By akademiotoelektronik, 16/03/2022

China begins installation of its own space station

The Chinese National Space Administration has launched the first module of its future space station. This is an important and symbolic step, which will have to be followed by other missions, so that the station is operational in 2022, as planned.

The first element of China's future space station (the "CSS" in English, for China Space Station) was launched on Thursday, April 29, 2021, the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) confirmed in a press release. The launch of the module is one of the first key steps in a series of missions which should lead to the completion of this space station by the end of 2022, recalls Reuters.

This central module, baptized Tianhe (meaning in French "Heavenly Harmony") was transported by a Long-March 5B rocket, from the Wenchang launch base, on the island of Hainan. The module, which weighs 22.5 tons, is presented by the CNSA as "the largest and heaviest spacecraft that China has ever built". It was planned to place this first piece of the future space station in low Earth orbit, at an altitude of about 400 kilometers.

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Scale rendering of China's Large Modular Space Station.

Source: Wikimedia/CC/Saggittarius A

Three modules that will be assembled

China has imagined a “multimodule” space station, made up of three main pieces. The central module, launched on Thursday, is the future living space for astronauts. It needs to be assembled at two labs. Tianhe is 16.6 meters in length, with a diameter of 4.2 meters. Once the three modules are joined together, the entire station should weigh nearly 70 tons. For comparison, it's about 450 tons for the International Space Station.

Next step for China: the launch of Tianzhou-2, a cargo ship which will join the Tianhe module, in order to provide elements necessary for the presence of future astronauts, in May 2021. The following month, in June, China will launch the Shenzhou-12 space vehicle to transport three astronauts to the Tianhe module. They will have to stay there for three months. The launch of the station's two other modules will take place the following year, in 2022. All the station's heavy components are to be launched by a Long March 5B rocket, the only Chinese rocket capable of carrying them.

China open to international cooperation

Once fully operational in 2022, if all goes as planned, the CNSA estimates that its station will be able to operate for 15 years. If the station is expected to accommodate three astronauts simultaneously for several months, this number may rise to six during rotations between the crews.

The station is expected to allow docking of multiple vessels at the same time, including foreign vessels. China says it is open to cooperation with other states. Agreements have been concluded between the space agency and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, in order to allow scientists to submit research projects. 17 countries responded to take part in scientific activities on board the station.

Due to its size, this future Chinese station will probably not be able to claim to be a true competitor of the ISS. However, the installation of this second station in Earth orbit necessarily recalls the existing competition between China and the United States in the space field.

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