Key Chinese Spaceplane Technology Tested, Probes to the Edge of the Heliosphere, Blunt Chinese Report on Local Aerospace Capabilities - Ep 29

Dongfang Hour - the China Space Podcast

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup! Without further ado, the news update from the week of 12 - 18 April.
1) CASIC Institute tests spaceplane propulsion technology
This week we saw an article published by the S&T Daily on a CASIC institute completing a precooling technology validation test, which is an essential technology for spaceplane propulsion.
According to the article, CASIC’s 3rd Academy’s 31st Institute, an institute specialized in aerospace propulsion, has been looking at precooling technology since June 2018. In past conferences, it has shown a technological roadmap where it shows the development of precooling technology over the early mid 2020s, and moving on to 15t and 30t combined-cycle engines which would power 2-stage spaceplane prototypes.
The latest test managed to cool air from 1000C down to -150C in 0.01 seconds. Undeniably a significant technical milestone for their “Yunlong” engine (which seems to be the name given to the engine).
2) Wu Weiren, chief-designer of China’s lunar exploration program, discusses China’s “Double One Hundred” goal
Wu Weiren, the chief-designer of China’s lunar exploration program, was interviewed this week by the official space industry media China Space News, in which he announced that China was aiming for a “Double One Hundred” goal (双百目标).
To understand this, there are several points to discuss:
Firstly, China likes anniversaries linked to its modern history, especially when its round numbers. Two of the big events are the founding of the CCP (1921), and the PRC (1949). There have been regularly large events to celebrate these dates, typically in 2019 a massive military parade on China’s National Day to celebrate the 70 years of the founding of the PRC.
2049 will be the 100th anniversary, and for that China is planning to send scientific probes in what is considered the boundaries of the heliosphere, 100 AU away from the Earth. And 100 AU on the 100th anniversary: thus the “double one hundred”.
3) A Report on China’s Aerospace Manufacturing Capabilities
This Friday, we saw SCMP publish an article about China’s aviation manufacturing capabilities, with the title telling you everything you need to know--”China’s Aviation Capabilities stuck at ‘low-end’ as military-civil fusion weighs on innovation”.
Quite a lot to unpack from this article. First, the SCMP article quotes a report written by the Development Research Center of Shanghai and published on ThePaper.cn, a website owned by the Shanghai Government. I had a decent dig through ThePaper.cn and could not find the report, however it is a massive website that publishes a prodigious amount of news, so it’s possible I simply could not find it.
Relying therefore on the SCMP summary, the report was apparently very frank about China’s weaknesses in the aviation and aerospace sectors. In particular, the report cited specific key technologies, such as engines, airborne equipment, and new composite materials. The report also cites China’s airworthiness certification abilities as being weak, and “cannot be fully recognized internationally in the short-term”.
The report brings up a handful of issues that we have highlighted in previous episodes of the Dongfang Hour. This includes emphasis on military-civil fusion, an overly large influence of SOEs on the development of innovation-driven sectors, and an “incomplete distribution mechanism” of shared risks and benefits.
This has been another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup. We look forward to seeing you next time!
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