. Compared to that of the Earth’s 1/298.257, “the shape of the moon is closer to a perfect sphere”, scientist said.

On November 12th, China revealed the complete image of the moon’s surface based on the photographs taken by Chang’e-1. since the nadir and vertex of the moon are located in the polar area and the back side of the moon, respectively, people can’t see them from earth.  The laser altimeter carried by Chang’e-1 helped to find out the most accurate vertex and nadir of the moon for the first time. “So far the distance precision of other countries’ moon models is generally more than 100m, but our model’s precise is within 30m.”

(Nov 29th, 2008) China’s first regional jet, ARJ21-700, completed its maiden flight in Shanghai.

arj21-700 takes off

Now ARJ21-700 is owned by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. (CACC). The maiden flight of the ARJ21-700 was ever planned to take place in 2005, and was planned with formal handing over of the first aircraft for use 18 months afterwards. But the design work was delayed and the final trial production stage didn’t begin until June 2006. The first ARJ21-700 was rolled out on 21 December 2007, and its first flight was planned in Mar 2008. It was then delayed to Sept 2008 because of the delivery delay of a key subsystem by American company. In May 2008, newly established CACC took over ARJ21-700 project. In August 2008, ARJ21-700’s maiden flight was delayed again to Oct 2008. Now it was finally and successfully completed.

In the next 12 to 18 months, 4 ARJ21-700 are going to complete a series of flight tests and get FAR-25 certificate (Federal Aviation Regulation - part 25).

arj21-700

ARJ21-700’s Engine is GE’s CF34-10A, some subsystems are from Rockwell Collins and Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation. So it is still far far away from “100% home-made”.

ARJ21 Variants:
* ARJ21-700 – baseline model having a capacity of 70 to 95 passengers.
* ARJ21-900 – stretched fuselage model based on the ARJ-700, which will have a capacity of 95 to 105 passengers.
* ARJ21F – dedicated freighter version of the ARJ21-700, with a maximum payload of 10,150 kg.
* ARJ21B – business jet version of ARJ21-700.

Nov 19th, by Associated Press Of Pakistan ：Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal on Wednesday said 36 combat aircraft FC-20 (FC-20, also known as J-10) would be inducted in the PAF fleet by 2010. These aircraft are of Chinese origin and would provide an extra punch to Pakistan air force. This double confirms the 36 J-10 combat aircraft that PAF talked about in September 2008.

Chief of Air Staff said, with the help of China, JF-17 (Thunder, called FC-1 in China) would be inducted in the PAF fleet in the first quarter of 2009, enhancing agility of the air force whereby increasing its reach beyond 350 nautical miles. He added, after laborious day in and day out efforts, the PAF has acquired the night war capability. The US would supply improved version of F-16 aircraft to PAF by 2010.

China Aviation Industry Corporation said, the development of Xinzhou-700 passenger aircraft has recently started, which is planned to enter market in 2014.

Xinzhou-700 is going to use the world’ leading technologies. One of its goals is getting FAA (Federal Aviation Administration, US) certification and  EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) certification. They will allow Xinzhou-700 to target at comprehensively global market.

The Xinzhou series is a new generation of passenger aircrafts developed by China, of which Xinzhou-60 and Xinzhou-600 have been released. Xinzhou-60’s development work was successfully completed in 2000. So far it has a total of 149 signed contracts/intents. Xinzhou-600’s maiden flight was conducted last month, and its first plane will be delivered in the second half of 2009.

Dalai Lama:
“Tibet government-in-exile is representative of Tibetans and their interests.”

China’s central govement:
The central government of the People’s Republic of China and the people’s government of the Tibet autonomous region represent the ethnic minorities in Tibet. The so-called “Tibet government-in-exile” has been created by a small group of separatists. It has been engaged in splitting activities and sabotage for decades. Its existence is illegal and no state in the world recognizes it.

China’s central govement is willing to talk with Dalai Lama’s private representatives only, not so-called “Tibet government-in-exile”.

China’s East Sea Fleet took delivery of its first 10,000-ton hospital ship on Oct. 23, Ship 866. But it has been described as a mistery ship and is probably attack armature (just search for “hospital ship 866″ on Internet).

Ship 866 marks an important breakthrough in maritime emergency equipment manufacturing for China, making the country one of the few that has medical care and emergency rescue capabilities on the high seas. As China’s economy grows, navy definitely wants this to happen.

Ship 866 is designed and outfitted for both wartime and peacetime operations on medical care. A photo of the ship appears to show a rear helicopter deck. But its helicopter certainly has no attack capibility. In contrast, US has USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), whose displacement is 41,100 ton full load, almost 4 times of hospital carrier 866. Although her medical facilities are second in capability only to the Navy’s hospital ships, USNS Comfort and Mercy, it is also/still a amphibious assault ship.

So 10,000-ton hospital ship is still a hospital ship.

Major General Quan Lihua said on November 17th, China has the right to build its own aircraft carrier, the world shouldn’t be surprised at it. He emphasized:”The great powers having more than 10 aircraft carrier battle groups with strategic military objectives have a different purpose from countries who have one or two carriers and use it for offshore defense only”, “Even if one day we have an aircraft carrier, unlike another country we won’t use it to pursue global deployment or global reach.”

Of China’s 3 million square kilometers of sea area, 52% is in dispute with neighbour countries. The sovereignty of about 50 islands is in dispute, too. Facing serious situation,  China’s PLA navy is on hard times.

Taiwan is a big trouble because of US. Tensions between China and the United States were recently heightened after the Pentagon announced the sale of $6 billion in advanced weapons to Taiwan. China reacted angrily but only literally to the news.

Even with so many threats around, China commits to use future aircraft carrier for defense purpose only. “The question is not whether you have an aircraft carrier, but what you do with your aircraft carrier”. China never wants to show up as an aggressive country.

“To date, China is capable of building aircraft carrier, but when to build it has not been determined”, Huang Qiang, a spokesman for the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense of China (CSTIND), said on 8th Jan, 2007.

