Now on @sciam.bsky.social: NASA's Artemis II mission may be dominating the headlines, but China's crewed moon program is quietly making major strides toward a human lunar landing by 2030. Who will win this new space race? By @andrewjonesspace.bsky.social. www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

Long March 10B weibo.com/2780279265/Q...

The debut flight of the Long March 10B--and China's next first stage recovery attempt--is in the post, possibly as soon as the end of the month. Test launch will have implications for China's crewed lunar program too. weibo.com/5616492130/Q...

A Long March 8 lifted off at 1332 UTC today from Hainan commercial spaceport, sending 18 Qianfan/Thousand Sails satellites into orbit. This was the first launch for the constellation this year. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/yuB_k1vt95...

The first Tianlong-3 orbital launch attempt ends in failure. Liftoff reported at 0417 UTC from Jiuquan. No official statement from Space Pioneer yet.

Impressive new NEI of a Chinese spacecraft: this is either AIRSAT-03 or 04 launched by a Kinetica-1 rocket in October 2025.

A Long March 2C with a YZ-1S upper stage lifted off at 0411 UTC today from Jiuquan, days after an apparent scrub, carrying the Shiyan-33 spacecraft into orbit for "scientific experiments in space environment exploration". This was China's 17th orbital launch of 2026.

We had a great presentation with Dimitrios and great questions from the audience - sadly far too many for the time we had! Here's the link to Dimitrios' article on China and great space power status: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Until now, China had the only clear plan for a lunar surface base with the steady, methodical ILRS. Now we see NASA committing to rapid scaling up of lunar surface activities. This is all going to be fascinating to watch in many ways. What will be China's response to Moon Base?

A Jielong-3 solid rocket lifted off from waters off the coast of Shandong at 1549 UTC March 22, successfully sending the CentiSpace-02 group of 10 satellites into orbit. m.spacechina.com/n2014789/n24...

Veteran space official Long Lehao presented some interesting slides at a conference in Shenzhen. This states China's 1st planetary defence test mission is due to launch Dec. 2027 on a CZ-3B, with separate impactor & observer spacecraft. Targeting "2016 WP8" (which may not exist)

Didn't see the usual day-or-two-before heads-up for this, but China's human spaceflight agency announced Shenzhou-21 astronauts Zhang Lu & Wu Fei completed a 7-hour EVA at 1135 UTC today. The usual installation of debris protection devices among the tasks. www.cmse.gov.cn/xwzx/202603/...

A Kuaizhou-11 solid rocket lifted off at 0412 UTC Monday from Jiuquan carrying 8 satellites. It includes Yuxing-3 (06) (Hunan University of Science and Technology Satellite 2) which has a flexible robotic arm. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Wo-IE-GSUI...

A Long March 6A lifted off at 1322 UTC Sunday (March 15) from Taiyuan carrying the Yaogan-50 (02) satellite. This joins the first Yaogan-50 in a highly retrograde 142 degree inclination orbit. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/9PSbTNj4_S...

Well that explains why the Shanghai Institute of Propulsion was recently announcing tests of a Methalox attitude control thruster mp.weixin.qq.com/s/MSXywPSrUQ... That large Lander would almost certainly be launched on CZ-10, and is probably in the same weight class as Lanyue

SAST is displaying an economical lunar cargo transportation spacecraft at a conference in Shanghai. A demo version has already completed liftoff, hovering and landing tests.

After a month-long hiatus, China resumes orbital launches, with a Long March 8A lifting off at 1948 UTC today from Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site, successfully carrying the 20th group of Guowang satellites into orbit (China's 11th orbital of 2026). mp.weixin.qq.com/s/yBeWV7cnBN...

Development of Tianwen-3 Mars sample return is progressing well, according to chief designer Liu Jizhong, with breakthroughs in Mars sampling and containment, takeoff & ascent, orbit rendezvous, and planetary protection. This is "laying the groundwork for future continuous exploration" of Mars.

A minor update on Tianwen-2: Liu Jizhong said that Tianwen-2, launched in late May 2025, has already travelled about 700 million kilometres and will arrive at the near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3 (Kamo'oalewa) "this year" (rumours suggest early July).

China's 1st moon astronauts could land in Rimae Bode, a 'geological museum' on the lunar near side www.space.com/astronomy/mo...

As a longtime advocate for a US-led ice giant mission, I’m simultaneously disappointed (from a US perspective) and delighted (from a basic science perspective)

From our 2026 vantage point, a 2033 launch window for Neptune feels rather close... but it's encouraging to see this ambition for an Ice Giant mission!

There's a push to for China to adopt an unprecedented Neptune orbiter mission. We may learn later those year if this enters the early study phase (and China has already signalled its commitment to developing nuclear power for space). spacenews.com/chinese-offi...

