THE LAUNCH PAD
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Beijing-based launch company Cosmoleap, formally known as Beijing Dahang Transition Technology Co., Ltd., has announced that it has raised over 100 million yuan (more than $14 million USD) to support the development of its Yueqian reusable rocket and an advanced recovery system modeled after SpaceX's "chopstick" tower landing method.
China is gearing up for a crucial milestone in its lunar exploration program, with the first flight of the Long March 10A rocket scheduled for 2026. The debut of this rocket marks an essential step in China’s ambitious goal of sending astronauts to the moon by 2030.
India’s space agency, ISRO, is set to launch its most ambitious lunar mission yet with Chandrayaan-4, aiming to land near the Moon’s south pole to collect samples and return them to Earth.
Chinese commercial launch company Deep Blue Aerospace has announced its ambitions to enter the suborbital space tourism market, aiming to provide passenger flights by 2027.
China has unveiled an ambitious long-term roadmap to guide its space science programs through 2050, with a headline-grabbing plan to collect a sample of the Venusian atmosphere by 2035.
On August 6, 2024, China marked a significant milestone in its space ambitions with the successful launch of the first batch of 18 satellites for the Thousand Sails low Earth orbit (LEO) communications megaconstellation. However, the achievement has also raised concerns, as the launch resulted in a debris field along the orbit, potentially threatening other spacecraft.
China launched the second in a new series of geostationary communications satellites on a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.
Japanese space tourism company Iwatani Giken, has successfully conducted a manned balloon flight test, reaching a record-breaking altitude of 20,816m (68,293ft), marking a historic milestone in the Japanese space tourism industry.
The mission, originally slated for 2025, has been rescheduled to launch in 2027. This change comes with a new target: the asteroid 2015 XF261.
Kazakhstan has taken a significant step in expanding its role in space exploration by signing a memorandum of cooperation on the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).
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