Tech

on BBC, China’s Science Revolution

China's science revolutionby Rebecca Morelle
23 May 2016

Very interesting and informative. I used to work in the particle accelerator area.

I did a quick search. The author graduated with a Chemistry Degree from Oxford. The report angle is more objective from a scientist or an engineer than that from people who have a political science degree. For example, she did not always discuss human rights in a scientific project as in NY Times or Washington Post or WSJ.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-0192822d-14f1-432b-bd25-92eab6466362

it’s clear Beijing is Silicon Valley’s only true competitor

This article is very interesting. The picture is funny : “One Olympics, one dream”, which should be dated back to 2008.

Beijing is sillicon valley's only true competitor
http://www.recode.net/2016/5/13/11592570/china-startup-tech-economy-silicon-valley

I used to work with several Chinese companies. I had phone calls with them every night and morning to coach them for integrating our software into their hardware for several months. Their hard-working spirit is incomparable, even inhumane to many American companies.

There are several sentences in the article resonating well with me:

  1. “And it’s good for Silicon Valley to have a true competitor, because it sparks impulses on how to evolve to the next level.”
  2. And while I don’t think long hours are any measure of productivity, I was amazed by the enormous hunger and drive.
  3. The argument that Chinese entrepreneurs are mainly cloning Western startups is outdated.
  4. Beyond the “money mindset,” what Chinese startups lack the most is knowledge on how to run high-quality product development in parallel with rapid distribution growth — in other words, how to get both done at the same time.
  5. Let’s keep the inner Silicon Valley spirit alive, and be focused on creating awesome things out of almost nothing. That’s entrepreneurship. Let’s beware of getting perked out and distracted by stuff that doesn’t matter.

 

2015 and Previous Orbital Launches from Jonathan’s Space Report

I just received a new email update from Jonathan’s Space Report, No. 721. I used to work on satellite navigation and I am always keeping an eye on this development.

#HoCoTech

http://www.planet4589.org/space/

2015 Orbital Launches
———————There were 87 orbital launch attempts. Three launches (2 US, 1 Russian)
failed to reach orbit. Two Russian launches reached the correct orbit
but had failures at payload separation. Of the 84 launches reaching
orbit, one (Vega VV04) did not receive an international designation.
These 84 launches included
– 25 Russian (14 Soyuz, 7 Proton, 2 Rokot, 1 Zenit, 1 Dnepr)
– 19 Chinese (16 CZ2/3/4, 1 CZ6, 1 CZ11)
– 18 US  (9 Atlas 5, 6 Falcon 9, 2 Delta 4, 1 Delta 2)
– 9 European (Ariane, Vega)
– 5 Indian
– 4 Japanese
– 1 Iranian
– 3 Russian/European Soyuz-ST launches from French Guiana.

 

Launch summary for 2014

The 92 orbital launch attempts in 2014 (including Proton and Antares launch failures):

Russia  36   (8 Proton, 2 Dnepr, 22 Soyuz, 2 Rokot, 1 Strela, 1 Angara )
USA:    24   (9 Atlas 5, 1 Delta 2, 4 Delta 4, 6 Falcon 9, 3 Antares, 1 Zenit-3SL)
China:  16   (1 Kuaizhou, 9 SBA CZ-2D/4B/4C, 6 CALT CZ-2C/3A/3C)
Europe:  7   (6 Ariane 5, 1 Vega)
Japan    4   (4 H2A)
India    4   (3 PSLV, 1 GSLV)
Israel   1   (1 Shaviyt)

Orbital launch statistics 2013
------------------------------

Russia 33 (+2 fail), USA 19, China 14(+1 fail), Europe 5, Japan 3, India
3, South Korea 1 - for a total of 78 to orbit + 3 failures to orbit
(some of the 78 also failed to reach their intended orbits). I am
counting Soyuz-at-Kourou and the Sea Launch failure as Russian. The
story of recent years has been the strong rise of China as a launching
state; but this year the noticeable thing is the return of Russia to a
dominance of the launching statistics not seen since the fall of the
USSR. This includes nine Proton launches (all but two for non-Russian
customers) and 15 Soyuz launches including two from Kourou and 8 ISS-related ones.

The year also saw 209 payloads orbited thanks to the late surge of mass
cubesat deployments; this compares with 134 payloads launched last year.
  Countries of ownership, 2013 payloads:
    USA       87
    Russia    28
    China     18
    UK        9 (arguable, assuming formal ownership of
                 two SES satellites to SES Satellite Leasing UK.)
    ESA       7
    Germany   6
    S Korea   6
    Japan     5
    India     5
    Canada    4
    Spain     3
    Argentina, Austria, Denmark, Ecuador, 
     Netherlands, Peru, Vietnam -   2 each
    Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Estonia, France, Italy,  
     Israel, Luxembourg, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan,
     Poland, Qatar, Singapore, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine,
     South Africa:                  1 each
 These 209 payloads include 51 amateur/academic, 37 business/commercial, 74 civil, 47 defense
 (there is some overlap, of course). Six of the payloads (LADEE, MOM, Maven, Chang'e-3, Yutu, Gaia)
 are now beyond Earth orbit.

Orbital Launch Stats 2012

Total 78 attempts:
Russia 24, China 19, US 16, France/ESA 10, India 2, Japan 2, Iran 1 + 2 fail?, North Korea 1+1 fail
The Iranian launch failures, as noted above, are not confirmed. This is the first year in which
the number of Chinese launches has exceeded the corresponding US total.

Table of Recent (orbital) Launches

Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle  Site            Mission    INTL.
DES.
Nov  2 2104   Yamal-300K  )      Proton-M/Briz-M   Baykonur LC81/24  Comms     61
Luch-5B     )                                          Comms     61
Nov 10 2105   Star One C3  )     Ariane 5ECA       Kourou ELA3       Comms     62B
Eutelsat 21B )                                         Comms     62A
Nov 14 1142   Meridian No. 16    Soyuz-2-1A/Fregat Plesetsk LC43/4   Comms     63A
Nov 18 2253   Huan Jing 1C    )  Chang Zheng 2C    Taiyuan           Radar     64A
Xinyan-1        )                                      Tech
Fengniao 1A/1B  )                                      Tech
Nov 20 1831   Echostar 16        Proton-M/Briz-M   Baykonur LC39/200 Comms     65A
Nov 25 0406   Yaogan Weixing 16) Chang Zheng 4C    Jiuquan           Sigint?   66A
YW-16 Subsat 1   )                                     Sigint?   66B
YW-16 Subsat 2   )                                     Sigint?   66C
Nov 27 1013   Zhongxing 12       Chang Zheng 3BE   Xichang LC2       Comms     67A
Dec  1 0202   Pleiades 1B        Soyuz ST-A/Fregat Kourou ELS        Imaging   68A
Dec  3 2044   Eutelsat 70B       Zenit-3SL         SL Odyssey        Comms     69A
Dec  8 1313   Yamal 402          Proton-M/Briz-M   Baykonur LC39/200 Comms     70A
Dec 11 1803   X-37B OTV-3        Atlas V 501       Canaveral SLC41   Spaceplane 71A
Dec 12 0049   Kwangmyongsong-3 F2 Unha-3            Sohae             Test      72A
Dec 18 1612   Gokturk 2          Chang Zheng 2D    Jiuquan           Imaging    73A
Dec 19 1212   Soyuz TMA-07M      Soyuz-FG          Baykonur LC1      Spaceship  74A
Dec 19 2149   Skynet 5D          ) Ariane 5ECA     Kourou ELA3       Comms      75A
Mexsat-Bicentenario)                                   Comms      75B