Solar system bound exploration appears in a draft of China's new 15th five-year plan. Recent proposal: - Launches in 2032 & 2033 - CZ-5 rockets + Jupiter gravity assists - Would study head & tail of heliosphere - Powered by nuclear reactors - Possible Neptune/Uranus/Saturn flybys

New Chinese launch company: Shenzhen Xiandeng Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd, or Ascendx. Has just raised $10 million or so, planning a 1.5-ton to LEO LOX/kerosene rocket named XD-3, launching in Q3 2027, among grander plans. No info on hardware development status yet.

China's draft new 5-year plan indicates that space will be of growing importance to the country. Also noted: - Planetary defense - Solar system boundary exploration - Major interplanetary & lunar missions - integrated constellations (remote sensing, comms, PNT, computing, etc) and much more

LC-301 at Wenchang spaceport, built for the Long March 10 and China's crewed lunar landing missions. m.weibo.cn/detail/52676...

Orienspace's Peng Haomin says the company is preparing for its next Gravity-1 solid rocket launch after Spring Festival and is also preparing for an IPO. Company will choose the right time to make the application. Source: m.chinanews.com/wap/detail/z...

Test stage recovered.

China's iSpace has announced a staggering $729 million (5 billion yuan) in D++ series funding. This appears to be the largest round so far for a Chinese launch company, despite a far from stellar launch record & no liquid rocket launch attempt to date. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/_Wz1_mQPKP...

A Jielong-3 lifted off at 0637 UTC today (Feb. 12) off the coast of Yangjiang City, Guangdong province, successfully sending the PRSC-EO2 satellite into orbit for Pakistan. This was China's 10th orbital launch attempt of 2026. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/TgY8u07_gD...

Chinese launch startup Space Epoch has secured series B funding, aims for debut fight of reusable YXZ-1 (Hiker-1) rocket later this year. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/TgY8u07_gD...

Close-up of liftoff.

Stable descent and splashdown footage.

China performed a successful in-flight abort test of the Mengzhou crew spacecraft and a reentry, powered descent and splashdown of a first stage CZ-10A today. Big step for its lunar and human spaceflight programs

Mengzhou atop of the CZ-10A test stage. Grid fins and recovery hooks visible at the top of the stage, with people offering perspective of scale. Low-altitude test flight and abort test at maxQ scheduled for Feb. 11. m.weibo.cn/detail/52632...

These zones indicate this spaceplane (now all but confirmed thanks to a non-labelled satellite image from the company now known as Vantor, ex-Maxar) is making a 4th flight on yet another should-be-weird-looking Long March 2F. And again we are unlikely to get public info of it.

Quite a moment. Artemis 2, Long March 10A with Mengzhou, and Starship V3 all undergoing preparations, all with big implications for lunar ambitions.

Mengzhou now atop the CZ-10A low-altitude test stage.

We haven't heard from the Chinese reusable space plane for a good while (last mission ended in September 2024). Probably time soon for it to stretch its wings again.

Mengzhou in-flight abort test at maxQ coming in February, it seems

The second stage of the first Zhuque-3 rocket launched in December reentered at 1239 UTC today (±1 min) over the Southern Ocean, according to a US Space Force TIP message. There was a surprising level of interest in the event in Europe, due to ground tracks & reentry estimates.

China's human spaceflight agency has opened voting for mission logos for 2026 missions. Here are the 10 candidates for the Mengzhou mission, variously showing Mengzhou, the CZ-10A and Tiangong. www.cmse.gov.cn:8081/pub/trspoll/...

CASC has conducted a 200-second test of a 240-ton kerolox engine, designed for commercial users and developed for large and medium-sized reusable launch vehicles.

An early insight into China's plans for space in its 15th Five-year plan, & it's certainly ambitious & long-term. Areas include: - Space resource development (Inc. feasibility studies for "Tiangong Kaiwu" major resource project) - Space tourism - Space-based digital infrastructure - STM

Water deluge system test for a lunar crewed landing mission pad at Wenchang spaceport. Via Douyin/dyums21210av.

Shenzhou-20 landed safely at 0134 UTC today, with a patched up debris-damaged window. Shenzhou-23, which will provide emergency backup to the crew currently aboard Tiangong , has arrived at Jiuquan, with its CZ-2F launcher following soon.

Video of the ~20 second Long March 12B static fire.

China has suffered 2 launch failures within hours of each other. A Long March 3B lifted off from Xichang at 1655 UTC Jan. 16, but Shijian-32 satellite was lost after a 3rd stage anomaly. The debut launch of the solid Ceres-2 from Jiuquan at 0408 UTC Jan. 17 also failed.

And out of nowhere, while Long March 10 series tests are being readied at Wenchang, the reusable Long March 12B has had a successful static fire test today at Jiuquan. This is a kerolox rocket, while the recently debuted 12A is methalox.