With Indian Tricolour placed on the Moon’s surface, India is actually joining the space race with Japan and China, as an aggressive competitor. china’s Chang’e-1 VS India’s Chandrayaan-1?

(1) Goals

Maps are their goals in common. Chang’e-1 aimed at the three-dimensional images of the lunar surface, Chandrayaan-1 wants to map not only the surface of the moon, but what lies beneath.

Chang’e-1 is probing useful elements on the Moon surface and analyzing the elements and material. Chandrayaan-1 aims at high-resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of the permanently shadowed north and south polar regions, and will search for surface or sub-surface water-ice on the Moon, specially at the lunar poles.

(2) Payloads and Instruments

Chang’e-1 satellite weighs 2,350 kg, with 130 kg of payload, a total of 9 instruments, and All of Chang’e-1’s instruments are domestically manufactured. Chandrayaan-1’s scientific payload has a total mass of only 90 kg and contains 5 Indian instruments and 6 foreign instruments. But Moon Impact Probe (MIP) is what highlight Chandrayaan-1, while Chang’e-1 is to place nothing but itself on the Moon when the mission is over.

china’s Chang’e-1:
* Stereo camera with an optical resolution of 120 m and spectrometer imager from 0.48 µm to 0.96 µm wavelength.
* Laser altimeter with 1064 nm, 150 mJ laser, a range resolution of 1 m and a spot size of 300 m.
* Imaging spectrometer
* Gamma and X-ray spectrometer for an energy range from 0.5 to 50 keV for x-rays and 300 keV to 9 MeV for gamma rays.
* Microwave radiometer detecting 3, 7.8, 19.35 and 37 GHz with a maximal penetration depth of 30, 20, 10, 1 m and a thermal resolution of 0.5 K.
* High energy particle detector and two solar wind detectors capable of the detection of electrons and heavy ions up to 730 MeV.

India’s Chandrayaan-1:
* Terrain Mapping Camera is a CCD camera with 5 m resolution and a 40 km swath in the panchromatic band and will be used to produce a high-resolution map of the Moon
* Hyper Spectral Imager will perform mineralogical mapping in the 400-900 nm band.
* Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument determines the height of the surface topography by sending pulses of infrared laser light towards the lunar surface and detecting the reflected portion of that light.
* X-ray fluorescence spectrometer covering 1- 10 keV, will map the abundance of Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, and Fe at the surface with a ground resolution of 25 km, and will detect solar flux
* HEX is a High Energy X-ray/gamma ray spectrometer for 30 – 200 keV measurements with ground resolution of 40 km.
* Moon Impact Probe developed by the ISRO, is an impact probe which was ejected and successfully landed at the lunar south pole.
* and other foreign instruments.

(3) Orbits and mission durations

Chang’e-1 stays at a 200km high orbit. Chandrayaan-1 is running at its final 100 km circular orbit. Japan’s lunar craft is also orbitting at an altitude of 100km. The reason why China chooses a higher orbit may be that China wants to ensure the safety of Chang’e-1.

Chang’e-1 ’s mission duration is only 1 year, But some experts said it can be expanded to 2 years. As of now, it looks like that it will work in that way. Chandrayaan-1’s lifetime is designed to be 2 years.

(4) Foreign technologies

Both China and India are using foreign technologies on the lunar probe. They are able to succeed in the first attempts partially because they are gaining help from Europe or US. But India is more relying on foreign collaboration.

Overall, Chang’e-1’s payloads weighs more than Chandrayaan-1’s (China’s launch vehicle is better). All of its instruments are developed by China. Chandrayaan-1 uses more advanced technologies, but some of them are from foreign countries and institutions.

India has already caught up with China, with something even ahead of China.

As China announced a $586 billion stimulus package, Shanghai Composite soared 7.3%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 3.5%. The largest beneficiary turned out to be QFII (Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors).

The stimulus package itself doesn’t come with surprises. It includes loosening of credit restrictions, tax cuts and a massive infrastructure spending program.The money will be spent in the next two years to finance several areas, like low-income housing, technological innovation, and rebuilding from several disasters.

Something wired is that before China’s stimulus announcement, QFII had kept buying stock for one week. Over that week, Shanghai stock market was at its historic low after listed companies published their bad business reports. The timing is surprisingly precise. Many people suspect that someone had leaked the information before China government announced the stimulus plan.

In Zhuhai airshow, Ukraine’s Antonov displayed a model of the large An-70 military transport aircraft, based on which China and Ukraine are to jointly develop An-70-600.

China has decided to develop its own large military transport aircraft. But since it will anyway be a really though process, joint development definitely becomes a good choice for China. IL-76 and An-70 are basically the only possible prototypes of China’s future military transport aircraft.

IL-76’s development started in 1960s and succeeded in 1975. It is real large transport aircraft in term of load, which is similar to US’ C-141. An-70 is a joint project of Ukraine and Russia starting in 1994. It is only a medium transport aircraft but its load weight is just below large transport aircraft’s. An -70 uses the latest world-class manufacturing technology. Composite materials accounts for almost 24% of its weight.

However, due to various factors An-70 project is still under development. In 1995 the first prototype was lost in a collision. Starting as early as in 2000, Russia and Ukraine  was seeking for new partner to join it.  The second prototype encountered crash landing in Jun 2001. In April 2006, Russia ever announced its complete withdrawal from the project.

Now China has chosen An-70, not IL-76, for the future military transport aircraft. New An-70-600 transport aircraft’s max payload is expected be 48t-50t compared to An-70’s 47t. One of China’s requirements is that An-70-600’s flight range should reach at least 3200km when carrying max load. China also hopes that it can carry at least 3 China-made infantry fighting vehicles, or 120-150 paratroopers.

Antonov exhibitor said the above-mentioned requirements shouldn’t have exceeded but are close to An-70’s max design capabilities. However, he said: Antonov company has the ability to help the Chinese military to complete the project.

