China Completes First Seaborne Launch Technology Experiment

A LM-Ⅱ carrier rocket named theCZ-Ⅱ WEY was launched at 12:06 Beijing time on June 5,2019 from a mobile launch platform in the Yellow Sea,successfully sending two technology experimental satellites Bufeng-IA and BufengIB and five commercial satellites into their preset orbits.This is China's first seaborne launch technology experiment which was a completely success.It can meet the requirement for different inclination satellite launches and promotes the development of commercial space in China.

Assessing impacts to maritime shipping from marine chokepoint closures

Global supply chain disruptions caused by the six-day blockage of the Suez Canal in March 2021 and the reduction in shipping through the Bosporus Strait since the onset of the Ukraine War in February 2022 are recent demonstrations of the critical importance of marine chokepoints to international trade and thus global economic security.To better understand and anticipate effects of a chokepoint closure on global trade,we combine GIS data of international shipping lanes with 2019 bilateral trade data to estimate how the closure of each of eleven chokepoints could change trade flows through other chokepoints and between countries.Estimates from the closure scenarios reveal alternate-shipping route linkages between seven chokepoints whereby if one were closed for an extended period,trade through one or more of the others would change significantly.The estimates also underscore the economic importance of the Danish Straits,the Bosporus Strait,the Strait of Hormuz,and the South China Sea and East China Sea to those countries that must rely on these chokepoints for access to maritime trade.Moreover,the estimates project delays and shifts in coastal seaport activity that could lead to knock-on effects that disrupt global supply chains long after a chokepoint blockage is cleared.

A High Spatial Resolution FBG Sensor Array for Measuring Ocean Temperature and Depth

Exploring and understanding the ocean is an important field of scientific study.Acquiring accurate and high-resolution temperature and depth profiles of the oceans over relatively short periods of time is an important basis for understanding ocean currents and other associated physical parameters.Traditional measuring instruments based on piezoelectric ceramics have a low spatial resolution and are not inherently waterproof.Meanwhile,sensing systems based on fiber Bragg grating(FBG)have the advantage of facilitating continuous measurements and allow multi-sensor distributed measurements.Therefore,in this paper,an all-fiber seawater temperature and depth-sensing array is used to obtain seawater temperature and depth profiles.In addition,by studying the encapsulation structure of the FBG sensors,this paper also solves the problem of the measurement error present in traditional FBG sensors when measuring seawater temperature.Through a theoretical analysis and seaborne test in the Yellow Sea of China,the sampling frequency of the all-fiber seawater temperature and depth profile measurement system is 1 Hz,the accuracy of the FBG sensors reaches 0.01℃,and the accuracy of the FBG depth sensors reaches 0.1%of the full scale.The resulting parameters for these sensors are therefore considered to be acceptable for most survey requirements in physical oceanography.

From the Sea

China’s first seaborne satellite launch is a full success With a blast coming out of the Yellow Sea on June 5, China successfully launched a rocket from a sea-based platform for the first time, making it the third country after the United States and Russia to master sea launch technology.