中国航天主动力液体火箭发动机技术进展（英文）

Liquid propellant rocket engines for a launch vehicle are an essential aerospace technology, representing the advanced level of hi-tech in a country. In recent years, China's aerospace industry has made remarkable achievements, and liquid rocket engine technology has also been effectively developed. In this article, the development processes of China's liquid rocket engines are discussed. Then, the performance features of China's new generation liquid rocket engines as well as the flight tests of the new-generation launch vehicles are introduced. Finally, the development direction and the most recent progress of the next generation large-thrust liquid rocket engine is presented.     

Exploration of CASC's Commercial Space

China's commercial space activities started from the launch of Asiasat-1 satellite by a LM-3 launch vehicle on April 7, 1990. As the leading force in China's space industry, CASC has been committed to commercial space for nearly 30 years. The article describes CASC's advantages and activities in commercial space sector, as well as outlook for CASC commercial space development. The author concludes CASC is willing to coordinate and cooperate with state-owned and private companies and will create a new pattern for commercial space, opening up a new industry for space development and achieving more splendid achievement.     

Taking stock of Europe's developing space policy: from the European space policy workshops to the European space policy forum

A series of workshops designed to make up for the lack of high-level, informal discussion of European space policy has been running—with a gap during formulation of the EC Green/White Paper on this subject—since September 2002. In view of the progress made in establishing a coherent European strategy, and of various other recent events, such as China's entry into the human spaceflight field, the organizers intend not only to continue the series but also to establish a more permanent, research-oriented European Space Policy Foundation (ESPF). Following a report on the proceedings of the third workshop, held in September 2003, which covered developing an overall European policy, new applications (Galileo and GMES) and human spaceflight, the authors set out a proposal for an ESPF and present the six major research themes it would aim to investigate.     

Export control regime for space items in China: Opportunities and challenges in the new era

Export control system is vital to effective control of sensitive items and technologies and thus an appropriate system is indispensable to the realization of the goal of non-proliferation. The progress so far shows that China has made great efforts in constructing a domestic regime for export controls. Nevertheless, it has also been recognized that the mere existence of a domestic regime is not sufficient and that the realization of export control should be complemented with effective and efficient enforcement. The paper examines the effectiveness of the current export control regime in China and explores means to strengthen the current regime to dispel the concerns from other nations. The paper concludes that China has been committed to export controls in sensitive space items in the past years; yet further improvements could be made to better serve China's national interests and its commitments under international nonproliferation export control regimes.     

Observations from over a decade of experience in developing faster, better, cheaper missions for the NASA small explorer program

The Small Explorer (SMEX) Project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has accumulated nearly a decade of experience building missions with the underlying philosophy of “Faster, Better, Cheaper” (FBC). Five satellites are now successfully operating on-orbit with only one serious instrument anomaly. Together this Project has accumulated 14.6 years of on-orbit experience without a spacecraft bus failure. Additionally, this project, under the Explorer Technology Infusion effort, has developed a protoflight version of a 21^st Century FBC spacecraft bus that has just completed environmental qualification and has been selected at the base spacecraft for NASA's Triana mission. Design and production of these six high performance spacecraft, in just ten years time, has provided a unique base of experience from which to draw lessons learned. This paper will discuss the fundamental practices that have been used by the SMEX Project in achieving this record of success.     

The progress of astronautics in China

China now has thirty years of experience in space. This article traces the development of China's space efforts and the successes China has achieved in space technology, particularly satellites and launchers. China's future plans for space activities are examined, including plans for cooperation with friendly countries, manned space flight, facilities to launch larger space vehicles, and participation in a permanent space station.     

Space Development with Chinese Characteristics and its Practical Significance

China's space industry has been developed quickly and consistently setting new records for mankind in space exploration in the past 60 years. Four principles are upheld during its development. Systems engineering and overall thinking have played an important role in the development of China's space industry. What's more, the concept of systems engineering which originated from the space industry, being rooted in society, is a successful example of "Chinese theory" answering "Chinese question" and "Chinese wisdom" guiding "Chinese development", which is a trump card for the country and provides a unique business governance mode with Chinese characteristics.     

The emerging China–EU space partnership: A geotechnological balancer

Through a techno-nationalist lens, this paper will assess the growing China–European Union (EU) space partnership, and its implications for international space cooperation and competition. Techno-nationalism (jishu minzuzhuyi), the idea that technological strength is an effective determinant of national power in a harshly competitive world,³ informs both Chinese and US perceptions of China's space development. Using this lens elevates all space activities—manned, unmanned, military and scientific—to the strategic level. It is our contention that because of the increasing China–EU space partnership, the USA must re-evaluate its approach to China—away from the containment approach, which has thus far predominated, toward an approach which would offer the USA the opportunity to influence and, thereby, decrease the importance of the emerging partnership.     

The Indian EO Programme-national and global drivers

The Indian Earth Observations Program, over the past three decades, has been mainly driven by the national need for natural resources management, environment monitoring and disaster support. With an array of seven Indian Earth Observation Satellites, national development support has been provided through a well-knit institutional framework of a National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS). A wide variety of applications have been developed as an inter-agency effort over the past 15 years. Now, the capacity of the programme has extended into the global arena and is providing operational data services to the global user community. Positioning of relevant policy guidelines for the EO program to contribute to national endeavor and its transitioning for global outreaching and development of a commercial enterprise — both at national and global levels has been an area of constant attention within ISRO.Issues related to defining the space and data acquisition as a national “public ground”, costing of data products and services and evolving a commercial Earth Observation policy have been addressed for providing the overall thrust of the Indian Earth Observations program. The paper discusses the evolution of the policy in the early stages and its transition today to support a two-pronged strategy of supporting national development support and at the same time, developing a commercial program. The paper also illustrates the success of these policy endeavors through specific cases of applications and development of value added services. The paper also brings out the potential policy adjustments that will be called for in the coming years.     

