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Ziyuan-3 03 satellite into orbit via a Long March-4B carrier rocket

China sent a new high-resolution mapping satellite into space on Saturday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern province of Shanxi.

The Ziyuan III 03 资源三号 satellite was launched by a Long March-4B rocket at 11:13 a.m. Beijing time, according to the center. It was the 341st flight mission by the Long March rocket series.

Also on board the rocket were two satellites used for dark matter detection and commercial data acquisition respectively. They were developed by the Shanghai ASES Spaceflight Technology Co. Ltd.

All three satellites have entered preset orbits

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Australia challenges China’s graphite crown in EV batteries

Syrah Resouces, an Australian resources company, commissioned its first graphite purification plant in Louisiana, US, in mid-July. The graphite mined in Mozambique will be purified in the United States to produce anode materials for lithium electronic vehicle batteries, and will be supplied to chemical companies in the United States and Europe, among others. In addition, Australia’s Eco-Graphite plans to start operations in 2022 at a graphite purification plant in western Australia to make lithium-ion battery materials from graphite mined in Tanzania and supply to manufacturers such as Germany’s ThyssenKrupp. The company claims that its graphite purification costs are lower than those of Chinese companies, which could promote the industry to “get rid of its over-dependence on China”. At present, Chinese companies control more than 60% of the world’s natural graphite mining, in the field of graphite purification of anode materials for automotive batteries almost formed a monopoly.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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China’s 5G construction accelerating

China’s 5G construction is accelerating despite external pressure. In H1, 257,000 new 5G base stations were constructed, adding up to a total of 410,000 nationwide as of the end of June. 86.23 million 5G mobile phones were shipped and 66 million 5G phones were sold:

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China successfully launches 1st Mars probe

China successfully launched its first Mars probe, named Tianwen-1, via a Long March-5 Y4 carrier rocket from Wenchang Space Launch Center in South China’s Hainan Province into planned orbit on Thursday. The move heralds a new era in China’s deep-space exploration, which has steadily progressed beyond moon probes to interplanetary missions, mission commanders and developers said.  

After a flight of around 2,000 seconds, the probe entered the planned Earth-Mars transfer orbit, officially embarking on its journey to the Red Planet, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA)on Thursday. 

China’s Tianwen-1 Mars probe is expected to reach Mars’ gravity field in February 2021, about seven months after the launch. If it succeeds, Tianwen-1 will be the first Mars expedition to complete orbiting, landing and roving in a single mission in humanity’s history. 
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1195391.shtml

Scientific goals of Tianwen 1

  1. Study Martian morphology & geology
  2. Study Martian topsoil & water ice distribution
  3. Study Mars’ surface composition
  4. Study Mars’ ionized atmospheric layer, surface climate & environment
  5. Study Mars’ physical field & interior structure
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Xiaoi Robot patent infringement lawsuit against Apple

Chinese AI start-up Xiaoi Robot 小i机器人 said it will continue a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple involving Siri. China’s highest court validated Xiaoi’s patent, advancing the legal case from an administrative proceeding to a civil lawsuit. https://www.natlawreview.com/article/latest-decision-supreme-people-s-court-china-confirms-validity-little-i-robot-patent
Xiao-i filed a lawsuit with a Shanghai court against Apple 8-3-20, requiring the latter to stop infringing on its patented robotic technology and pay 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in compensation.

The Shanghai High People’s Court on Monday 8-10-20 formally accepted Chinese AI start-up Xiao-i’s lawsuit against Apple for alleged patent infringement.

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China’s industrial robot production surged 29.2 percent year on year

China’s industrial robot production surged 29.2 percent year on year in June to 20,761 units, with the growth accelerating from 16.9 percent in May, official data showed. http://www.china.org.cn/business/2020-07/19/content_76288202.htm

China’s industrial robot production surged 29.2 percent year on year in June to 20,761 units, with the growth accelerating from 16.9 percent in May, official data showed.

In the first half of this year, the country produced 93,794 units of industrial robots, up 10.3 percent from the same period of last year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

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GalaxySpace to Build East China Super Factory to Mass Produce Low-Cost Satellites

https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/galaxyspace-to-build-east-china-super-factory-to-mass-produce-low-cost-satellites New infrastructure greets a boom. Chinese satellite start-up Galaxy Space announced Thursday it will build a satellite mega factory in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu Province, which will be able to achieve mass production with a relatively low cost, producing one satellite a day.

GalaxySpace, which started operating in 2018, has low-orbit broadband satellite communication technology capabilities. The GalaxySpace Star it successfully launched on Jan. 16 is China’s first low-orbit broadband private communications satellite with a communication capacity of 10 gigabytes per second, and its signals can beam over 300,000 square kilometers.

The launch star of GalaxySpace has verified low-orbit Q/V/Ka and other frequency band communications for the first time in the world, and recently achieved the country’s first low-orbit satellite internet fifth-generation wireless communication network test. The company’s latest value is likely to be over USD1 billion.