"Space Odyssey": China's aspiration in future space exploration

by Xinhua Writers Ji Shaoting and Wang Wen
Beijing (XNA)
Mar 13, 2014

In near future, in outer space, Chinese scientists and their international colleagues, perhaps in the company of robots, will seek knowledge in labs on China's future space station. Aboard the space station, deep in space, researchers will probe the profound mysteries of the universe, while explorers penetrate the darkness beyond both Moon and Mars.

This is no sci-fi movie, but a vision of the future presented to the people' s congress and members of the CPPCC during the two sessions. The vision is of a "space odyssey" for China' s future and for space exploration.

China's Future Space Station

By the year of 2020, the International Space Station is expected to be retired, while, in that same year, China's space station should be complete. China's station may then be mankind's only foothold in space.

Zhang Bonan, chief designer of the program, told Xinhua that the station will be multi-cabin with a large capacity and high power. "The 2020 space station will be a national space lab," Zhang said.

"Experiments there will be diverse and flexible," he said, "International cooperation will be encouraged and the door of the lab will open for any experiments that fit the requirements."

New Flight System

The first step to the stars is new technology, principally in supply lines. A cargo ship named "Tianzhou" (Heavenly Vessel) is planned to ferry cargo back and forth to the station.

China is expected to launch a cargo ship around 2016 to serve the Tiangong-2 space laboratory, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the manned space program and member of the National Committee of the CPPCC.

The cargo ship will be delivered into space by the new Long March-7 carrier rocket and dock with Tiangong-2 automatically, Zhou said.

A cargo transportation system that supplies goods and propellants is key to China building its own space station, he said.

Liang Xiaohong, Party chief of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, also a member of the National Committee, explained that the Long March carrier rocket series is already industrialized. By 2020, China will meet a market demand of more than 270 domestic and 460 foreign launches.

The Tianzhou cargo ship and the Long March rocket will be ready around 2016, heralding a new era in space transportation. Moreover, China is expected to launch a "space shuttle bus" this year to carry payload.

The "space shuttle bus", Yuanzheng-1 (Expedition-1) is an upper stage aircraft attached to a carrier rocket. It can carry spacecraft, using its own power, into an initial orbit, Liang Xiaohong said. It has the same function as a carrier rocket and can take multiple craft to different locations, Liang said.

Yuanzheng-1 will play an important role in future moon and Mars exploration as well as orbital transfer and space debris clearing, he said. From the Earth to the Moon

While the Jade Rabbit moon rover sleeps on the moon, other dreams are taking wing.

Preparation for the 2017 launch of lunar probe Chang'e-5 is going as planned, said Ye Peijia, a top scientist with the Chang'e-3 lunar probe mission.

Chang'e-5, as part of China's third-phase lunar program, is expected to bring back moonrock samples to Earth, which Ye believes will be "a historic moment".

The more sophisticated Chang'e-5, including unmanned sampling and returning, requires breakthroughs in moon surface takeoff technology, sampling encapsulation, rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit, as well as high-speed Earth reentry.

To make sure the mission is a success, a Chang'e-5 test probe will be launched this year to rehearse the route, Ye disclosed.

Chang'e-2, launched on Oct. 1, 2010, is now China's first man-made asteroid, about 70 million km from Earth and heading into deep space. Ye said the ship could travel as far as 300 million km from Earth. "New discoveries cannot be ruled out," Ye said.

"We plan to send a manned mission to the moon. The Earth is our cradle, and humanity will go out from here someday. The moon is the nearest: if we cannot land on it, where else can we go?" he said.

The Martian Chronicles

China now has the capability to explore Mars by sending a probe to circle the planet and land, Ye said. The only question is when.

Humanity has launched more than 40 missions to planets in the solar system and over half of them have failed.

Zhang Bonan said that the logjam for a manned mission to Mars is still the technology.

"Exploration is the ultimate target of human beings. If we cannot break through the technological bottleneck, the future for the whole species will be bleak."

The life of Earth is limited compared with that of the whole universe, Zhang said.

"The future lies beyond the Earth," he said.

"We know so little about the Milky Way, and the whole universe is even more vast. There's too much for us to know," he said, adding that the "unknown" is the biggest drive for humans to explore.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Space_Odyssey_Chinas_aspiration_in_future_space_exploration_999.html.

