Cargo ship likely to go into space by 2016
Print Edition
CHINA is likely to launch a cargo ship into space to serve the Tiangong-2 laboratory by 2016, a leading space scientist said yesterday.
The ship, named “Tianzhou” or “Heavenly Vessel” in Chinese, will be delivered by the new Long March-7 carrier rocket and dock with Tiangong-2 automatically, Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned space program, said.
A cargo system that supplies goods and propellants is a key technology China must master to build its own space station, he said.
Tiangong-1, China’s first space lab and target orbiter, was sent to orbit on September 29, 2011. The Tiangong-2 space lab is expected to be launched in 2015.
“Manned spaceships are expensive and have limited capacity. But cargo ships don’t have to return to Earth and don’t carry people, which makes them more economical,” Zhou said.
The Tianzhou cargo ship can send supplies to the space station, including propellants, living necessities for astronauts and equipment for scientific research. It can also send large-sized facilities and equipment for the construction of the space station, he said.
Three cabin structures are being designed for the Tianzhou cargo ship, a fully-enclosed one, a semi-open one and a wholly-open one, he said.
The loading capacity of the cargo ship will reach the world-class level and will be even better than some developed countries, he said.
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