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The latest news, analysis and opinion on Space. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
LATEST China Science NEWS

Ming dynasty ‘Guide to the Galaxy’: China names 2100 space plan after 1637 book

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“Tiangong Kaiwu” is a renowned Ming dynasty encyclopaedia documenting over 130 types of handicraft techniques, including advanced textile processes and metallurgical methods. Photo: Handout

NIH-funded biomedicine researcher Gao Zhonghua leaves US for China

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Gao Zhonghua is now recruiting a research team. Photo: Handout

China’s first-of-kind ABF crystal creates most energised solid-state laser beam

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The ammonium fluorooxoborate (ABF) crystal is at the heart of a breakthrough by Chinese scientists who say they have attained the shortest wavelength of a laser beam generated from a crystal. Photo: Handout

Chinese hydrogel coating boosts solar panel output by 13%, ideal for hot regions

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Research team says it has received interest from several companies keen to collaborate on commercialising the cooling technology. Photo: Handout

North America’s top computer vision scientist Liang Jie returns to China

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According to the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo (pictured), Liang Jie joined the university in January 2026 as a chair professor at its School of Electronic Science and Technology. Photo: Handout
MORE China Science NEWS
Illustration: Craig Stephens
China's space programme

Opinion | As China opens up its space sector, Hong Kong should reach for the stars

With deep capital markets and globally aligned legal practices, the city can support a competitive Chinese space programme that shapes global standards.

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SpaceX

Elon Musk merges xAI into SpaceX in record-setting deal

Style Edit

Style Edit: Omega’s latest Speedmaster Moonwatches

Mainland China

The Chinese satellites SpaceX says were on collision course with Starlink

As orbits become more crowded and littered with debris, the US operator is having to move its devices to dodge damage.

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 launches 27 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on July 2, 2025. Photo: SpaceX/TNS
Banking & finance

Chinese banks join the space race with satellite launches and rocket backing

As China seeks new engines of growth, finance is emerging as an unexpected backer of the country’s commercial space ambitions.

Science

China found something strange on far side of moon no one had seen in nature

The Chang’e-6 lunar probe found tiny tubes formed by a single layer of atoms – something that has previously been seen only in a lab.

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United States

Bezos’ Blue Origin to deploy thousands of satellites to rival Musk’s Starlink

The TeraWave plan coincides with a rush to build data centres in space that can meet the soaring demand for large-scale AI data processing.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off carrying Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet network satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in April 2025. Photo: Reauters
China Future Tech briefing

Aerospace | Chinese rivals to Musk’s Starlink wrestle with rocket constraints

The slow pace of Chinese rocket launches is hampering efforts to create alternatives to SpaceX’s Starlink and damping the government’s drive to pare reliance on US technology.

China's space programme

China’s commercial space sector soars with 50 launches in 2025

Commercial launches accounted for 54 per cent of the total last year, data from China National Space Administration shows.

Science

First contact: in quest for moon water, Chinese team flags risk in touching ice

Scientists warn water on the moon is locked in frozen soil, not exposed to air and held in place only by cold and vacuum.

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The Chang’e-7 mission is expected to touch down on the rim of Shackleton crater near the lunar south pole this year as part of China’s search for water on the moon. Photo: Handout
Science

China suffers unprecedented double rocket launch failures in a single day

Saturday’s twin failures involved a state-owned rocket and a private one, but observers attribute them to industry’s growing pains.

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Saturday’s Long March-3B failure was the first in more than five years. Photo: Xinhua
Hong Kong economy

Hong Kong eyes slice of booming ‘NewSpace’ economy as professional services hub

Chief Executive’s Policy Unit reveals that it recently hosted a high-level round table on the space economy.

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Science

Could China’s Yaogan-47 satellite have a lens as wide as the Hubble Telescope?

Chinese satellite will be used for national land surveys, urban planning, environmental management and comprehensive disaster prevention.

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United States

Astronauts splash down on Earth after first-ever medical evacuation

The crew’s mission on the International Space Station was cut short by over a month.

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In this screengrab, recovery vessels approach the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate a crew member after a pre-dawn splashdown near San Diego on Thursday. Photo: Nasa/AP
Science

Chinese risk study finds space solar power stations could zap satellites

Beijing team finds that potential electrical discharges, though brief, could induce abnormal currents in spacecraft systems.

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Chinese researchers studying the risk of lasers in space say their findings will help guide safer parameters and the design of protective measures. Photo: Shutterstock Images
China's military weapons

Chinese state media repositions sci-fi space, air combat aircraft as tech target

Military analyst on CCTV says frontier technologies reflect ‘expectations for future aerospace and space superiority’.

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Science

China applies to put up 200,000 satellites after calling Starlink a crash risk

US Federal Communications Commission says it approved SpaceX to launch 7,500 second-generation Starlink satellites.

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Science

Why Chinese space station is studying how gravity affects battery performance

Project is led by the country’s second civilian astronaut working with researchers on the ground to look at ways to improve performance.

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China’s Tiangong space station is hosting a new series of experiments aimed at developing next-generation energy storage for future lunar and deep-space missions. Photo: Shutterstock
International Space Station (ISS)

Nasa to carry out first-ever space medical evacuation for astronaut

US-Japanese-Russian crew of four at the International Space Station will return to Earth within days, earlier than planned.

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Science

SpaceX will move 4,400 satellites to a lower orbit after China cited safety risk

Starlink’s Michael Nicolls declares ‘significant reconfiguration’ to be coordinated with regulators, other operators and US Space Command.

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Science

2026 is a stellar year for supermoons and eclipses: what to look out for

The coming year is packed with cosmic events, from a ‘ring of fire’ eclipse to two six-planet line-ups to several supermoons.

A “ring of fire” solar eclipse seen from Tahai, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile, in 2024. In 2026, another will occur in February, but over the Antarctic. Photo: AP
Iran

Iran launches 3 satellites into space from Russia

Iran’s space programme and related entities have been targeted by US sanctions, but Iran insists the satellites are intended for ‘observation’.

A rocket blasts off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in eastern Russia on Sunday. Photo: Roscosmos via AFP
Japan

Can Japan’s space industry regain thrust after H3 rocket failure?

Failure is inevitable, aerospace experts say, so Japan needs to be less afraid of making mistakes and move on.

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Japan

Video | Japanese rocket fails to launch satellite into orbit

The Michibiki satellite is the sixth in a seven-orbiter geolocation system aimed at giving Japan highly accurate positioning services.

Science

Second reusable rocket recovery failure in a month puts China 10 years behind US

Chinese state-owned and commercial developers are racing to catch up on a decade of the technology’s deployment.

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China’s Long March 12A, the country’s first state-owned reusable rocket, has failed on its debut launch on Tuesday morning. Photo: Weibo
Japan

Japan’s H3 rocket fails to deploy geolocation satellite after engine cuts out

The Michibiki satellite is the sixth in a seven-orbiter geolocation system aimed at giving Japan highly accurate positioning services.

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Japan’s H3 rocket carrying the Michibiki No 5 satellite lifts off from the Tanegashima Space Centre on Monday. Photo: Kyodo
United States

German engineer becomes first wheelchair user to blast into space

Michaela Benthaus had thought her dreams of being an astronaut were over after she was badly injured in a mountain bike accident.

Donald Trump

Trump’s space plan envisages US moon base amid race with China

Trump calls for moon landing in 2028, lunar base thereafter, as China targets the end of the decade for its first crewed landing.

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