First space tourists to fly around Mars and Venus in 2021

Moscow (Voice of Russia)
Mar 13, 2014

American congressmen seem to be seriously interested in the idea of a space expedition in the course of which the spaceship will make flies around Venus and Mars. Several days ago, the Congress's Committee of Science asked NASA to estimate the possibility of realization of such a flight (it is supposed that NASA would also take part in it). It is expected that the flight will start in November 2021 and will last 582 days, and that a married couple will take part in it.

The idea to send a married couple to space first occurred to Dennis Tito, who is known as the first person to fly to space as a "tourist", not a professional astronaut. According to Mr. Tito's initial idea, the expedition was to take place in 2018 and last 501 days. Initially, it was planned to make a rotation only around Mars.

Dennis Tito planned to use a private rocket and spaceship for this project. However, the private non-commercial fund "Inspiration Mars Foundation", which was collecting money for this project, failed to collect the needed sum. There were several other uncertainties as well. Then, Dennis Tito realized that he would hardly be able to bring this project to life without NASA.

He added a flight around Venus to his project, postponed the launch to 2021 and turned to NASA. The year 2021 was chosen because it is planned that by that time, NASA will finish the construction of a spaceship called "Orion" and a heavy launch rocket "Space Launch System". It is on them that Dennis Tito wants to carry out his expedition.

Mr. Tito says that the whole project would cost $ 1 bln. His fund has promised to give $ 300 mln, and the rest, as he hopes, would be allocated by NASA.

At a hearing devoted to this case in the Congress committee, the majority of speakers expressed the opinion that this project is quite realizable. However, Alexander Zheleznyakov from the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics has some doubts about this.

"Quite likely, both the spaceship and the launch rocket will really be ready by 2021," Academician Zheleznyakov says. "But I doubt that NASA would agree to immediately send them to such a long and risky flight without any preliminary tests. The congressmen who are supporting this project do not probably realize to the full how difficult and risky it really is."

Somebody has already called Dennis Tito's project "an interesting interlink" between space missions no further than the Earth's orbit and flights to other planets.

The head of the Congress's commission Lamar Smith is actively supporting Dennis Tito's initiative. Mr. Smith says that NASA has not put forward any interesting ideas for a rather long time.

The US astronautics is now not what it once used to be, and no one else than President Obama and his administration should be blamed for this, Lamar Smith believes. For example, President Obama has cancelled a flight to the Moon in favor of an expedition to an asteroid. However, many experts do not take this asteroid project seriously.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Russian magazine "Voprosy Kosmonavtiki" ("Issues of Cosmonautics") Igor Lisov notes that no representative of NASA spoke at the hearings over Dennis Tito's project:

"The project was presented by people who once used to work for NASA but are now private individuals. I believe that there are practically no chances that NASA would accept this project. At least, NASA's draft budget for 2015 does not mention anything of the kind."

However, the idea of a flight around Venus and Mars is too fascinating to reject it. One year ago, when the first variant of this project was announced, a lot of people offered their candidatures as the "space tourists". Several scientists have also suggested some interesting ideas about how to better protect the crew from space radiation.

Besides, in 2021, Mars and Venus will come close to each other, which does not happen very often, and it would be convenient to make a fight to both planets without spending much fuel. The next such chance will occur only 12 years later.

As for Dennis Tito himself, he considers his project to be a daring challenge, but a quite realizable thing. He does not give up hope that once, officials who have the authority to make his initiative a government project will do that.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/First_space_tourists_to_fly_around_Mars_and_Venus_in_2021_999.html.

Tracing the Canals of Mars

by Richard Milner for Astrobiology Magazine
Moffett Field CA (SPX)
Oct 07, 2011

In a remarkable discovery, images taken over the past five years by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which circles Mars to photograph the planet, seem to indicate the presence of water there.

For decades, space scientists searched the red planet without detecting the life-sustaining liquid, and concluded that it was bone-dry.

Last August, however, scientists found dozens of slopes across the southern hemisphere of Mars where previously undetected dark streaks come and go with the seasons.

When the planet heats up, the streaks appear and expand downhill, and disappear when it gets cold. Scientists think it may be evidence of melted, salty water running down slopes during the Martian summer.