An-70 model at zhuhai airshow

An-70 General characteristics:

* Crew: 3-5
* Capacity: 300 troops or 206 wounded
* Payload: 47 tonne
* Length: 40.7 m
* Wingspan: 44.06 m
* Height: 16.38 m
* Empty weight: 66,230 kg
* Loaded weight: 108,860 kg
* Max takeoff weight: 145,000 kg
* Powerplant: 4× Progress D-27 propfans, 10,350 kW each

An-70 Performance:

* Maximum speed: 780 km/h
* Range: 6,600 km with 20 tonnes of cargo
* Ferry range: 8,000 km
* Service ceiling 12,000 m
* Rate of climb: 24.9 m/s

It is a 40-years evolvement from FT-2 to FT-3 in term of laser guidance technology. FT-2 uses 1960s laser guidance tech that is used by US troop in Vietnam war, but FT-3 adopts the latest tech. FT-3 has 2 bomb loads: 250 kg and 500kg. The probability of meter-level damage is 90%. It has 3 launch modes: airdrop, swoop-drop, or direct-drop. It can inflict damage on various enemy targets, such as communication agencies, command centers, power systems.

China's FT-3 accurate laser guided bomb

Laser-guided missiles are normally used for those targets that need pinpoint accuracy. But a disadvantage of laser-guided missiles is that their guidance systems do not work well all-weather. If it is cloudy, the water droplets in the air can cause the laser to diffract.

China Aerospace Science and Industry Group brought a total of 6 types of anti-ship missiles:
C-802A, C-705, C-602,  C-701, C-704, and C-704KD (an upgraded version of c-704).

c-602

c-602 engine

C-602 long-range airborne anti-ship missiles is a upgraded version of China’s early anti-ship missile. Its greatest precision range is up to 70 km. Its HVTD killing component can damage 3000t-8000t ships. The guidance system which supports both GPS and Beidou “2-satellite” navigation system, has increased its attack precision to up to 90%.

TY-90 is a small multi-element IR short-range missile. TY-90 can equip attack helicopter to carry out air strikes, and is able to work with unmanned aerial vehicles to be a comprehensive inspect-and-attack system.

TY-90 at Zhuhai airshow

It is the first missile in the world that is designed to used by attack helicopter specifically for air superiority at low altitude, air combat, escorting, and battlefield interception.

TY-90 at Zhuhai airshow 2

- Length: 1862mm

- Diameter: 90mm

- Weight: 20kg

- Max launch range: 6000m

- Max overload: >=20g

- Max fly speed: > 2.0M

- Single kill probability: 0.8

- Launch mode: rail or container

TY-90 missile used multiple infrared seeker,with outstanding unjammable performance. It can effectively deal with such armed helicopters as AH-64, Mi-28, Ka-50/52, tiger, A129, as well as low-flying Su-25, A-10 attack aircraft.

China’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) model appears at Zhuhai airshow. This remote controlled UAV has the attack capability similar to MQ-1 Predator, but has a shape similar to RQ-4 Global Hawk. Some Chinese medias just call it China’s Global Hawk.

China's UAV in development

US' RQ-4 Global Haw

The being-exhibited UAV model carries 2 TY-90 dogfight missiles and 2 AR-1 air-to-surface missiles (ASM).

The marketing Minister of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group (CASTG) said, they are primarily responsible for TY-90 missile project. This medium-sized missile can be easily used by helicopters and unmanned combat aircraft. China’s third-generation IR homing technology makes it more unjammable.

That Minister also said, they are not in charge of AR-1 missile project, but they know AR-1 ASM is in the military’s test phase.

China bought Harpy from Israel in mid-1990s. but even though in 2004 China still relied on Israel for repairing a Harpy UAV. In 2008 sichuan earthquake, China used a limit number of UAV to detect and estimate the damages.

At this Zhuhai show, China aviation Group not only officially exhibits WS-10A, but also gives a piece of news that 4th-generation turbofan engine is under development.

4th-generation engine under development

The exhibitor said it will support thrust vectoring and have digital engine control system. Its thrust-to-weight ratio will be much higher (twice?) than existing ones’.

9500kgf turbofan engine

As a fourth-generation fighter’s key component, it is said to have already entered test phase. It is also believed to be put into production around 2020. Since it is not ready yet, China either hasn’t made any 4th-generation fighter so far, or is developing it with Russia’s engine, like AN41F.

SY-400 and WS-2 (WeiShi-2) make their first appearances at Zhuhai, drawing a lot of attention. They should be PLA’s in-service missile vehicle and attack weapon system.

SY-400 weapon system is a new of long-range precision attack system. It is suitable for battalion level army to attack various targets.

SY-400 rocket-powered missile unusually adopts vertical launch system. This means SY-400 covers long range because short-range rocket weapon should never use VLS. The range of SY-400 is estimated to be around 400km. Its body and tail wings has a special design that is different from conventional rockets, which shows that it has kind of different flight control model. Some believe that SY-400 is WS-2 rocket system plus homing guidance system, since SY-400 has similar caliber (400mm), and is also using solid fuel.

SY-400 vertical launch system and rocket missile sample

WS-2 multiple launch rocket system, an upgrade model of WS-1, was shown for the first time at 2004  Zhuhai exhibition, so this is its second time on the show.  This weapon consists of 6 box-shape launchers, which can fire 400mm rockets to a  maximum range of 200km. To compensate the degraded accuracy over the rocket’s long-distance flight, WS-2 has a primitive cascade inertial  terminal guidance. With minor upgrading it will be able to launch higher-presion and longger range tactical missiles.

According to Director Wang Li at Zhuhai exhibition, China’s satellite will start its Mars trip in September next year. The satellite will take Russia’s spacecraft for the journey starting in step 2009. After its arrival at high altitude Mars orbit around August 2010, It will begin its work on Mars space environment, the relationship between the Martian magnetic field and solar wind.

Why is it going to set off in step 2009? Because the calculation shows that by launched in step next year, the spacecraft will take the shortest time to get to Mars. However, this shortest time is at least 11 month, quite longer than the time needed for getting to Moon.

