Freelance journalist mainly tracking Chinese space activities. Correspondent at SpaceNews, also bylines at Spacedotcom, IEEE Spectrum and more.
Andrew Jones
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Looks like we've got ourselves a random, no-warning debut launch of the reusable Long March 12B rocket on our hands
Well, this was wild. The first Long March 12B rocket lifted off at 0840 UTC today from Dongfeng test zone at Jiuquan. No warning, and carrying Qianfan constellation satellites straight off the bat. Successfully reached orbit, but no recovery test today. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3OfILgO9Zu...
Next Zhuque-2E is set to launch ~0820 UTC June 9, less than a month after launch testing a payload adapter for Qianfan satellites. Zhuque-3 Y2 is also at Jiuquan ahead of a second first stage recovery attempt.
Long March 5 rolled out at Wenchang today. Launch on June 10.
Tianwen-2 at AOS after arriving at Asteroid AST469219. We are also live streaming on our Youtube channel.
Cosmoleap announces progress on its Qingyu-11 150-tonne-class methane-liquid oxyge engine, with torch ignition, cryogenic and fluid flow tests. Aiming for hot-fire tests in second half of the year. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/F15ALetEXb...
Long March 12B development was absolutely rapid: "Engineers completed the entire process, from initial design studies to final product development, in just 21 months, setting a new record for the development cycle of a new Chinese launch vehicle." news.cgtn.com/news/2026-06...
Tianwen-2 launched just over a year ago and is expected to perform a burn tomorrow (June 7) Beijing time, setting up a rendezvous with the small, rapidly-spinning asteroid Kamo'oalewa.
SparkSpace, China's first electric pump-fed engine rocket startup, has secured nearly 100m yuan ($14.7m) in pre-A funding (total funding to date ~$30m). Aiming for 1st flight of Jinhua-1 rocket in 2027 (27.5m long, 1,500 kg to LEO). mp.weixin.qq.com/s/LSwO1fjEij...
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On-orbit images keep improving, here a Chinese Long March 3B rocket body, imaged by Vantor WorldView Legion satellite from 88 km away.
Source: Vantor (ex Maxar) on the other site
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones
AMSAT-DL
Looks like we've got ourselves a random, no-warning debut launch of the reusable Long March 12B rocket on our hands
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Tianwen-2 is a Chinese asteroid sampling mission. Asteroid 469219 Kamo'oalewa Orbit insertion is planned for June 7, 2026. 📡〰️Received with our 20m Bochum antenna.
DutchSpace
Well, this was wild. The first Long March 12B rocket lifted off at 0840 UTC today from Dongfeng test zone at Jiuquan. No warning, and carrying Qianfan constellation satellites straight off the bat. Successfully reached orbit, but no recovery test today. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3OfILgO9Zu...
Andrew Jones
AMSAT-DL
Andrew Jones
Landspace launches improved Zhuque-2E, Long March 6A lofts new Qianfan satellite group
China has added a new batch of satellites to the Qianfan megaconstellation, while the commercial Zhuque-2E made a return-to-flight featuring numerous improvements.
Looks like we've got ourselves a random, no-warning debut launch of the reusable Long March 12B rocket on our hands
Cosmoleap secures $73 million for reusable rocket with tower catch recovery
Chinese launch startup Cosmoleap has secured significant funding for its reusable rocket plans as it works towards a debut launch in 2027.
With the 25m Dwingeloo radio telescope, we just tracked #Tianwen-2 on X-band. It was at an offset of 1.1 degrees from asteroid Kamo'oalewa, which it is going to visit. We recorded IQ data, maybe others can decode this (@destevez.net, @aang23.satdump.org?). Data at data.camras.nl/satellites/r....
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Andrew Jones
Radiotelescoop Dwingeloo
SpaceNews
SpaceNews
spacenews.com
China has added a new batch of satellites to the Qianfan megaconstellation, while the commercial Zhuque-2E made a return-to-flight featuring numerous improvements.
Chinese launch startup Cosmoleap has secured significant funding for its reusable rocket plans as it works towards a debut launch in 2027.