Five image sequences from the Newton crater and one from the Horowitz crater show the black lines appearing near the tops of slopes and then growing into scores of "streaks" that remain for months until the cold weather returns and they disappear. At Newton Crater, photos indicate as many as 1,000 of these possible streams flowing down the slopes and into a basin.

If confirmed, the discovery would fundamentally change our understanding of Mars, lending support to the theory that the planet was once far more wet and warm, and would renew hope that it may be able to support life.

But before back around 120 years ago, at least one prominent astronomer was convinced that Mars not only supported life, but was home to an advanced civilization that built an extensive network of canals to draw water down from supposed icecaps at the red planet's poles to irrigate a world that was drying out...

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Tracing_the_Canals_of_Mars_999.html.

Piecing together a global color map of Saturn's largest moon

Nantes, France (SPX)
Oct 07, 2011

An international team led by the University of Nantes has pieced together images gathered over six years by the Cassini mission to create a global mosaic of the surface of Titan. The global maps and animations of Saturn's largest moon are being presented by Stephane Le Mouelic at the EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 in Nantes, France on Tuesday 4th October.

The team has compiled all the infrared images acquired by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) during Cassini's first seventy flybys of Titan. Fitting the pieces of the puzzle together is a painstaking task.

The images must be corrected for differences in the illuminating conditions and each image is filtered on a pixel-by-pixel basis to screen out atmospheric distortions.

Titan is veiled by a thick, opaque atmosphere composed mainly of nitrogen. It has clouds of methane and ethane and there is increasing evidence for methane rain. Only a few specific infrared wavelengths can penetrate the cloud and haze to provide a window down to Titan's surface. An exotic frozen world with many Earth-like geological features has progressively emerged from darkness.

Stephane Le Mouelic explains: "As Cassini is orbiting Saturn and not Titan, we can observe Titan only once a month on average. The surface of Titan is therefore revealed year after year, as pieces of the puzzle are progressively put together. Deriving a final map with no seams is challenging due to the effects of the atmosphere - clouds, mist etc. - and due to the changing geometries of observation between each flyby."

Cassini has made 78 flybys of Titan since it arrived in orbit around Saturn in July 2004. A further 48 flybys are planned up to 2017. On flybys to date, VIMS has only had a few opportunities to observe Titan with a high spatial resolution. This means that the global map currently shows some regions of Titan in more detail than others.

"We have created the maps using low resolution images as a background with the high resolution data on top. In the few opportunities where we have VIMS imagery from the closest approach, we can show details as low as 500 meters per pixel.

"An example of this is from the 47th flyby, which allowed the observation of the site where the Huygens descent module landed. This observation is a key one as it might help us to bridge the gap between the ground truth provided by Huygens, and ongoing global mapping from orbit, which will continue up to 2017."

In addition to improving the spatial coverage, future mapping will allow the observation of seasonal changes in both the atmosphere and the surface. As spring comes to the northern hemispheres of Saturn and its moons, some areas are only now coming into view.

"Lakes in Titan's northern hemisphere were first discovered by the RADAR instrument in 2006, appearing as completely smooth areas. However, we had to wait up to June 2010 to obtain the first infrared images of the northern lakes, emerging progressively from the northern winter darkness," says Le Mouelic.

"The infrared observations provide the additional opportunity to investigate the composition of the liquids within the lakes area. Liquid ethane has already been identified by this means."

Source: Saturn Daily.
Link: http://www.saturndaily.com/reports/Piecing_together_a_global_colour_map_of_Saturn_largest_moon_999.html.

Russia's solar potential

Brussele, Belgium (SPX)
Oct 07, 2011

Russia is the biggest country in the world and one of biggest suppliers of oil and gas has not yet seen a real need to develop a market for solar technologies.

This might change during the next few years - says Tomasz Slusarz, CEO of Solar PV Consulting - observing the policy and market situation on the global markets for the past 8 years and comparing it to the current situation in Russia, he is confident that cumulative solar installed capacity in Russia can reach above 1 or even 2 GW by 2020. He is even ready to bet on it. Here are his three arguments to back the claim.

Argument 1: Growing energy demand

In 2009, the Russian Energy Agency was forecasting that 51.7 GW of capacity would be decommissioned by 2020, requiring more than 150 GW of new capacity to meet consumption growth during the current decade.

I also notice a growing understanding from Russian policy makers and the private sector that increased use of renewable energy technologies can help meet the growing demand.

