All_About_Space_-_Issue_94_2020

here have been many successful space
stations throughout the years: NASA’s
Skylab, Russia’s Mir space station and
the collaborative International Space
Station(ISS), built between the space agencies of
Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the US. Chinais
another country to have established its presencein
low-Earth orbit with space stations Tiangong-1 and
Tiangong-2. Now, with 2020 not far off, China is
preparing for its next space outpost, which will be
known as the Chinese Space Station (CSS).
Tiangong-2 was launched into space in 2016
and dropped out of orbit on 19 July 2019, but this
space station was created with the main purpose
of testing key technologies for the CSS. The CSS
will be around 60 tonnes (130,000 pounds),

Low-Earth orb

where it will

Manned spacecraf

Astronauts will betran

from the CSS by theSh

which roughly translate

This vessel has beenta

space since 2003.

b constructionwill hopefully beginin2020,

eventuallyaccommodatethree astronauts

ft

sportedtoand

henzhouspacecraft,

es to‘divinevessel’.

aking astronautsto

the rocket go in late 2019. If all goes to plan then

the core module will reach low-Earth orbit and

provide three astronauts with their accommodation

suite as well as housing vital navigation, guidance,

orientation, power, propulsion and life systems for

the entire station.

The two experimental modules will be next, and

in June 2019 the United Nations Office for Outer

Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the China Manned

Space Agency (CMSA) announced the six winning

experiments that will be conducted on board

the CSS when construction is finished – in 2022

if all goes to plan. These experiments promote

international cooperation as the winning institutions

come from all over the globe, with science from

Belgium, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan,

which is roughly a seventh of the weight of the ISS

and roughly half the weight of Russia’s Mir space

station. This new space station will consist of a

core module called ‘Tianhe’ – meaning ‘harmony

of the heavens’ in Mandarin – two experimental

modules, ‘Wentain’ and ‘Mengtian’, translating

to ‘quest for the heavens’ and ‘dreaming of the

heavens’ respectively, a cargo spacecraft, a manned

spacecraft and several solar panels.

The core module is the centrepiece of the

space station. The 18-metre (60-foot) long module

with a maximum diameter of 4.2 metres (14 feet)

will be the first piece of the puzzle launched

into space. It will be sent up around 2020 by

China’s own heavy-duty rocket, the Long March 5.

However, this is dependant on how test flights of

Future tech Chinese Space Station

T