Science & Technology

BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The China-developed  MA700 turboprop aircraft has entered the trial-manufacturing and test phase, announced the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) Friday.

The first MA700 is expected to roll off the production line this September.

The MA700 is the third member of China's "Morden Ark(MA)" regional airplane family following the MA60 and MA600. The AVIC is striving to conduct the maiden flight by the end of 2019, said AVIC.

28 Feb 2019; AP: Security experts say the U.S. government is likely exaggerating the threat it says the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei poses to the world’s next-generation wireless networks.

Washington has mounted an intense diplomatic offensive that paints Huawei as an untrustworthy servant of Beijing’s intelligence agencies.

KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR, February 26. /TASS/. The first serial-produced Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet will arrive for Russia’s Aerospace Force in 2019, Deputy CEO of the Sukhoi Aircraft Company Alexander Pekarsh said on Tuesday.

Pekarsh heads the Company’s branch in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East where Su-57 planes are manufactured.

PARIS, February 26. /TASS/. Russia’s Soyuz-ST-B carrier rocket has completed all necessary checks and has been cleared for the February 27 launch to put first OneWeb satellites into orbit, Arianespace CEO Stephane Israel said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.

"Soyuz is approved for flight! Today’s launch readiness review cleared the medium-lift workhorse for tomorrow’s liftoff with the first six satellites in OneWeb’s constellation," he said.

MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. In an interview with the Turkey’s NTV channel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed hope that Washington would eventually change its mind on Turkey’s plans to buy S-400 missile defense systems from Russia.

"At present, relevant agencies conduct all the necessary talks, and will continue to do so, including a speech before the Congress. I hope that this wrongful approach by the United States would change," he said, commenting on the possibility of US sanctions over the deal.

MOSCOW, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Russia plans to launch seven spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) this year, the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said Tuesday.

It said in a statement that the Soyuz MS-12 manned spacecraft will carry Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and U.S. astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Haig on March 14.

MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. The first direction-finding system designed to trace radio interference and thus provide for the stable operation of radio-electronic equipment has undergone trials in field conditions, the press office of Russia’s RTI hi-tech firm told TASS on Monday.

MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. The preliminary date set for the first space flight by a United Arab Emirates astronaut has been set for September 25, the chief of the Gagarin Space Training Center, Pavel Vlasov, has told TASS.

"At this point, yes (it’s September 25). This agreement is to be confirmed by the Russian side later today in the form of an authorized program for flights to the ISS this year," Vlasov said when asked if it was true the UAE’s first astronaut would be put in space on September 25.

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Specialists of the Russian Mission Control Center have adjusted the International Space Station’s orbit, raising it to the medium altitude of 408.5 km, a spokesman for the Central Research Institute of Machine-Building (TsNIImash) said on Tuesday.

"The orbit adjustment was performed as scheduled. As a result of the maneuver the medium altitude of the space station’s orbit was raised to 408.5 km," the spokesman said.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — China’s Huawei is set to take the wraps off a new folding-screen phone, joining the latest trend for bendable devices as it challenges the global smartphone market’s dominant players, Apple and Samsung.

The company on Sunday plans to unveil the device, which can be used on superfast next-generation mobile networks that are due to come online in the coming years.

Huawei will reveal the phone on the eve of MWC Barcelona, a four-day showcase of mobile devices, as the company battles U.S. allegations it is a cybersecurity risk.