The Energy Strategy of Russia has set a target of 4.5% for the installed renewable electricity generation by 2020 (including small hydro up to 25 MW), which means a requirement of 22 GW for the new installed capacity.

As there are no sectorial targets within the 4.5% target, theoretically, quasi whole renewable energy capacity can be built from small hydro, wind, biomass or geothermic sources. However, in my opinion, solar PV with its more and more competitive prices can become a quite an important piece of the 22 GW cake.

Increasingly competitive prices of solar PV generation will be confronted with rapidly growing electricity prices in the country. According to the 2010 Budget of the Russian Federation, in 2020 the average electricity tariffs for all users will reach a level of 10.5cents/kWh and residential tariffs 15.3cents/kWh, compared to today's 7cents/kWh.

Argument 2: Huge investments in production capacities

Russian solar industry and RUSNANO, a state-owned fund, have invested billions of dollars in new manufacturing facilities such as Hevel Solar (thin-film PV), and Nitol (large-scale polysilicon and monosilane manufacturing).

When looking at the increasingly competitive global solar markets, they realize the urgent need to establish a sustainable domestic market in order to help the Russian industry grow and be able to compete on export markets.

Few weeks ago we heard that Russia's North Caucasus region is about to set up its own Silicon Valley with a joint venture between the regional government and private businesses. The cost of the project would be around 1 billion USD with pre-estimated production volume of 12 billion USD per year, and 2 to 7 years of return on investments.

Polycrystalline silicon production would be located in Stavropol region, with monocrystalline silicon production set up in Kabardino-Balkaria. The final production of photovoltaic cells and solar modules would be located in Karachay-Cherkessia and Dagestan respectively.

I am quite sure that if the project is successful, a lot of modules will be installed not only in the region but also all over the country.

Argument 3: Russia - sunny country!

The technical potential of solar energy was estimated as 1.870 TWh, with an economic potential of around 101 GWh per year in the national report titled "Role of renewable energy sources in energy strategy of Russia".

The southern parts of Russia, especially the North Caucasus, have the greatest potential for solar energy. The Krasnodar Region and most parts of Siberia have insolation levels comparable to the south of France and central Italy while the Zabaikalsky Region gets more solar energy than Spain.

Argument 4: Big giants start to understand that solar PV can be a good business

It is worth to mention that today not only Renova group of companies, one of the largest diversified business groups in Russia, understand that solar energy can be a profitable investment.

Renova is a major shareholder of Oerlikon and controlling shareholder of Avelar Energy Group as well as a shareholder of previously mentioned Hevel Solar. It has also recently established NAVI Capital Management, a fund that is going to invest 200 million dollars in clean-tech innovation with an important focus on solar PV.

Lukoil, a major Russian oil company, in partnership with the government of Uzbekistan and the Asian Development Bank, is planning to construct Uzbekistan's largest solar plant, which will have an initial capacity of 100 MW, to expand eventually to 1 GW. Earlier this year Lukoil started to build its first 4 million dollar solar plant in Bulgaria.

These examples show that a growing number of Russian giant companies, with available financial resources, feel that investing in solar energy can be a good business strategy.

Moreover, I have heard from many companies exhibiting at 26EUPVSEC that their booths were visited by representatives from some of the biggest energy companies in Russia, which were potentially interested in investing in solar parks in Italy, Greece or Bulgaria. I am quite sure that at the end of the day these big companies will strongly support the development of a domestic solar market.

Source: Solar Daily.
Link: http://www.solardaily.com/reports/Russia_solar_potential_999.html.

Iran's Rouhani extends hand to Gulf monarchies

Muscat (AFP)
March 13, 2014

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sought Thursday to mend fences between his mainly-Shiite country and Sunni-dominated Gulf monarchies distrustful of Iran's nuclear ambitions and its support of the Syrian regime.

Rouhani, winding up a two-day visit to Oman, said the Islamic republic offered "a hand of fraternity to all the countries of the region."

"Relations with one country should not grow at the expense of another. We want to see the countries of the region live in peace, understanding and friendship," Rouhani told a business gathering in Muscat.

The sultanate maintains strong links with Iran and has played an important role as mediator between Western countries and Tehran.

But other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which besides Oman also comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have cool relations with Tehran.