Space theme parks: Promoting space to the public

China's advances in space include plans for a state-of-the-art space theme park, based on a new launch center, which promises to show up the outdated and ‘user unfriendly’ public visitor centers at most US space sites. Yet providing better public outreach in the form of theme parks would both inspire large numbers of the general population and provide a useful source of revenue. NASA should show more imagination in the exhibits and facilities it present to the public; it could use various science museums and Hollywood as models.     

25 YEARS OF SPACE AT SURREY—PIONEERING MODERN MICROSATELLITES

Space at Surrey has developed over 25 years from very modest beginnings in 1974 to an international space centre by 1998. It has pioneered small satellites and succeeded in launching 14 low cost but sophisticated microsatellites over the course of two decades. In the 1990s, small satellites have become fashionable—but this was not always so! This paper describes the 25 years history of “Space at Surrey”.     

The history of international space programmes

In reviewing the past 50 years of international space cooperation, much of it stunningly successful, some bedevilled by difficulties, the author notes that ‘space’ can now only be understood as a complex area of widely varied sectors, further complicated by different funding sources and dual-use activities. While scientists were the initial drivers of cooperation, their flourishing programmes risk losing government funding to the grandiose manned missions being envisaged. Such funding is strongly reliant on political will rather than on the merits of any particular programme, something that, until recently with the GEO, has been particularly evident in earth observations. A major problem has been countries’ efforts to secure some minor national advantage at the expense of the bigger picture. But for international space cooperation truly to benefit humanity, a greater acceptance of working for the common good and more efficient programme management (no duplication) will be required.     

Near-critical fluids under microgravity : status of the eseme program and perspectives for the iss

Started 16 years ago, the ESEME program has led to a number of important findings. We note a simple and unified view of phase transitions, which has been applied to the development of biological patterns, and a very fast thermalization mode that we coined the “piston effect”. This effect has been applied to control the cryogenic reservoirs of the Ariane 5 rocket. All these findings have been obtained thanks to the good coordination of the ESA and CNES space facilities and the construction of high technology experimental modules. The future of the program is linked to the CNES DECLIC facility and the ESA Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL). DECLIC has been designed to increase the temperature regulation above the critical point of water (550 K) so as to investigate chemical reactions under conditions of supercritical water, and in relation to the promising applications of waste treatment by supercritical oxidation. Thanks to the construction of a special vibrational Experiment Container for FSL, the thermal and mechanical behavior of fluids under forced vibration can be investigated. The results of such studies will help to estimate the effect of g-jitter on fluids, and control gases and liquids in space.     

Quo vadis COPUOS?

Since 1958, the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) has been an international forum working to build a body of space law by universal consensus, a method of working which has been essential to ensuring the enforce-ability of its decisions. This consensus has degenerated in recent years, slowing the progress of space law — which has now fallen dangerously behind the development of space technology. Some important recent decisions have had to be taken by majority voting rather than consensus, to overcome the paralysis of COPUOS. This, however, can only be a temporary solution. The author makes an urgent plea for a return to COPOUS and its methods.     

Registration of space objects: ESA member states’ practice

The registration of space objects is indispensable for the orderly administration of outer space. Most states recognize this and comply with the instruments—the Registration Convention and the UN General Assembly Resolution—set up to permit registration, but they display different approaches to and interpretations of the concept of registration. This article examines the registration practices of various European Space Agency (ESA) member states and of ESA itself. It finds that, despite varied policies, the system seems to be working well. However, there has been a worrying rise in non-registrations over the past few years, perhaps linked to the growth in the number of, especially commercial, entities engaging in space activities.     

未来空间技术发展展望

经过近50年的发展,我国空间技术取得了举世瞩目的成就,在新的历史时期,世界航天将跨入一个新的发展高潮,我国经济社会的发展对航天事业提出了更高的要求。文章提出了我国未来航天器发展体系,介绍了未来5年我国空间技术发展的重点任务,分析了专业技术发展方向,提出了创新发展的对策建议。     

Development Prospect of the Commercialization for Aerospace Services

In recent years, with the rapid growth in demand for commercial launches, space institutions like NASA have been succeeded in the commercialization of aerospace services. According to the latest development trends on international commercial aerospace services and the current development status of domestic commercial aerospace services, suggestions on the development of China's commercial aerospace services based on policies, development modes and technical innovation are given.     

China''s space policy: review and prospects

This article reviews the current status of the Chinese space programme, covering its military origins, launchers, applications satellites, manned spaceflight and exploration. It examines the growing commercialization of China's space activities and how far this is likely to be successful, especially in the light of MTCR constraints and other legal regulations. It is nonetheless concluded that commercialization, along with joint ventures with foreign companies, has been crucial to the development of China's space programme. However, the country still lacks the resources to become a first-rank space power.     

The changing geopolitics of space activities

Traditional space relations among civilian space actors are undergoing in the post-cold war era a rapid evolution with a growing number of new institutional entities. The cold war era and its resulting political environment, which limited space cooperation to ‘intra-bloc’ cooperation, has disappeared, allowing the development of new axes and mechanisms of cooperation. The internationalization and regionalization of space activities witnessed in recent years is foreseen to gain momentum, leading therefore to a new geography of civilian space activities.     

A note on China's space technology

Since the early 1960s China has been making its own contribution to space exploration. This note outlines China's plans for building a space station and developing an Earth-space transporation system in the 1990s.