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AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM // DECEMBER 7
// CHINA TARGETS 2020
FOR MARS LANDING
Xi’an Aerospace Propulsion
Institute, a subsidiary of China
Aerospace Science and
Technology, China’s main space
contractor, has revealed that the
propulsion system for its Mars
spacecraft has passed all of its
necessary tests.
Launching in 2020, China’s
Mars mission will attempt to put
a probe in orbit around the
red planet and land a rover on
its surface.
The Shanghai Institute of
Space Propulsion has completed
tests of the spacecraft’s
propulsion system for the
hovering, hazard avoidance,
slow-down, and landing stages of
a Mars landing attempt. The
successful tests verified the
performance and control of the
propulsion system, in which one
engine producing 7,500N of
thrust will provide the majority of
force required to decelerate the
spacecraft for landing, said
the Institute
China’s solar-powered Mars
rover will, at 240kg, be twice the
mass of China’s two lunar rovers.
Shanghai,China
// QANTAS RUNS RESEARCH
FLIGHTS INTO JET LAG
Australian airline Qantas’s
second of three research flights
into jet lag and crew behavior
landed in Sydney in November
after travelling from London nonstop
in 19 hours and 19 minutes.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner
reduced travel time by two hours
compared with current one-stop
services from the east coast of
Australia. Qantas aims to run
non-stop flights from Sydney to
London and New York from 2023
but is first investigating ways of
improving crew and passenger
well-being on what it
calls “ultra” long haul
services, before making
a final decision on the
new route.
The flight is only the
second time any commercial
airline has flown this route
non-stop, after Qantas flew a
near-empty 747-400 in 1989.
The airline has re-purposed
the delivery flights of three brand
new 787 Dreamliner aircraft for
the research project.
Sydney, Australia
// MITSUBISHI SHIPS
FIRST PW1200G ENGINE
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Aero
Engines has shipped the first
Pratt & Whitney GTF PW1200G
engine domestically assembled
in Japan.
The engine was sent to
Mitsubishi Aircraft’s Flight Test
Center in Moses Lake,
Washington, where it will be
installed to support on-going
testing of the SpaceJet regional
passenger jet.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Aero Engines (MHIAEAL) is
seeking approval from the FAA to
assemble PW1200G engines in
the future from its Komaki
factory. If granted the plant
would become the first final
assembly line in Japan for the
production of commercial airliner
jet engines.
Assembly of the first PW1200G
engine in Japan began in 2017.
Komaki, Japan
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