China is presenting itself as a formidable opponent of the US and many other countries in this area.
On March 4, People.cn quoted information from the China Manned Space Administration (CMSA) as saying that China plans to launch the core module of its Tiangong Space Station (Tiangong) into the sky. By the end of June 2021, the construction of the country’s “largest aerial property” will begin.
The CMSA said in a statement on Thursday morning that the core module of the Tiangong Space Station “made in China” weighs 20 tons, and the Long March 5B (Long March 5B) heavy rocket is built The mission assigned to launch the core module has been delivered to the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, ready for the launch mission at the end of June.
In addition, the agency provided further information that four groups of astronauts have been selected to build the space station and are undergoing training.
The Tiangong Multi-Modular Space Station is by far China’s most complex, feat, and costly space endeavor. The Tiangong construction program is completely independent and has no affiliation with any other countries operating in international space. The Tiangong program started in 1992 and is expected to be completed in 2021.
China’s Tiangong space station is mainly composed of 3 components, with a total weight of about 90 tons:
(1) A core module named Tianhe, weighing 20 tons, is 16.6 meters long and 4.2 meters in diameter. Tianhe (Galaxy) has three parts: Connection part – life support and control part – resource part. The Tianhe module will be the hub for Tiangong Space Station operations, as it is where the three astronauts will live and control the entire station from the inside. The module will also be tasked with organizing science experiments.
(2) The remaining two components are 2 space laboratories named Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 respectively (the Tiangong-2 laboratory alone is more advanced and comes with a cargo ship).
Image of China’s Tiangong Space Station. Photo: CNSA
China is determined to open the space station for international cooperation in science and technology, the statement said. Following on from the major space mission of the International Space Station (ISS, originally built by the Soviet Union and the US) at a time when the ISS is expected to be decommissioned in 2024.
Chinese scientists and their counterparts from the United Nations have selected the first series of scientific experiments proposed by foreign researchers that can be carried out inside the space station. According to the agency, they are currently working on implementing those partnership programs.
The planners of China’s Tiangong Program say the entire space station will be completed by 2021 and is expected to be operational in 2022. The Tiangong space station will be operational for about 15 years.
The China Manned Space Administration (CMSA) also noted that it is reviewing plans for China’s manned lunar exploration program in the near future.
It can be seen that in the first decades of the 21st century, we witnessed the strong rise of China’s space industry. Not only has consecutively achieved many space achievements that have made the US, Russia, and Europe “admiration”, China has also shown its national ambition in outer space no less than that of the US and many international space organizations. other economy.
1. The space achievements that this country has achieved in recent years include:
– 2019: Chang’e-4: China National Space Agency (CNSA) successfully launched the Chang’e-4 probe to the dark side of the Moon. This achievement set a record: Being the first country in the world to land an unmanned probe on the dark side of the Moon. At the same time, it is the third country in the world in history (after the US and the Soviet Union) to send a lunar lander probe.
– 2020: Chang’e-5: Set a national record (in China alone) when the Chang’e-5 probe successfully collected 2kg of lunar samples and brought them back to Earth for research. The success of Chang’e-5 also makes China the third country in the world to successfully bring lunar samples back to Earth (after the US and the Soviet Union).
– In 2020: Long March-5B: Set a national record when successfully launching the Long March-5B heavy booster rocket developed by the Institute of Rocket Technology (CALT). The Long March-5B is the most powerful rocket booster in the nation’s history. The Long March-5B is a stepping stone for the China National Space Administration (CNSA) to complete the construction of the Tiangong Space Station in 2020.
– 2020 and 2021: Set a world record as the first country to build and install the Tiangong Space Station unilaterally. So far, no country has independently built a space station in space. The International Space Station (ISS) was originally jointly implemented and built by the Soviet Union and the United States.
China released the closest image of Mars taken by Tianwen-1 in early March 2021. Photo: Tianwen-1 / CNSA
– 2020 – 2021: Launch of Tianwen-1, including the lander and rover, and the country’s first Mars orbiter to the Red Planet to study potential life here. In February 2021, Tianwen-1 successfully orbited Mars and captured the closest images of the Martian surface.
2. China’s Ambition
– Moon: In the future, China sets an ambition to exploit valuable resources at this natural satellite of the Earth. Resources on the Moon are expected to include Helium-3, rare earths, platinum, gold…
Not only that, China also sets ambitions on par with NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) when it wants to build a human base on the Moon. To realize these ambitions, China will sequentially deploy the Chang’e-6,7,8 missions in the future, NASA said.
– Mars: After the success of Tianwen-1, China plans to launch a probe to collect samples of Martian material and bring it back to Earth for research (this is a mission that no other country has done until now). now).
– Jupiter: As the largest planet in the Solar System, China plans to send a spacecraft to fly by this planet to take pictures and have certain studies on the planets of the Solar System.
– Asteroids: Just like Japan did in December 2020 (collecting material samples at asteroid Ryugu 300 million km from Earth and successfully bringing it back to Earth for research, read in detail), China The country also plans in the next 5 years to collect other asteroid samples for research.