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A giant leap for China’s space lab
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CHINA will begin building a space station that is more economically efficient and uses more data than the current International Space Station, starting as early as 2017, chief engineer of China’s manned space program Zhou Jianping said yesterday.
“Once the space lab mission comes to an end, China will start building our own space station,” he said, adding that China will launch a core module of the space station around 2018.
Zhou made the remarks as China’s space lab Tiangong-2 blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China’s Gobi desert.
China’s space station will consist of three parts, weighing over 60 tons, said Zhou, adding that it will be smaller than the ISS and be able to dock with two manned spacecraft and one cargo spacecraft at most.
Zhou said the station is designed to house a maximum of six astronauts. “After the building of the space station, manned space flight will become normal, which means China will send at least six astronauts in two groups to space each year,” he added.
Zhu Zongpeng, chief designer of China’s space lab system, said construction of the space station will be completed by around 2020 and it will enter into service around 2022, with an initial designed life of at least 10 years.
Astronauts could soon be stationed in orbit for missions that last more than one year, Zhu said.
China has been actively developing a three-step manned space program.
The first step, to send an astronaut into space and return, was fulfilled by Yang Liwei in the Shenzhou-5 mission in 2003.
The second step was developing advanced space flight techniques and technologies including extra-vehicular activity and orbital docking. This phase also includes the launch of two space laboratories — effectively mini space-stations that can be manned on a temporary basis.
The next step will be to assemble and operate a permanent manned space station.
With the ISS set to retire in 2024, the Chinese space station will offer a promising alternative, and it will make China the only country to have a permanent space station after the ISS.
Once in space, Tiangong-2 will maneuver itself into an orbit about 380 kilometers above Earth for initial on-orbit tests, Wu Ping, deputy director of China’s manned space engineering office, said.
The space lab will then transfer to an orbit about 393 kilometers above Earth, a height at which the future Chinese space station will be operating, before the Shenzhou-11 manned spaceship ferries two male astronauts into space to dock with the lab.
The two astronauts will work in the lab for 30 days, before returning.
The Tiangong-2 module will be used for “testing systems and processes for mid-term space stays and refueling,” and will house experiments in medicine and various space-related technologies.
In April 2017, China’s first cargo ship Tianzhou-1, which means “Heavenly Vessel,” will be sent into orbit to dock with the lab and provide it with fuel and other supplies.
Wu said experts will evaluate technologies involved in areas including those related to long-term stays in space.
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