http://www.bjreview.com AUGUST 1, 2019 BEIJING REVIEW 31
Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo
Comments to [email protected]second a day and a quartz watch about
one second every 10 days, a cold atomic
clock won’t lose a single second in 30 mil-
lion to 300 million years in space.
In the field of GRB monitoring, a de-
vice called POLAR detected 55 GRBs, the
strongest explosions in the universe, ac-
cording to Xinhua. It was jointly developed
by Chinese and European scientists to in-
vestigate the nature of GRBs as well as the
origin and evolution of the universe.
The space lab also had imaging equip-
ment to observe the land, oceans and
atmosphere of Earth and test remote-
sensing capabilities.
On April 22, 2017, the Tianzhou-1
cargo spacecraft accomplished its first
automated docking with the space lab,
and carried out a refueling a few days later.
Then the cargo spacecraft made a second
docking with the space lab from a different
direction followed by a third docking using
fast-docking technology, which shortened
the normally two-day process to only six
hours.
Going further
Tiangong-2’s successful mission marks
the fruition of the second stage of China’s
manned space program. Started in 1992,
it is being carried out in three stages. The
goal of the first stage was to send an as-
tronaut into space, which was achieved in
- The second stage involved sending
manned spaceships to space labs where
astronauts can live temporarily and con-
duct experiments. The goal of the third
stage is to build the permanent China
Space Station (CSS).
During the first two stages, China has
launched into space 11 manned space-
ships carrying 11 astronauts in total, a
cargo spacecraft and two space labs, ac-
cording to official statistics. China’s first
space lab, Tiangong-1, was sent into orbit
in September 2011 and three astronauts
lived there for 15 days.
China plans to put the CSS in place
around 2022, which will hold many de-
vices for experiments, said Zhou Jianping,
chief designer of China’s manned space
program.
According to China’s Manned Space
Agency (CMSA), the CSS will consist of a
core module and two experiment modules,
and has a designed life span of 10 years.
China is prepared to open the CSS to
scientists from around the world who are
interested in conducting their own experi-
ments aboard the space station.
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for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and
CMSA announced the opportunity for other
countries to conduct space experiments
on board the CSS, welcoming applications
from all UN members.
In June, the outcome of the selection
process was announced. According to
the UNOOSA, nine projects involving 23
institutions from 17 UN members were
selected. The projects, to be conducted by
governmental organizations, private sec-
tors and international associations, involve
such research areas as space life science,
biotechnology, microgravity fluid physics,
microgravity combustion, astronomy and
space technologies.
One of them is the POLAR-2 project,
which will focus on answering questions re-
garding the nature of GRBs, building on the
investigations conducted on Tiangong-2.Also selected is the spectroscopic in-
vestigations of nebular gas project, whose
aim is to map the sky using an ultraviolet
long-slit spectrograph. It will be implement-
ed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics
and the Institute of Astronomy of the
Russian Academy of Sciences.
Another selected project will study the
effects of spaceflight conditions on both
healthy and cancerous tissue, and will be
carried out by three universities and a re-
search center from Europe.
A related project will examine the effect
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production of disease-causing bacteria.
It will be jointly conducted by the Mars
Society-Peru Chapter and the Mars Society-
Spain Chapter.
In addition to carrying scientific pay-
loads from the international community,
China also welcomes overseas astronauts
to work with Chinese astronauts on the
CSS. Moreover, foreign spacecraft using
a Chinese docking mechanism can be
docked with the CSS, Zhou said. QXIN
HU
A
Two children observe a model of the
cold atomic clock carried on board
the Tiangong-2 space lab during an
exhibition on May 16, 2018NATION