It will be China’s first step of Mars exploration. China relies on International cooperation (like with Russia) to research on Mars environment, set the exploration goal, and understand/prepare fundamental technologies.

In the upcoming 7th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, “Chinese missile defense system” will be intensively displayed. Condor, including 400 rocket-guided weapons systems, including a number of new series of Chinese missile equipment will be the first time.

The missiles on show include anti-craft missiles, coastal defense missiles and ground-to-ground missiles. Shengying-400 guided rocket-missile system (SY-400), C705 anti-ship missile, C602 anti-ship missile and FL-3000N defense missile are going to be shown for the first time.

FL-3000N defense missile is light, but has quick response time and high speed. It can handle multiple subsonic and supersonic anti-ship missiles at a time. By working at 2 guidance modes(passive radio frequency/infrared homing, and infrared only), it is able to easily destroy passive guidance and active guidance anti-ship missiles. Most importantly, It can fight saturation attack, which is demanded by China’s fleet for a long time.a combat station can take charge of 2 FL-3000N launchers, one of which can be at the front and the other can be at the back of the ship,

J-10, China’s first 3rd generation fighter, will be exhibited at 7th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition, which will start from 4th Nov 2008. It is going to the first time that it is at an exhibition.

j10 at zhuhai

Two F-10 jet fighters of the Chinese People's Liberation Army landed Wednesday at Zhuhai Airport.

Two F-10 jet fighters of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army landed Wednesday at Zhuhai Airport.

3 other jets will also be at the show:

(1) Fc-1

FC-1/ JF-17 multirole fighter, it is a joint project of China and Pakistain. First batch or more of Fc-1 fighters have been delivered to Pakistain. A plant of it is going to be built in Pakistain.

(2) Xinzhou-600
An upgraded model of China’s xinxhou-60 passenger aircraft. Its first flight is scheduled in next month (Nov 2008). Its runway has been shorten to between 1200m and  2000m.

(3) European A380
As the largest passenger aircraft in the world, Airbus A380 will also be at the Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition. Last October, this double-deck jetliner was shown around major Chinese cities.

China is called world factory because its industry production capacity is almost big enough to serve the whole world. But as China’s export continues to fall, more menufacturers won’t be able to keep their production capacties. When some of them can’t pay their loans, Banks will be in trouble and financial crisis will trun true. So now there is no end in sight to crisis.

How can China rescue its economy? Facing crisis also means facing opportunity. I think China this time combines rural development and rescue of economy together: China relies on rural development to fight against global financial crisis.

Starting next year, rurual farmers will be allowed to lease contracted land-use rights in various forms. This is what China’s top leadship vowed for.

The central bank said last Friday, China has decided to start on a trial basis to provide more rural financial products and services in nine provinces. The decision was designed to push forward financial reform in the countryside and renovate rural areas’s financial system.

Compared to people in cities, the income of farmers and their living  conditions are at a low level. Last year, the urban-rural per-capita income ratio expanded to historic high of 3.33:1. Now the nation has set a goal of doubling per capita disposable income of rural residents by 2020 from the 2008 level, top decision-makers announced in Beijing Sunday.

All these mean the huge desires of comsumption, investment and production among 700 million  farmers will be greatly stimulated. This will expand domestic demand, and will help China in its struggle against the shrinking export market and external economic crisis.

China will soon start the 25th Antarctic expedition to build the 3rd scientific research station named Kunlun station on Dome Argus, which is the summit of the massive East Antarctic Ice Cap.

As early as in 2004, China planed to invest some 500 million yuan (about $60 million) to improve Polar research facilities to prepare for building a third station in Antarctica. After that, China rebuilt its polar expedition ship, named Snow Dragon, and did all the necessary preparation work. This time the mission includes building Kunlun research station by the end of Jun 2009. This will be China’s first inland station, 7.3 kilometers southwest of Dome Argus.

There are 4 sites in Antarctica which are believed to be the most important places. Us, France and Russia have built their stations in 3 of them, now China is to take the last one.

(1) South Pole

Also known as the Geographic South Pole, is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth. It lies on the continent of Antarctica, on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole. It is the site of the United States Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, which was established in 1956 and has been permanently staffed since that year. Note: The Geographic South Pole should not be confused with the South Magnetic Pole.

(2) Antarctic ice sheet

The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest single mass of ice on Earth. It covers an area of almost 14 million km² and contains 30 million km³ of ice. Around 90% of the fresh water on the Earth’s surface is held in the ice sheet, and, if melted, would cause sea levels to rise by 61.1 meters! France has also maintained an inland station on the Antarctic ice sheet.

(3) South Magnetic Pole

As of 2005 it was calculated to lie at 64°32′S 137°52′E / -64.53, 137.86 [1], just off the coast of Wilkes Land, Antarctica. That point lies outside the Antarctic Circle. It is moving north west by about 10 to 15 kilometers per year. Now it nears Russian (formerly Soviet) research station: Vostok Station.

(4) Dome A (or Dome Argus)

It is the highest ice feature in Antarctica, comprising a dome or eminence of 4,093 meters elevation above sea level. It is thought to be one of the coldest naturally occurring places on Earth, with temperatures believed to reach -90 °C. Now China is to build Kunlun station near it!

China signed up to the Antarctic Treaty on Jun 8th,1983, which came into force on 23 June 1961. The treaty is to ensure that Antarctica is used for peaceful purposes only, and establish it as a zone free of nuclear tests.

The treaty sets aside disputes over territorial sovereignty, and prohibits new claims from being made after 1961 as well as the expansion of existing claims, but does not suspend preexisting claims. Before 1961 seven sovereign states have made eight territorial claims to land in Antarctica below the 60° S parallel. So far There has been totally 10 claims by 10 countries. So different coutries are making bigger expedition investment.

China fails to insulate itself from this worldwide financial crisis. Steel companies has started limiting the production capacity. Some shipbuilding companies are stopped expanding new boatyards. The global financial crisis has also taken its toll on foreign direct investment (FDI) to China, with the rate of growth starting to slow down. FDI for September was only $6.64 billion, compared to the monthly average of about $8.3 billion so far this year. House and stock prices continue to drop.

