Long March-8 makes successful maiden flight

China’s new generation medium-sized launch vehicle Long March-8 made a successful maiden flight from the tropical island province of Hainan in South China on Tuesday, sending five satellites into designated orbit at the same time. 
The 50.3-meter-long Long March-8 has a 3.35-meter-diameter core stage and two 2.25-meter-diameter side boosters. Weighing 356 tons at launch, it has a 480-ton take-off thrust and is capable of sending payloads weighing more than 4.5 tons into the SSO 700 kilometers above the ground.
A rocket engine needs to be throttleable to achieve zero velocity at the same time as it reaches the ground, which is a core technological requirement for building a reusable launch vehicle system.
This technology was tested for the first time in the Long March-8 maiden flight, which is also an experimental flight for the new rocket type, paving the way for further study and development for the reusable rocket system.

China’s steel scrap standards implemented

11-29-20 At a closed-door conference held in Beijing on November 29, Chinese government bodies including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment finally approved new classification standards for the country’s steel scrap sector. Though the details are yet to be released, the new standards classify categories of steel scrap and are comparable to those in use internationally, paving the way for China to re-open its ports to approved types of foreign steel scrap. Despite the size of the China’s steel scrap industry, until now the country has lacked a unified system of steel scrap classifications and those that Chinese steelmakers and scrap collectors are presently using have been described as “crude” and at odds with those of other countries.
The release of the new China steel scrap standards may mark the first step in China’s push to diversify raw materials for steel production, a move that analysts say will reduce reliance on Iron Ore imports from Australia amid fraught bilateral ties, souring prices and in align with China’s pursuit for carbon neutrality by 2060.

12-31-20 Ministry of Ecology and Environment, National Development and Reform Commission and other five departments jointly issued a “Notice on matters relating to the standardization of the import management of recycled iron and steel raw materials,” the announcement said that products that meet the national standard of “recycled iron and steel raw materials” are not solid waste and can be imported freely. The announcement aims to regulate the management of China’s imports of recycled iron and steel materials to clarify requirements and form a synergy. According to China’s import and export regulations for recycled iron and steel materials to clarify the customs commodity code, while proposing that does not meet the “recycled iron and steel materials” national standards will be prohibited from import. The announcement will be implemented from January 1, 2021. Steel scrap standards have been officially released on December 17, the standard for the integrated use of domestic and international recycled steel raw materials resources to provide standard technical support, is conducive to promoting the high-quality development of China’s steel industry.

Irradiation technology

Irradiation technology is expected to be used to kill coronavirus found in cold chain food, said China National Nuclear Corporation on Thurs. There have been multiple reports in China of imported cold-chain food packaging testing positive for COVID19.

China prepares to launch Long March-8 Y1 rocket

China’s Long March-8 Y1 rocket was vertically transported to the launching area of the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province on Wednesday. Next, the rocket will be filled with propellant and readied for launch in late December.

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China launches two satellites for gravitational wave detection

12-10-20 China sent two satellites for the detection of gravitational waves into planned orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province.

The two satellites, which compose the Gravitational Wave High-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) mission, were launched by a Long March-11 carrier rocket( 355th mission).

The GECAM satellites will be used to monitor high-energy celestial phenomena such as gravitational wave gamma-ray bursts, high-energy radiation of fast radio bursts, special gamma-ray bursts and magnetar bursts, and to study neutron stars, black holes and other compact objects and their merger processes.

In addition, they will also detect high-energy radiation phenomena in space, such as solar flares, Earth gamma flashes and Earth electron beams, providing observation data for scientists.

Gaofen-14

China launched Gaofen-14, an optical satellite, onboard the Long March 3B carrier rocket on Sunday 11:58 am from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in SW China’s Sichuan Province.