China’s ‘Mengtian’ module docks with Tiangong Space Station ahead of planned launch of Xuntian space telescope
China’s third and final module docked with the permanent space station on Tuesday to continue a decade-long effort to maintain a continuous crew presence. in orbit, as the competition with the US becomes increasingly fierce.
State broadcaster CCTV said the Mengtian module arrived at Tiangong station early Tuesday morning, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing China’s manned space agency.
Mengtian was launched into space Monday afternoon from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island, southern province. It is expected to take about 13 hours to complete the flight mission and dock.
A large crowd of amateur photographers, space enthusiasts and others watched the event take off from an adjacent beach.
Many waved Chinese flags and wore T-shirts emblazoned with Chinese characters, demonstrating the deep national pride invested in the space program and the technological advancements it represents.
Ni Lexiong, a professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said: “The space program is a symbol of a great country and a boost to China’s defense modernization.
“It is also a driving force that boosts the faith of the Chinese people, ignites patriotism and positive energy,” said Ni.
Mengtian, or “Celestial Dream,” joins Wentian as the second laboratory module for the station, known collectively as Tiangong, or “Celestial Palace.” Both are connected to the Galactic core module where the crew lives and works.
Like its predecessors, Mengtian was launched on a March-5B long carrier rocket, a member of China’s most powerful launch vehicle family.
According to the China Manned Space Administration, Tiangong currently has a crew of two men and one woman.
Chen Dong, Cai Xuzhe and Liu Yang arrived in early June to stay on board for six months, during which time they will complete the station’s assembly, conduct spacewalks and perform additional experiments. .
Following Mengtian’s arrival, an additional rudderless Tianzhou cargo ship will dock next month, with another crewed mission scheduled for December, at which point the crews can overlap because Tiangong has enough room to accommodate six astronauts.
Mengtian weighs about 23 tons, is 17.9 meters (58.7 feet) long and has a diameter of 4.2 meters (13.8 feet). It will provide space for science experiments in zero gravity, an airlock to contact the vacuum of space, and a small robotic arm to support outer space payloads.
The orbiting 23-ton Wentian Lab aka “heaven-seeking” lab is designed for science and biology experiments and weighs more than any other single-module spacecraft currently in space.
Next year, China plans to launch the Xuntian space telescope, a non-Tiangong telescope, which will rotate in sequence with the station and may occasionally dock for maintenance.
No other future additions to the space station have been publicly announced.
In total, the station will have about 110 cubic meters (3,880 cubic feet) of pressurized interior space, including 32 cubic meters (1,130 cubic feet) added by Mengtian.
China’s crewed space program officially turns three decades old this year, with the Mengtian launch being its 25th mission. But it really got underway in 2003, when China became the third country after the US and Russia to send humans into space with its own resources.
The program is run by the military wing of the ruling Communist Party, the People’s Liberation Army, and has been conducted methodically and with almost no outside support. The United States excludes China from International Space Station because of the military ties of its program.
Even so, China is cooperating with European Space Agency about experiments aboard Mengtian, and is collaborating with France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Pakistan and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) on a range of projects from aerospace medicine to microgravity physics, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Prior to the launch of the Tianhe module, China’s Manned Space Program launched a pair of single-module stations that it briefly operated as testbeds.
China’s permanent station will weigh about 66 tons – a fraction of the size of the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and weighs about 465 tons.
With a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, Tiangong could one day become the only space station still in operation, if the International Space Station adheres to its 30-year operational plan.
China has also had a lot of success with unrealized missions, and its lunar exploration program made headlines in the media last year when its Yutu 2 rover sent Photographs of what some have described as a “mystery hut” but most likely just a rock. The rover was the first to be placed on the far side of the less-explored moon.
China’s Chang’e 5 probe returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s in December 2000, and another Chinese probe is searching for evidence of life on Earth. Mars. Officials are also considering a crewed mission to the moon.
The show has also caused controversy. In October 2021, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied a report that China had tested a hypersonic rocket two months earlier, saying that it was merely testing whether a new spacecraft could be launched. reuse or not.
China is also believed to be developing a top-secret space plane.
China’s space program has proceeded with caution and has been largely successful without a hitch.
However, complaints have been made against China for allowing the rocket stages to fall out of control twice before. Last year, NASA accused Beijing of “failing to meet its standards of responsibility regarding space debris” after parts of a Chinese rocket landed in the Indian Ocean.
China’s growing space capabilities are also outlined in the Pentagon’s latest defense strategy released on Thursday.
In addition to expanding conventional forces, the PLA is advancing rapidly and integrating space, space, cyber, electronic, and information warfare capabilities to support a total force approach, the strategy said. this amount in the general war.
The United States and China are at odds over a range of issues, especially the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing threatens to annex by force. China responded to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in September by firing missiles over the island, staging war and staging a simulated blockade.