Bradley Perrett covered China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He is a Mandarin-speaking Australian.
Before joining Aviation Week in 2006 he was a macroeconomics, politics and aerospace journalist with Reuters. Perrett holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Macquarie University, Sydney. He left Aviation Week in 2020.
BEIJING — China is studying the design of a Moon rocket in the class of the Saturn V, as the Obama administration proposes canceling the U.S. successor to the Apollo launcher, Ares V. The country also is developing another new rocket, the “medium thrust” Long March 7, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology says. This new launcher joins the Long March 5 heavy rocket and the Long March 6, which was mentioned last year and is now defined as a “small-thrust” launcher. Long March 5, 6 and 7 will form a family of rockets, it says.
Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport, under a plan commissioned by the Taiwanese government, could construct a third terminal building. The terminal would raise capacity from 30 million passengers a year to 50 million. Construction of the building, between the two current terminals, would require relocation of a control tower and other facilities.
YAOGAN LAUNCH: The ninth spacecraft in China’s Yaogan series of remote sensing satellites will be launched within days. The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern province of Gansu says a Long March 4C rocket will be used for the launch of Yaogan 9. The Yaogan group is growing rapidly. Two were launched in December.