While the Group of 20 (G20) rich and emerging countries has endorsed the use of all available means to deal with the global economic troubles, World Bank Chief Economist Justin Lin said on Saturday (Oct 11th,2008) that China could work through the current financial crisis. His confidence comes from three reasons: “First, China has such large foreign reserves; and secondly, China has capital controls, so China in a way can insulate itself by building a firewall against the contagion. And third, China has a very strong fiscal position, because in the past four years, the (Chinese) government has run quite a substantial fiscal surplus.”

Feeling the impact of crisis, China is taking actions. The central bank announced cuts in both the interest rate and reserve-requirement ratio last Wednesday night, and the State Council decided to cancel the 5 percent individual income tax on savings interest earnings from last Thursday. Discussion on stimulating the domestic demand is going on.

By looking at the stock index dropping from 6000 to 2000 within one year, and the house price keeping going down, I strongly believe that international hot money has succeeded in attacking China. Every person who I know has stock investment loses most of their investment. Now more and more people who just purchase the house want to cancel the deal. What else other than hot money can bring the stock and house prices down so quickly? In 2007-2008 there is no financial/load crisis in China.

Half of Heixiazi island will be returned to China. On Oct 14th, 2008, China and Russia will held an opening ceremony of Sino-Russian boundary marker on Heixiazi island, which will end the boundary demarcation work between China and Russia.

heixiazi map

Distant view of heixiazi island

Before 2004, China claimed Heixiazi island as a part of Fuyuan County, Heilongjiang province, and the easternmost part of China.

In October 2004, Russia and China signed an agreement for the ultimate return of the territory in Beijing. Under the agreement, Russia will return Yinlong Island and half of Heixiazi Island (approximately 174 km²) to China. The area being transferred to China is largely uninhabited. In 2005, the Russian Duma and the Chinese National People’s Congress approved the agreement. After that, two countries took almost 3 years to delimitate the border.

But some Chinese commentators, especially the media in Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas, criticized the PRC government for signing the agreement. With this compromise, China drops all territorial claims to the remainder of Heixiazi island and Outer Manchuria, which is marked on some Taiwan maps as “lost territories in the Northeast (China)”.

Taiwan has never recognized border treaties signed by the PRC or any other countries. Taiwan still formally claims all parts of the Heixiazi Islands.

What would Chinese people think of the half return? Half return also meams half lost.

Xi’an Aircraft Industry Company (XAC), a subsidiary of China Aviation Industry Corporation, successfully made xinzhou-600 passenger aircraft ’s first flight on oct 9th, 2008.

Xinzhou-600

Xinzhou-600 is an updated model of Xinzhou-60. Both are short-haul planes with almost the same number of seats. But Xinzhou-600 is designed to use more advance aviation control system. It can be run more easily and economically, and would provide more confortable experience to passengers.

Xinzhou-600s engine

xinzhou-600's cabin

China has made the decision of developing its own passenger aircrafts. Besides Xinzhou-600, China Aviation Industry Corporation is also making progress on ARJ21-700, a larger and more capable regional jet, whose first flight is said to take place in November 2008 (next month). And a dedicated company has been set up for making China’s jumbo jet.

Xinzhou-600 is designed and developed to meet the requirements of China’ CCAR-25 criteria, which is in a similiar position to US’s FAR-25 criteria for for transport-category aircraft. Xinzhou-600 should get its aircraft certification and enter service by the end of 2009. But so far as I know, XAC has no plan to apply for FAA (Federal Aviation Administration, US) certification/validation.

China needs more time to achieve success. In April 2008, China completed delivery of two domestically manufactured Xinzhou-60 passenger aircrafts to Santa Cruz City, Bolivia. The delivery brought the total number of export of Xinzhou-60 planes by Xi’an Aircraft Industry Company (XAC) to 13, even through Xinzhou-60 sells for only about 100 million yuan ($12.5 million).

Xinzhou-60, already in service globally

Xinzhou-600 :
length：24.7m
height：8.85m
maximum Passenger Capacity: 52
maximum Takeoff Weight ：21800kg
payload：5500kg
number of engines: 2
max speed：514 km/h
cruise speed：430km/h
max range ：2400km

Tiangong-1 is similar to a small experimental space station having 2 modules. Within 2 years after that, China will sent shenzhou 8, 9 and 10 to dock it one by one. Why within 2 years? Because the life time of Tiangong No.1 is designed to be 2 years.

After Space station core module is up in space and China masters the space docking technology, China would always be able to send people there for scientific experiments. There will be possibility that China’s spacecraft and “International Space Station” dock in outer space, and China has technically prepared for it.

Imaginary pic: China

I turely believe the whole shenzhou7 mission is true mission and has been successfully completed, although I can not explain why and how there is a bubble goes up near the astronaut’s helmet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMxQEHfU6hM, around the moment 3:05).

3 year ago, China finished its 2nd manned spaceflight. 3 years is a long time enough for China to gain the breakthrough in space EVA. The whole process of Shenzhou7 mission is public to the world: spacecraft was assembled, and the rocket and astronauts got ready, Shenzhou7 was launched, then live braodcast covered the spacecraft and the grornd control center. Before that, China’s spokesperson told the media the spacesuit’s cost is 30 million CNY. During the EVA, 03 astronaut reported fire alarm in the orbit module twice, and ground control center confirmed 3 times that the spacecraft was in good condition and was working fine. The spacecraft returned safely at the end. How can all these be fake?! Can anyone in China be the director of this ‘fake’ film if it is?

I have an idea why there was fake fire alarm. In a vacuum, Sunshine can heat anything quickly. When it went into orbit module, it heated something and the sensor triggered fire alarm at a high temperature. Maybe China’s scientists had not taken this into consideration when they  designed the sensor and monitor system for a module whose door is open to the sun in space.

Why we can see a bubble goes up near the astronaut’s helmet. One possible explanation is: that was not a bubble, maybe something was moving in front of the helmet, and it was reflected on the helmet.

