Andrew JonesVerified account

@AJ_FI

Journalist tracking China's space programme. Correspondent at ; bylines: | andrew.w.jones-at-protonmail

Finland
spacenews.com/author/andrew/
Joined December 2009
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  1. Pinned Tweet
    14 May 2021

    China is about to try a high-stakes landing on Mars (likely ~23:10 UTC tonight)

    39 replies 121 retweets 630 likes
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  2. 1 hour ago

    Moon-bound rocket stage still most likely from 2014 Chang’e mission, despite China’s denial

    1 reply 10 retweets 23 likes
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  3. Retweeted
    4 hours ago

    Northrop Grumman wins $341 million Space Force contract to develop a deep-space tracking radar - SpaceNews

    3 replies 32 retweets 89 likes
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  4. Retweeted
    Feb 22

    No details about the cause of the failure, only that it’s following what appears to be a pretty standard failure investigation process.

    We expect a safe return to launch following a complete investigation with the . Learn more about our post-launch investigation process + next steps:
    2 replies 3 retweets 50 likes
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  5. Feb 22

    And I linked the wrong post earlier. Here's Sun mentioning Saturn.

    1 reply 2 retweets 19 likes
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  6. Feb 22

    The other possibility is the tentatively named "Gan De" mission to Jupiter which could include an extended mission or secondary probe to another gas or icy giant. But this is not clear. Last indication was that the mission could include a Callisto lander 😱

    1 reply 4 retweets 40 likes
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  7. Feb 22

    The Interstellar Express mission is prima facie Voyager-like, but there's no exceptional planetary alignment that allows such a "grand tour" of the planets. It will be optimised for heliophysics with bonus flybys, whereas the opposite was true for the mighty Voyagers.

    3 replies 2 retweets 19 likes
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  8. Feb 22

    And possibly Kuiper belt objects such as Quaoar. So, perhaps the latest is that 1 of 2 spacecraft heading to the "head" & "tail" of the solar system will flyby Saturn (possibilities for transfer orbits can be checked)

    1 reply 5 retweets 18 likes
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  9. Feb 22

    So where does the Saturn reference come from? It could be the "Interstellar Express" mission noted in the white paper. That mission profile has changed a few times as studies and proposals progress. It has noted possible flybys of Venus, Jupiter (necessary), Neptune...

    2 replies 2 retweets 16 likes
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  10. Feb 22

    So, does this mean China is planning a dedicated mission to Saturn? I'd guess not. China approved a 14th Five-year plan in 2021 and released a Space white paper in January. Neither note a plan for a Saturn mission. &

    3 replies 5 retweets 24 likes
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  11. Feb 22

    A Chinese Saturn mission? Sun Zezhou of CAST told CCTV that China will continue to explore following its Moon and Mars missions, including asteroid/comet, Jupiter, Saturn and the edges of the solar system. This is a first mention of Saturn from China.

    10 replies 51 retweets 238 likes
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  12. Retweeted
    Feb 21

    This is an incredible statement. Deserves to be read widely.

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    Kenya makes strong statement opposing the undermining of the sovereignty & territorial integrity of during the emergency meeting of the at 9pm on 21st February. See full statement delivered below 👇🏿
    30 replies 757 retweets 2,206 likes
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  13. Retweeted
    Feb 21

    The chief of Russia's space program just tweeted "Glory to Russia." I wish it were in the context of some great Russian spaceflight achievement, but alas it is not.

    Слава России!
    74 replies 122 retweets 1,598 likes
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  14. Feb 21

    An excellent thread here on what this means:

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    Today the published its 'Space Strategy for Wales' (WSS). TLDR: it's a brochure trying to sell Wales as an attractive place for space startups and the Western military-industrial complex, with testing facilities, hi-tech workforce, and University ecosystem.
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    1 reply 1 retweet 10 likes
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  15. Feb 21

    Ad astra now in a minute.

    Wales aspires to be a space nation, as well.
    1 reply 1 retweet 19 likes
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  16. Retweeted
    Feb 21

    Northrop Grumman announces agreement with to launch new satellite-servicing vehicle in 2024. Mission Robotic Vehicle's first customer is MRV has robotic arm developed by

    8 replies 79 retweets 387 likes
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  17. Retweeted
    Feb 21

    Putin is running this Security Council meeting like a Netflix drama. Starts by saying basically we're all going to decide the fate of Ukraine today, then lots of plot filling from the others before we get the answer. Extraordinary way to find out the future fate of Europe.

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    395 replies 2,543 retweets 6,925 likes
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  18. Retweeted
    Feb 21

    A view of Ganymede, assembled from images captured by 's Galileo spacecraft on February 21, 1997 and using color data from Voyager observations 18 years earlier. North on Ganymede here is to the right.

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    12 replies 115 retweets 747 likes
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  19. Feb 21

    Just for context, China's MFA answered questions about the FOBS drama last year by talking about something else (a spaceplane test), for whatever reason:

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    AFP asked Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson today about the latest FT report on China's hypersonics test. Once again, the answer seems to be referring to a reusable suborbital vehicle tested in July.
    1 reply 3 retweets 5 likes
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  20. Feb 21

    But in any case the US tracking data suggests the rocket stage in question reentered in 2015.

    1 reply 4 retweets 13 likes
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  21. Feb 21

    A possible issue: in the transcript Wang refers to the "嫦娥五号" (Chang'e-5) mission, upper stage of which has reentered, not specifically 嫦娥五号T1 (CE-5T1). Maybe a transcribing error (didn't find the video), prevarication or mere lack of specificity.

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    3 replies 4 retweets 19 likes
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