Its Arab neighbors have expressed concern about the reliability of Iran's sole nuclear power plant at Bushehr in the southern Gulf and the risk of radioactive leaks should it be hit by a major earthquake.

Like world powers, they also fear a possible military dimension to Iran's nuclear drive, despite repeated assertions by Tehran that its atomic ambitions are peaceful.

Ties between Gulf countries and Iran have also been strained by Tehran's backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in its battle against rebels supported by the Arab monarchies.

"Cooperation and rapprochement would benefit the whole region," said Rouhani, adding that his country is "open to investors from the region, especially Omanis."

Oman and Iran are seeking to expand trade, which reached $1 billion last year, and bilateral investments which they expect will top $10 billion by the end of this year, Iranian Ambassador Ali Akbar Sibeveih said Monday.

Oil- and gas-rich Iran has been struggling to export its products due to strict US and European sanctions on Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.

Iran and Oman signed a preliminary agreement Wednesday to build a $1 billion, 200-kilometer (125-mile) submarine pipeline to import gas from the Islamic republic...

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Irans_Rouhani_extends_hand_to_Gulf_monarchies_999.html.

India PM says border dispute with China can be solved

New Delhi (AFP)
April 27, 2013

India's prime minister said Saturday a dispute over an alleged incursion by Chinese troops deep inside Indian-claimed territory can be settled peacefully and warned against exacerbating tensions.

The reported Chinese infiltration across the disputed Himalayan border has strained ties between the nuclear-armed neighbors whose relations have long been chequered by mutual suspicion -- a legacy of a 1962 border war.

"We do believe it is possible to resolve this problem. Talks are going on," Prime Minister Manmoahn Singh said in his first comments on the incident in the Ladakh region normally controlled by India.

"It is a localized problem," he told reporters in New Delhi.

Indian analysts say a Chinese intrusion could be a response to New Delhi's drive to step up road-building near their de facto border to ferry Indian troops and counter China's build-up of military infrastructure.

Singh's statement came a day after Indian Defense Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma told parliamentarians Chinese soldiers had pitched their tents nearly 20 kilometers (12 miles) inside Indian-claimed territory.

The premier's comments echoed other Indian ministers who have insisted the alleged incursion in the unpopulated desert area can be settled through diplomatic channels.

Beijing has made similar statements, with the Chinese government saying Friday both countries had the "capacity and wisdom" to defuse the row through "friendly consultation".

India has called on Beijing to withdraw its solders but China's foreign ministry earlier in the week denied Chinese troops had "crossed the lines".

Singh warned against stoking tensions between the Asian giants whose bilateral trade soared by a third to nearly $76 billion last year.

"We do not want to accentuate the situation," Singh said, adding New Delhi has "a plan", without elaborating.

Indian foreign minister Salman Khurshid announced earlier in the week he will head for China on May 8, saying both countries had a mutual interest in not allowing the dispute to "destroy" long-term progress in ties.

An Indian foreign ministry official has said new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will travel to New Delhi late next month.

Lower-level talks between military officials have so far failed to break the impasse over the camp that New Delhi says Chinese troops set up on April 15.

The informal border separating China and India is known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). While it has never been formally demarcated, the countries have signed two accords to maintain peace in frontier areas.

Small incursions of a few kilometers across the contested boundary are common but it is rare for either country to set up camps in disputed territory.

Sujit Datta, a Sino-Indian specialist at New Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia University, said the extent of the Chinese advance indicated a "planned operation" and reflected China's new assertiveness.

"Nineteen kilometers is a serious matter," Datta told AFP. "The Indian diplomats will have to do their job and talk tough to keep the Chinese at bay."

India's infrastructure buildup is "in response to the systematic Chinese building of roads and other facilities on the Chinese side", he added.

"The Chinese don't want India to equalize its infrastructure capacity -- they want to be in a position of strength along the border."

India increasingly sees Beijing as a longer-term threat to its security than traditional rival Pakistan. Last November, India was angered by a new map in Chinese passports showing disputed territories as its own.

India's conciliatory approach has drawn fire from the opposition with Jaswant Singh, a former defense minister under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government, calling New Delhi's response "inadequate".

The row with India comes as China's ties with its East Asian neighbors, especially Japan, have frayed over territorial disputes in the East and South China seas.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/India_PM_says_border_dispute_with_China_can_be_solved_999.html.