Picture: A bubble near the helmet is going up

(Thursday, 25 September 2008) I watched the full-lengthed live broadcast of  shenzhou 7’s launch. The sapce inside spacecraft is pretty big, 3 men in it!

JIUQUAN, Gansu — China launched successfully its third manned spacecraft on Thursday with three astronauts on board to attempt the country’s first-ever space walk.

The spaceship Shenzhou VII blasted off on a Long March II-F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gansu Province at 9:10 pm after a breathtaking countdown to another milestone on China’s space journey.

Onboard pilots Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng are expected to orbit the earth for three days, when one of them will float out of the cabin about 343 kilometers above the earth.

When they make it, China will become the third country in the world who is able to conduct extravehicular activity (EVA) in space following the former Soviet Union and the United States.

Three Chinese taikonauts told the ground control center that they felt “physically sound” in the first few minutes of the flight.

“The solar panel has unfolded and we feel well,” one of the crew members told the Beijing control center.

The Shenzhou VII mission, featuring a spacewalk, is China’s third manned spaceflight.

President Hu Jintao watched the historic moment at the launch center, joined by Chinese experts and other work staff.

“The successful launch marked the first victory of the Shenzhou-7 mission,” Hu told Chinese experts and other work staff at the center after officials declared the spacecraft entered the preset orbit.

“On behalf of the Party Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission, I’d like to extend warm congratulations to all work staff and army forces participating in the mission,” said Hu.

Hu briefly met the trio taikonauts before they entered the spacecraft Thursday afternoon, wishing them “a complete success in this glorious and sacred mission”.

“During the mission, you will carry out China’s EVA with homemade EVA space suit, which is a great leap for China’s space technology,” said Hu.

Two taikonauts would enter the orbital module, where one would put on domestically-made spacesuit Feitian and leave the module to take back test samples loaded outside, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the country’s manned space project.

The other would wear a Russian Orlan suit and stay in the depressurized cabin for support, said Zhou.

“We wish we could fly freely in space just like Feitian on the ancient Buddhist murals, so we gave this name to the homemade spacesuit,” said Zhou.

Feitian, which literally means flying in the sky, is the name of a legendary Buddhist goddess.

Other tasks of the Shenzhou VII crew include the release of a small monitoring satellite and a trial of the data relay of the satellite Tianlian-I.

If successful, the mission would be of great significance to the country’s future plans to build a space lab and a space station, said Zhang Jianqi, deputy chief commander of the manned space project.

“China pursues the principle of making peaceful use of space in its exploration and development,” Zhang told Xinhua, saying the country was willing to carry out various forms of international cooperation in space exploration.

The taikonauts, all 42 years old, are scheduled to land in the central region of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in a re-entry module after their mission is completed.

China will launch manned spacecraft Shenzhou-7 at an appropriate time between Sept. 25 and 30.
·The crew had conducted drills and their controlling over the system was “skilled,” said the spokesman.
·When Shenzhou-7 enters its orbit, one of the three taikonauts will conduct a space walk.

CCTV1 : spacecraft in test. Sept 5th, 2008

JIUQUAN, Gansu Province, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) — China’s manned spacecraft Shenzhou-7 will be launched at an appropriate time between Sept. 25 and 30 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province, a spokesman said here on Saturday.

The crew had conducted drills and their controlling over the system was “skilled” and they were in “good” physical and mental state, said the spokesman.

The information was revealed at a meeting held by the headquarters of the mission, which will accomplish the first spacewalk by Chinese astronauts.

The spokesman said propellant will be instilled into the spacecraft on Sunday. After that the spacecraft will be joint with the rocket and they will be transferred into their launch place for the final check.

“All the major systems involved in the launching are now in the final preparation. The main tests for the spacecraft, the Long-March II-F rocket, suits for the space walk and a satellite accompanying the fly have also been finished,” said the spokesman.

In addition, the ground control system is fully prepared, including the launch site, the landing site, and the communication for observation and control.

When Shenzhou-7 enters its orbit, one of the three taikonauts will conduct a space walk, said Zhao Changxi, a senior scientist with the project, earlier.

According to Zhao, cameras would be mounted outside and inside of the ship for live broadcasting of the space walk.

While the last mission of Shenzhou-6, with a crew of two, was aimed at multiple days of manned flight, this time the task might be more stringent as one of its main goals is the space walk, he said.

Earlier reports said a crew of six astronauts had been chosen for the mission, with three manning the spacecraft and three substitutes.

On April 12, China launched a new space tracking ship to serve the Shenzhou-7 spacewalk mission.

The new space tracking ship is the sister ship of the Yuanwang-5, which was put into use a year ago. The two vessels will play a key role in the Shenzhou-7 mission.

China successfully put two manned spacecraft into orbit in 2003and 2005 respectively, becoming the third country to send an astronaut into space after the United States and the former Soviet Union (now Russia).

(Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/06/content_9815338.htm)

Originally published in Pakistan’s Air Forces Monthly magazine in September 2008, AFM’s editor Alan Warnes recently spoke with PAF (Pakistan Air Force) Chief of Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed, to discuss the PAF’s modernization plans.

As he said, PAF agreed in principle to purchase China’s FC-20 aircraft (aka. J-10). Contract may be finalized later this year. PAF likes the big platform plane, its nose can accommodate large radar, and it can load more weapons . PAF has not yet decided whether to buy AESA. The reason why the purchase contract of FC-20 has not been signed is related to PAF’s budget.

China's J-10 Aircraft

Talking about Airborne Early Warning and Control, Air Chief said, China’s  AWACS can meet PAF’s requirements. Negotiations about China’s aircraft has entered the final stage of negotiations, the contract is expected soon. PAF has completed the studies, and proposed a long list of improvements, defining a lot of technical requirements. China got a lot of feedback and has studied the proposals. In the top of the plane, there is a balance beam other than a rotating disk. So it should be China’sY-8 balance beam.

