U bekijkt momenteel de Netherlands versie van de site.
Wilt u overschakelen naar uw lokale site?
12 MIN LEESTIJD

Tiangong

CHINA’S MODULAR SPACE STATION

A SYMBOL OF CHINA’S TECHNOLOGICAL PROWESS AND THE VALUE OF GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC CORROBORATION

© Adrian Mann

The Tiangong (‘Heaven’s Palace’) program has been declared a top priority for the China National Space Administration’s (CNSA) schedule this year. The three-module station will focus on research spanning astronomy, life sciences, material sciences and combustion. The nation is planning 11 missions in 2021 and 2022 to build the station, including three module launches, four Tianzhou cargo ship missions and four Shenzhou crewed missions.

The ambitious project is particularly impressive considering China began space exploration later than the US and Russia. We don’t know when China’s space program really started, as much of the program evolved largely in secret while it was under the joint control of the Chinese military and the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. In 1964 the space program was managed by the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building, which in 1983 became the Ministry of Aerospace Industry. In 1993 the CNSA was officially founded, roughly 34 years after NASA, when the ministry was split into the CNSA and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). While the CNSA is largely responsible for policy, the CASC is responsible for the execution of procedures, including Tiangong.

China’s modular space station will be about one-sixth the size of the International Space Station (ISS), a project that China has been unable to get involved with since being banned from the venture by the US in 2011. Though it is unclear exactly why the US decided to ban China, it is speculated that China’s fledgling space agency was seen as too inexperienced to contribute significantly to the ISS, and with additional security concerns raised by the US, China was prevented from even setting foot on the station.

Construction of the Long March 5B rocket that will launch the core module, called Tianhe
© CMSA

Despite the US freezing China out of space cooperation opportunities, it hasn’t stopped the nation from making substantial progress in the space sector. In fact, the tables could turn in the near future, as the ISS is nearing the end of its operational life just as Tiangong will be starting out. Though Tiangong will be a fraction of the size of the ISS, there may come a point in time in which it is the only space station in operation, making it a very valuable commodity. How this could influence both exploration and research in space is yet to be determined, as there is currently no formal end date for ISS operations. “While the ISS is currently approved to operate through at least December 2024 by the international partner governments, from a technical standpoint we have cleared the ISS to fly until the end of 2028,” said NASA officials.

Ontgrendel dit artikel en nog veel meer met
Je kunt genieten:
Geniet volledig van deze editie
Direct toegang tot 600+ titels
Duizenden oude edities
Geen contract of verplichting
ABONNEER NU
30 dagen proberen, dan gewoon €11,99 / maand. Op elk moment opzeggen. Alleen nieuwe abonnees.


Meer informatie
Pocketmags Plus
Pocketmags Plus

Dit artikel komt uit...


View Issues
All About Space
Issue 116
IN DE WINKEL BEKIJKEN

Andere artikelen in dit nummer


All About Space
WELCOME
Issue 116
HEROES OF SPACE
The first American to board Mir, Thagard paved the way for the Shuttle-Mir program
LAUNCHPAD
News from around the universe
22 March 2021 Frosty Martian sand dunes ©
A supermassive black hole is speeding through space, and astronomers don’t know why
The black hole could be influenced by an
THE TRUTH ABOUT ROSWELL FILES
Did a flying saucer really crash land in America in 1947, only to be hushed up by the government?
IS THE TRUTH REALLY OUT THERE?
Former CIA operative Ben Smith investigated the crash which took place in Roswell in 1947 for a television documentary aired on the History Channel, or Sky History in the UK, called Roswell:The FirstWitness . He spoke to the grandchildren of Major Jesse Marcel, the person sent to the crash site to gather debris for analysis. He also visited the site with aviation crash experts, studied a journal found among Marcel's possessions for clues and spoke to other witnesses. Was Marcel right? Was the evidence gathered that day really not of this Earth?
FUTURE TECH
INSTANT LANDING PAD
Touching down on a new planet can be unsettling, but Masten Space Systems aims to put things on a firmer footing
SIGNALS FROM SATURN
An unusual signal from the ringed planet’s moon Rhea now has a possible explanation
INTERVIEW
SEEKING THE ORIGINS OF LIFE
A planetary scientist with a very steady hand, Queenie Chan speaks to All About Space about her work on tiny specks of asteroid samples collected by the Hayabusa mission
PERSEVERANCE ON MARS
NASA’s LATEST MARTIAN ROVER HAS BEGUN ITS EPIC QUEST TO FIND EVIDENCE FOR PAST LIFE RESIDING IN JEZERO CRATER
CAN WE DETECT WORMHOLES?
They’re a staple of science fiction, but could they be real? New research suggests wormholes could be somewhere around us, and we could uncover them
FOCUS ON
RARE SUPERNOVA RELIC FOUND IN OUR GALAXY
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered the remains of something quite unusual within the Milky Way’s heart
SCORCHING-HOT PLANET CANDIDATE SPOTTED AROUND FAMOUS STAR
After scanning ten years of data, a possible world may be orbiting the dazzling main sequence star Vega in the constellation of Lyra
WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM, THE MILKY WAY AND THE UNIVERSE BEYOND ARE FILLED WITH WONDROUS SIGHTS AND INCREDIBLE OBJECTS. TAKE A JOURNEY THROUGH THEM WITH ALL ABOUT SPACE
STAR PROFILE
Eta Carinae
This star has refused to die, but astronomers are sure it’s going to blow up soon
IS THERE A PLANET NINE?
Mike Brown is the man who killed Pluto, but have the tables turned to leave his own theory of a ninth world in doubt?
Will the Moon ever leave us?
SOLAR SYSTEM
STARGAZER
What’s in the sky?
In this issue… 78 What’s in the sky?
THIS MONTH’S PLANETS
Heading into summer affords observers the opportunity to catch the fleeting planet Mercury
APOLLO 16 LANDING SITE
Track down the landing site of the penultimate Apollo mission in the rugged lunar highlands
NAKED EYE & BINOCULAR TARGETS
Find the brightest stars of Boötes and Virgo and explore the sky around them
THE VAIN QUEEN’S DEEP-SKY DELIGHTS
How to track down some of Cassiopeia’s most sneakily concealed crown jewels
THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
Spring lets us gaze out of our galaxy’s plane, revealing new targets
Astroshots of the month
Get featured in All About Space by sending your astrophotography images to space@spaceanswers.com
CELESTRON STARSENSE EXPLORER DX 102AZ
This telescope’s innovative technology provides the simplest and quickest solution yet to finding objects to observe
IN THE SHOPS
The latest books, apps, software, tech and accessories for space and astronomy fans alike
Chat
X
Pocketmags ondersteuning