Tiangong Space Station: Opening a new era of Chinese "space settlement"

On December 9, 2021, Wang Yaping (left) and Ye Guangfu were giving a space lesson. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Jinjia

The Chinese space station project will enter the construction phase from May 2022. The completed Chinese space station will consist of three modules, two manned spacecraft and one cargo spacecraft, with a total mass of nearly 100 tons, carrying a large number of advanced experimental devices in the fields of space life and biological sciences, materials science, combustion and microgravity fluid science, and basic physics.

At the 2022 National People's Congress, Wang Yaping, a deputy to the National People's Congress and an astronaut, was "forced" to take leave. At this time, she had been on a "business trip" in space, about 390 kilometers above the ground, for more than 140 days.

On April 29, 2021, the Tianhe core module of the Tiangong space station was successfully launched, heralding the beginning of a new era of space station missions for my country. In the same year, my country launched two manned spacecraft and two cargo spacecraft, achieving five victories in five launch missions during the key technology verification phase of the space station.

The Tiangong Space Station is called the "space villa" by astronauts.

Zhou Jianping, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief designer of China's manned space program, said: "We have carefully designed the layout of the space station to ensure that it has stronger scientific and application capabilities; external platforms are placed outside the cabin to ensure that the space station can be further expanded."

Li Hong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy general manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, introduced that in 2022, China's manned space program will complete six launch missions, including the Tianzhou-4 and Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft, the Shenzhou-14 and Shenzhou-15 manned spacecraft, and the launch of the Wentian and Mengtian laboratory modules, and implement in-orbit rendezvous and docking, extravehicular activities and spacecraft return missions to fully build a space station.

Construction started in May this year

At 11:23 on April 29, 2021, the Long March 5B Yao-2 carrier rocket carrying the core module of the space station ignited and took off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in China, and the launch mission was a complete success.

"The core module is the control module of the space station and the most important module," said Zhou Jianping.

According to Yang Hong, chief designer of the space station mission at the 5th Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Tianhe core module is the largest spacecraft currently developed by my country. It can support the long-term in-orbit stay of three astronauts and support space science experiments and technical tests inside and outside the cabin.

Zhou Jianping introduced that China's space station started late, but it has the advantage of latecomer technology. It can be said that China's ability to build large space stations is at the forefront of the world. On the one hand, the technology is new. For example, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the Tiangong space station energy system exceeds 30%, and the power supply capacity is stronger. The Tiangong space station uses an electric propulsion system with a high specific impulse, which is 5 times that of chemical propulsion, and can greatly reduce the consumption of propellant. On the other hand, the construction guarantee is strong. The Tianhe core module guarantee technology is completely developed through self-reliance, and the environmental control and life support technology has the highest degree of closure, making the economy of the space station more prominent.

After successfully launching the core module, my country successively launched the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft, the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft, the Tianzhou-3 cargo spacecraft, and the Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft.

"The Tianhe core module has been operating safely and stably for 10 months. The two astronaut crews of Shenzhou XII and Shenzhou XIII have successively carried out key technology verification tasks for the space station." Zhou Jianping introduced at the "Member Channel" of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on March 4, "So far, the Shenzhou XIII crew has completed all planned flight missions. In more than 40 days, they will return to their home on Earth from the vast space, which will mark the successful conclusion of the key technology verification phase of China's space station."

The Chinese space station project will enter the construction phase from May 2022. The reporter learned that the completed Chinese space station will consist of three modules, two manned spacecraft and one cargo spacecraft, with a total mass of nearly 100 tons, and will be equipped with a large number of advanced experimental devices in the fields of space life and biological sciences, materials science, combustion and microgravity fluid science, and basic physics.

Extravehicular missions are more complicated

Spacewalk is one of the three key technologies in manned space flight. The installation, maintenance and replacement of external equipment on the space station all require astronauts to go out of the cabin.

Compared with the 20-minute extravehicular mission of the Shenzhou VII, the complexity and technical content of the space station extravehicular mission have been greatly improved.

The Shenzhou XII crew members Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo carried out two extravehicular activities, which lasted a total of about 13 hours. They successfully completed tasks such as equipment assembly, tested the functional performance of my country's new generation of extravehicular space suits, tested the ability of astronauts and robotic arms to work together, and verified the reliability and safety of support equipment related to the extravehicular activities, laying an important foundation for the smooth implementation of subsequent extravehicular activities on the space station.

The two extravehicular missions carried out by the Shenzhou 13 crew not only completed the installation of the robotic arm suspension device and adapter and the testing of typical extravehicular movements, but also enabled the two astronauts to set records: Zhai Zhigang, who performed three extravehicular missions, became my country's astronaut with the most extravehicular missions, and Wang Yaping became my country's first female astronaut to perform extravehicular activities.

Next, astronauts' tasks in the space station will become more complicated.

Zhou Jianping revealed that during the in-orbit flight, the crew of Shenzhou XIV will complete the construction of the Tiangong space station with the Tianhe core module, Wentian and Mengtian experimental modules as the basic configuration. Their tasks include status monitoring and control when necessary during the rendezvous, docking and transfer process of the two modules, as well as a large number of status settings and conversions after docking.

Before the end of this year, the Shenzhou 15 crew will fly to the space station to join the Shenzhou 14 crew and fly together in orbit for about a week. The main work of the Shenzhou 15 crew will turn to space science and application, including the installation and commissioning of experimental equipment and scientific experiments.

Building a broad platform for space science research

At the 2022 National Two Sessions, Zhao Xiaojin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Fifth Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, put forward suggestions on making full use of space resources to strengthen space biological research and development and innovation.

"my country's space station will be fully completed this year, which will provide a long-term and stable scientific research platform for space experiments, ensure space biotechnology and safety research, and improve the country's biosafety level," said Zhao Xiaojin.

Since the Shenzhou-1 flight mission, China's manned space program has carried projects with scientific research value or social benefits in all missions, playing a positive role in serving and promoting scientific research, agricultural development, and industrial upgrading.

The Tiangong space station aims to build a national space laboratory. It will focus on conducting innovative experiments and applied research at the forefront of science and continuously promote the advancement of space science and technology.

"The main purpose of building a space station is to construct a large-scale space facility and carry out large-scale verification and research on space science, space applications and space technology in orbit to drive scientific progress and technological development," said Zhou Jianping.

In terms of international cooperation, the Tiangong space station will also build a broad platform.

In May 2018, the China Manned Space Engineering Office and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs issued an announcement to solicit space science application projects around the Chinese space station. After two rounds of selection, a total of 9 projects from 17 countries and 23 entities were selected in the first batch, covering the fields of space life sciences and biotechnology, space astronomy, microgravity fluid and combustion. Subsequent batches of cooperative projects will continue to be solicited.

◎Reporter Fu Yifei

Source: Science and Technology Daily