China launched its heaviest and most advanced communications satellite on the country’s largest new carrier rocket Long March 5 that will lay the foundation for the development of highly sensitive space probes.

Aboard the third Long March 5 Y3 rocket, Shijian-20, a new technology test and verification satellite, successfully entered its orbit on December 27, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The Long March 5, China’s most powerful rocket and a critical ingredient in the nation’s ambitious space programme, can carry a maximum payload of 25 tonnes - equivalent to the weight of 16 cars - into low Earth orbit and 14 tonnes into geosynchronous orbit.

The successful launch is a major step forward for its planned mission to Mars in 2020.

What are the features of Shijian-20?

Launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in Hainan province, Shijian-20, weighing more than eight tonnes, is the country’s heaviest and most advanced communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit, according to its maker, the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

The satellite will carry out orbit experiments for a series of key technologies, the CAST said.

It will demonstrate in orbit its heat transfer technology based on cryogenic loop heat pipes, an efficient thermal control device for space applications, to lay the foundation for the development of highly sensitive space probes.

The satellite will test the controllable deformation of shape memory polymers, a type of smart material that can switch between temporary shapes, to pave the way for the development of large variable space structures.

It will also carry out satellite-ground communication tests using Q/V bands, which lie between 33-75 GHz, within the extremely high frequency (EHF) area of the radio spectrum. These frequencies are used mainly for satellite communications.

“The major way to improve the satellite communication capacity is to expand the bandwidth of the available frequency bands. If we liken the geostationary orbit to an expressway, which is now the most crowded in space, the use of Q/V bands will help to widen the expressway by four to five times,” said Li Feng, chief designer of the satellite with the CAST.

Powerful Long March 5

The successful launch comes after a first-stage booster failure in 2017 destroyed the Shijian-18 satellite.

The Long March 5 Y2 was supposed to put the Shijian-18 experimental communications satellite into orbit and its failure delayed plans to use the rocket in a planned mission to collect lunar samples in the second half of 2017.

China successfully launched the first Long March 5 in November 2016, which it said at the time was the most powerful launcher it had yet developed.

The Long March 5 is comparable in capacity to the US-made Delta IV Heavy and Russia’s Proton-M, some of the most powerful launchers in existence. By contrast, the Saturn V of the US, which delivered astronauts to the moon in 1969, was designed to deliver some 140 tonnes of payload into low Earth orbit.

China catches up in space race

Beijing has invested billions of dollars in its space programme in an effort to catch up with its rival the US and affirm its status as a major world power.

In 2003, the Asian giant, which now spends more than Russia and Japan on its civil and military space programmes, became only the third nation to put a human into orbit.

In January 2019, China became the first nation to land a probe on the far side of the moon. The Chang’e-4 lander - named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology - released a rover in the moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin shortly after New Year.

In November, China completed a test of its Mars exploration lander, ahead of its first mission to the Red Planet slated for 2020 which is planned to deploy a rover to explore the Martian surface.

China also aims to have a manned space station in orbit in 2022.

The Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) is set to replace the International Space Station, which is due to be retired in 2024.

China will also seek to build an international lunar base, possibly using 3D printing technology, in the future.

China’s space programme has alarmed the US, which fears that Beijing will threaten its dominance in space. The White House announced the creation of a new military arm called the Space Force earlier this month, with President Donald Trump calling space “the world’s newest warfighting domain”.

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