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Three Gorges Dam to reach full water level this month

October 4, 2010

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town ofSandouping, located in the Yiling District of Yichang, in Hubei province, China.

Map of the location of the Three Gorges Dam, Sandouping, Yichang, Hubei Province, China and major cities along the Yangtze River

Three Gorges Dam location: Wikipedia image

The dam body was completed in 2006. Except for a ship lift, the originally planned components of theproject were completed on October 30, 2008, when the 26th generator in the shore plant began commercial operation. Each generator has a capacity of 700 MW. Six additional generators in the underground power plant are not expected to become fully operational until 2011. Coupling the dam’s 32 main generators with 2 smaller generators (50 MW each) to power the plant itself, the total electric generating capacity of the dam will eventually reach 22,500 MW.

Xinhua reports  from Yichang, Hubei that the water level at the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest water control project, reached 164.59 meters on Sunday, only 10 meters short of its full capacity of 175-meters. The dam in central China started to hold back water this September by discharging less to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the country’s longest river.

When the water level is at its maximum of 175 metres over sea level (110 metres above the river level downstream), the dam reservoir is about 660 kilometres  in length and 1.12 kilometres  in width on average, and contains 39.3 km3 of water. The total surface area of the reservoir is 1,045 km². The reservoir flooded a total area of 632 km² of land, compared to the 1,350 km² of reservoir created by the Itaipu Dam on the border of Brazil and Paraguay (which has a  generating capacity of 14,000 MW).

File:Yangtze longitudinal profile upstream.JPG

Yangtze longitudinal profile: Wikipedia image

Reaching the 175-meter water level would enable the Three Gorges Dam to fulfill its functions of flood control and generating electricity to the fullest extent, symbolizing the total success of the massive water project. This is the reservoir’s third attempt to reach full capacity since 2008. However, water levels stopped at 172.8 meters in 2008 and 171.43 meters in 2009 due to droughts on the lower reaches.

However, this time officials believe the dam will reach full capacity by the end of October.

Changed Landscape of the Three Gorges Dam region. (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio).

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Chang’e-2 mission on track

October 3, 2010

Chang'e programme: Xinhua

On Saturday scientists successfully activated the attitude control engines on Chang’e-2 and trimmed the satellite for the first time on its journey, according to a flight control official in Beijing. “During Chang’e-2’s 380,000-km journey to the moon, we will conduct more orbit corrections if necessary to ensure that it enters a lunar orbit,” said Ma Yongping, vice director of the flight control center. Chang’e-2 blasted off on a Long-March-3C carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, at about 7 p.m. Friday. It is China’s first unmanned spacecraft to be boosted from the launch site directly to the earth-moon transfer orbit, greatly reducing the journey time from that of its predecessor Chang’e-1.

Chang’e-1 took about 13 days to travel to a lunar orbit after orbiting the earth in a geosynchronous orbit and then transferring to the earth-moon transfer orbit. Chang’e-2 is expected to travel for about 112 hours, or almost five days, to arrive in a lunar orbit. To acquire more detailed moon data, Chang’e-2 will enter a lower lunar orbit about 100 km above the surface, compared with the 200-km altitude of Chang’e-1, according to the control center.

Sinus Iridum - Bay of Rainbows

The satellite will eventually be maneuvered into an orbit just 15 kilometer above the moon. At that point, Chang’e-2 will take pictures of moon’s Bay of Rainbows (Sinus Iridum)  area, the proposed landing ground for Chang’e-3, with a resolution of 1.5 meters. The resolution on Chang’e-1’s camera was 120 meters, said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar orbiter project.

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China steps in to support Greece (and the EU)

October 3, 2010
Wen Jiabao (温家宝), Chinese Premier

Image via Wikipedia

China is now too big a player to take lightly and I see the Euro strengthening.

Dagens Industri:

(My translation)

On Saturday China entered into an EU- country’s economy by promising strong financial support to crisis-hit Greece. “When Greece has problems, China is prepared to offer all the help it can” said the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao at a press conference in Athens together with his Greek counterpart, Giorgos Papandreou sfter they had held bilateral discussions.