Y-8 balance beam

(From http://military.china.com/zh_cn/top01/11053250/20080901/15060988.html)

(Saturday, 30 August 2008) In one or two months, China’s first domestically manufactured regional jet - ARJ21-700 will fly into sky.

Recently, in Shanghai, ARJ21-700 was transferred from the assembly plant into a test station. This is the final step before its maiden test flight. ARJ21-700 will be on the ground for various final inspections and testings. When it meets all the requirements, the first test flight will be conducted. The first batch is 5 ARJ21-700, 3 of which are for testing fights.

It is a common practice that the ground testing takes at least 1 or 2 months, and the testing fights after the first one last for 1 or 1.5 years.

In fact, as early as last December, the completion of ARJ21-700 assembly was already announced. Its maiden flight was planned in March this year. However, because critical systems suppliers didn’t provide test conditions, ARJ21 aircraft’s first flight has to be delayed. Hope that this time there won’t be such kind of accidents.

ARJ21-700 (stands for Advanced Regional Jet of the 21st Century), marks China’ nation attempts to enter regional jet manufacturing marketplace. ARJ21 has gained dozens of domestic and foreign orders, with the pre-sale price as 27-29 million U.S. dollars. Compared to other existing regional Jets in the international market, ARJ21 shows price-advantage. But according to aviation sales practices, large regional jet’s cost recovery requires sales of at least 300 jets.

A piece of good news that China mainland and Taiwan are likely to reach an agreement of jiont oil exploration in Diaoyu Islands waters! Reported by Taiwan’s media, a priority topic of the meeting across Strait in Oct 2008 is about the collabration in exploring oil around Diaoyu Islands waters, and 2 sides tend to sign an agreement in Oct.

What is not good is that China mainland and Taiwan may have to share the field around Diaoyu Islands with Japan in the near future.

Talking about Diaoyu Islands, it is under Japan’s control now but it is not Japan’s territory. Japan owned Diaoyu Island in the years between 1895 and 1945. 1895 is the year when Japan robbed China of these islands (Diaoyu Islands include quite a few islands).

The story is:
(1) Before 1895, Diaoyu Islands belonged to China, and according to Japanese maps officially published, the Diaoyu Islands were never drafted into Japan’s map.
(2) In 1895 the government of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki(Maguan) with Japan. Japan seized Diaoyu Islands from China. Shimonoseki(Maguan) was in effect until the end of the World War II, when Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945 and later accepting the Potsdam Declaration.
(3) In 1945, Japanese Government accepted Potsdam Declaration, which stipulated that Japan must return all territories it seized from China. From then on, the Diaoyu Islands were deleted from Japanese maps. From 1945 on, China should own Diaoyu Islands. It is on China’s map, no one disagree with it, China has paid a lot to beat Japan and take the islands back.
(4) In 1971, US, who at that time actually control Diaoyu Islands, illegally handed Diaoyu Islands to Japan.

So when in 1971, the Japanese Government announced that the Diaoyu Islands belong to Japan, Japan was in conflict with its commitment to the Potsdam Declaration. Japan now says that Diaoyu Islands are its territory, Japan is lying and is invading China.

All Chinese people hold the faith:
The Diaoyu Islands had been Chinese territory since ancient times and China held indisputable sovereignty over the islands.

If Japan doesn’t stop, soon or later China has to fight the invader, just as China did in World War II, between 1937 and 1945!

Discussions and debates on this are always going on. US government absolutely agreed with the “will be”, and it is trying to persuade the whole world to believe that China military is already a threat to them and they should take some actions. But China netizens and China government never really agree with “China threat”. I think the reason is too simple: China military is really far behind US military now and it will continue to be the case for at least dozens of years. Now it is hard for China to bring back its Taiwan province, just because US doesn’t want China to do that. So the gap is too obvious, and US is actually threatening China!

However, US’s propaganda is the most effective one in the world, some US people have been worrying about the “threat” of China. It is interesting to view some US posts on Internet about China threat. Here are some cites from yahoo:

QnA one: What is up with China, stealing military designs, and building up their military?

QnA two: Do you think China’s military will be a threat to United States

JINMEN ISLAND, the day of August 23th marks the 50th anniversary of Jinmen bombing event. It has been a long time that Taipei refused to facilitate the communication between Mainland and Taiwan island in excuse of China military threats. Thanks to Ma Yingjiu’s open policy toward China mainland, the small island has been changing from a military outpost to an experimental field for friendship between China and Taiwan. Ma said he supports building Jinmen bridge, the plan can be under discussion.

A ferry between Jinmen Island and the city of Xiamen, China, takes about 50 minutes and crosses 10 times per day. “I can save on business expenses by using this ferry. It’s become very convenient,” said a Taipei trader, 57 years old, on his way to the northeastern part of China.

In June, the Ma administration boosted the so-called three lines–commerce, navigation and communication–that directly connect the island and mainland China. This strategy has enabled Taiwanese and foreigners to directly commute between mainland China and the island on the ferry.
In July, 43,200 Taiwanese traveled to Xiamen. The number of passengers using the ferry has increased by about 40 percent from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the construction of a bridge connecting the island and Xiamen is being planned. The islanders, including Jinmen County head Li Zhufeng, consider the bridge as a turning point for the island’s development. The county will lobby for construction of the bridge to begin next year.In addition to the bridge, plans to build a water pipeline and a harbor tunnel are also under discussion.The Ma administration intends to remove a ban on an influx of Chinese capital, and Jinmen County hopes to construct tourist facilities using investment from Chinese businesses.

So Jinmen has shifted its focus from a war front to becoming the place that connects China and Taiwan. The island, which used to be an outpost against a Chinese threat during the Chiang Kai-shek era, is changing to become symbol of reconciliation.

According to Ma, in the long term Jinmen is changing the relation between Taiwan and mainland, we should seek for a win-win future.

China conducts test on Active electromagnetic armor

In May 2006 in the 13th International Academic Conference of Electromagnetism , China had 52 papers, only less than the United States of 72. American experts infer that China’s active electromagnetic armor technology was at least 10 years behind US, based on China’s paper on active electromagnetic armor technology.

