China reveals details of Tiangong space station
Print Edition
AFTER the successful maiden flight of the Long March-5B large rocket and the testing of China’s new-generation manned spaceship, more details of China’s space station have been unveiled.
The space station, expected to be completed around 2022, will operate in the low-Earth orbit at an altitude from 340km to 450km for more than 10 years, supporting large-scale scientific, technological and application experiments, according to a report in the People’s Daily.
The space station Tiangong, meaning Heavenly Palace, will be able to accommodate three astronauts in normal circumstances and up to six during a crew replacement.
The station will be a T shape with the core module at the center and a lab capsule on each side. Each of the modules will be over 20 tons, with the total mass of the station about 66 tons, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s manned space program.
The core module of the station, named Tianhe, has a total length of 16.6 meters, a maximum diameter of 4.2m and a takeoff mass of 22.5 tons, and is currently the largest spacecraft developed by China.
The Tianhe core module will be the management and control center and the main living space of the crew, and will support some scientific and technological experiments.
The Long March-2F carrier rocket and Shenzhou manned spacecraft will be used to transport crew and some materials between Earth and the space station. The Shenzhou can carry three astronauts and be used as a rescue spacecraft in emergency.
The Long March-7 rocket and Tianzhou cargo spacecraft will be used to transport materials, propellants and instruments for the station. The Long March-5B rocket will carry into space the core module and lab capsules, as well as a capsule holding a 2-meter-caliber optical telescope, which will fly in the same orbit as the space station.
The telescope capsule, named Xuntian, is expected to provide observation data for astronomical and physical studies to help scientists better understand the universe. During its expected 10-year operation, it will be able to observe over 40 percent of the sky, said Zhou.
The capsule can dock with the space station for maintenance and refueling. China’s space station can be expanded and upgraded according to research needs, said Zhou.
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