China, according to Wen Jiabao, will help finance the purchase of
Chinese ships to the Greek shipping industry by creating  a
Fund worth five billion U.S. dollars (about 34 billion SEK). “China is willing to join together with the EU – as a passenger in the same boat – to strengthen cooperation to meet the financial crisis, said the Chinese Prime Minister. Crisis-hit Greece also had the promise of Chinese investment, including for the port of Piraeus and for import of Greek
goods. The Chinese also promised purchases of Greek government bonds.
“Greece has been effective in its handling of the debt crisis”, continued Wen Jiabao, who spoke through an interpreter at a press conference.

He also stressed that the EU and the IMF aid package to Greece had
yielded positive results and that he sees the Greek economy recovering in line with the global economy. Papandreou, for his part said that China’s plans to support Greece is an expression of confidence in Greece.

Wen Jiabao will speak to the Greek Parliament on Sunday before moving on to Brussels to attend a meeting between EU and Asian leaders. Then he goes on to Germany, Italy and Turkey.

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Posted in China, Economy, European Union, Greece | 3 Comments »

China’s second moon probe Chang’e-2 to launch this weekend

September 30, 2010

From Space.com:

On Thursday, workers will begin fueling the Long March rocket that will blast the unmanned Chang’e-2 probe into space from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, Xinhua reported. Launch will occur “at an appropriate time” between Friday — China’s National Day, when the country marks 61 years of Communist rule — and Sunday (Oct. 3).

 

Chang'e-2 lunar probe

 

Chang’e-2 is the second step in China’s three-phase Chang’e moon exploration program, which is named after China’s mythical moon goddess. Chang’e-2 will test out technology and collect data on possible landing sites for the Chang’e-3 spacecraft, which is scheduled to land on the moon in 2013. According to the state news agency, Chang’e-2 should arrive at lunar orbit about five days after launch. It will eventually swoop down to an orbit just nine miles (15 km) above the lunar surface to take high-resolution pictures of landing areas for Chang’e-3. After snapping the photos, Chang’e-2 will retreat to an altitude of about 62 miles (100 km) to conduct a study of the lunar surface and dirt.

The Chang’e-1 probe  launched in October 2007 and conducted a 16-month moon observation mission, after which it crash-landed on the lunar surface by design, in March 2009.

 

The launch of Long March 3B Rocket, Xichang Sa...

Image via Wikipedia:Long March 3B Rocket launch

 

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Posted in Astronomy, China, Engineering, Space, Technology | 1 Comment »

Can growth in India and China prevent the double-dip?

September 13, 2010

Chinese factories increased production in August and money growth easily topped analysts’ expectations, according to data on Saturday, showing that the economy remained buoyant despite government efforts to clamp down on bank lending and property speculation. Inflation in China sped to its fastest pace in 22 months, though the bulk of price rises stemmed from higher food costs, which analysts have said should be transitory after a spell of bad weather this summer.

image: buyusa.gov

Indian shares have risen to their highest level in more than two and a half years after data showed industrial output rose faster than expected. Figures released after Friday’s market close showed July’s factory output was up 13.8% compared with a year ago. India’s benchmark Sensex index rose 322 points, or 1.7%, to 19,122, its highest since January 2008. Banks led the gains as investors expect demand for loans to rise on the back of an expanding economy. Shares in State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, were up 4.3%. ICICI Bank shares rose 3.5%, while HDFC Bank was 1.1% higher.

With a good monsoon this year inflation in food prices in India should now reduce sharply and if industry and manufacturing maintain their spurt, a total 10%+  GDP growth for 2010 -11 becomes probable.

Most Asian stocks too gained momentum on Monday. At 11.20 am today, the Sensex was trading up 293.53 points or 1.56% at 19,093.19, while Nifty was trading higher by 85.90 points or 1.52% at 5,725.95.

Europe and the US will continue to experience a prolonged period of low or choppy economic growth but this will have little impact on the growing domestic consumption of China and India. Companies selling into these nations are experiencing buoyant trading conditions.

This should be sufficient to mitigate the risks of a prolonged double-dip recession in Europe and the US  but will not be enough to avoid it.

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