However, in July 2008, an active electromagnetic armored tank managed to remaind unharmed after a certain type of anti-tank missile attack. So somehow China should be actually making progress in this technology.

Active electromagnetic armor

Along with the continuous development of the intellectualized antitank ammunition and the application of the future electric gun in the battlefield, the armored vehicles encounter an increasingly heavy threat in the battlefield. Active electromagnetic armor accelerates the projectile by electromagnetic force, which could be launched to the aggressor missile on its way to protect the object. A solid metal projectile is usually applied in the active electromagnetic armor based on the elements of reconnection launch gun.

A form of ACTIVE ARMOR that is an application of SMART ARMOR which offers protection as follows: (1) The penetrating jet of a shaped charge (SC) is detected; (2) an intense electrical discharge is created between electrically conductive plates, creating a powerful magnetic field; (3) the magnetic field interacts with the charged particles of the penetrating jet; and (4) magnetohydrodynamic instabilities occur, disrupting the jet.

Passive electromagnetic armor

The passive EM armor is analyzed with 3-D magnetostatic field. The magnetic field and ampere force distribution on various cross sections and the total force acting on the projectile are given. Passive EM armor is not so attractive Compared to active electromagnetic armor.

But no one material–metal, composite, ceramic–is best at stopping every threat. Moreover, the armor has to be as light as possible. So successful solutions often mix several different substances to achieve the best result.

Reported by Xinhua net on August 20th, Space launch center in Wenchang town, Hainan province, will be put into use around 2014, which is under construction now. Besides, the contract to build a space theme park was signed on 20th, whose investment is 7 billion CNY (more than 1 billion USD).

More than one year ago, new Space Base in Hainan was proposed. Launching spacecraft and satellites from close to the equator could save the fuel needed to push them into a stable orbit because the Earth’s rotational speed is highest on the equator. Technically speaking, Hainan is an ideal location for heavy-load satellite launches, like telecommunication satellites. But only until in late July 2008, China announced 4 new space bases: Tianjin, Inner Mongolia, Hongkong and Hainan. So totally China would have 7 space bases.

In early July 2008, China claimed it has made a breakthrough in developing the next generation space launch vehicle Long March V, and has made significant progress on the rocket engine and the building of a production plant. The new rocket’s diameter is certainly to exceed 3.35m  which is current rocket’s maximum diameter. Then it won’t be able to shipped on train, and can only be shipped by sea. Since this next generation space launch vehicle is also scheduled to be operational by 2014, it can be launched from Hainan space base..

It was proposed that Hainna space base should adopt an open mode of commercial operation, which will help boost local tourism, I think that is why a space theme park is also in the plan.

China is doing great job in Olympic Games, but at the same time is in a worse geopolitical situation in which US is more and more aggressive. Let me show you some points.

In the pass few days, a few events were going on: (1)Vietnam announced it wanted to continue with a joint oil exploration project with Exxon Mobil in South China Sea which is China’s waters ( reported on Jul 24, 2008), (2) Musharraf resigned as president, (3) US is to sell GLOBAL HAWK to South Korea (reported on August 15, 2008).

Vietnam occupies about a half of islands in South China Sea area. In order to continually gain oil resources, Vietnam keeps importing army weapons from Russian, aircrafts, missiles, warships. Now Vietnam signed a deal with US company, US definitely wants the situation on South China Sea to became more complicated.

Vietnam's ariforce deployment. China has no control over her waters

Musharraf resignation as president is another bad thing for China. Pakistan and China have long been close partners, to which Pakistan President contributed a lot. In early August he also hoped to visit China and attend the Olympics opening ceremony, but had to cancel it in the last minute. Now with his resigning, US got the chance to inject its power into Pakistan, China may lost a good friend. From this article Pakistan Celebrates Musharraf’s Resignation - washingtonpost.com I believe US is happy to see this Resignation.

in June, supporters of Nawaz Sharif, a former Pakistani prime minister, stepped on a poster of President Musharraf.

As early as in 2005, the South Korean Defense Ministry already officially requested US the sale of the GLOBAL HAWK. It is high-flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the high-altitude, long-range surveillance aircraft. it can continually stay up 20km high working for 36 hours, and able to spot 30cm-size target, which made it a strategic-class weapon. So in the pass 3 year, US never responsed to South Korea’s purchase request. But right in this month, US allowed the sales deal. Since US already exported different kinds of important weapons to Japan and South Korea, US is going to equip them suppress China.

South Korea is getting Global Hawk from US

China needs to do something, and I believe it does! China needs a better geopolitical environment!

August 19th, the jumbo passenger aircraft company finally officially settled in Fuxi Building, Pudong Lujiazui. Since Fuxi Building was ever an abandoned property, and the deal price was 460 million CNY, some Chinese netizens criticized the jumbo passenger aircraft company wasting budget. (The budget is believed to be about 60 billion CNY)

On May 11th, China’s first jumbo passenger aircraft company, which was a major part of the nation’s large jet program, was officially inaugurated in Shanghai on Sunday.

ARJ21 is a forward step for China’s passenger aircraft in term of commercialism.The ARJ21 prototype is still taking shape at a Shanghai factory now. People who cares about it are concerned about its fly schedule.

On August 15, Beijing Olympic Games baseball game was in its third day, the competition between Cuba and United States attracted a big audience, but the contest between China mainland and Chinese Taipei team means more to Chinese people. It is not only because 2012 London Olympics would get rid of baseball, but also because it was the first time that two sides of the Strait met, the competition has thus been given a high symbolic significance.

The Chinese baseball team has never been to an Olympics. In this Olympics games it got to Beijing through the automatic ticket awarded to the home team. “For others, it might be just an ordinary game and they might not understand why we are so happy. But for us, it is more than a game. It is the most memorable day for Chinese baseball,” said Shen Wei, secretary-general of the Chinese Baseball Association. Home crowd greeted both teams with great enthusiasm. “Because we are all Chinese!”