China plans to expand its Tiangong space station by launching a new module that will dock with the existing structure and create a cross-shaped combination, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced during an exhibition at the National Museum of China.
The Chinese agency made public its follow-up plans after the assembly and construction of the space station’s T-shaped structure last year, as reported by Xinhua news agency. The new module, which will function as a node cabin, will have multiple docking ports like the central Tianhe module, allowing the space station to accommodate more spacecraft, as reported by the CMSA.
The exhibition also showcased China’s development of a next-generation reusable near-Earth manned spacecraft capable of carrying four to seven astronauts into space and bringing more than 700 kilograms of payload back to Earth. The country’s existing spacecraft can launch three astronauts into space and bring 50 kilograms of payload.
The space station will shift its priority from technological breakthroughs at the construction stage to the performance of space applications. A large number of experiments are currently underway on the space station. Some aim to discover how to resist microbes that can damage spacecraft metals, produce oxygen from algae in space, and convert thermal energy into electricity.
Chinese astronauts on the orbiting Shenzhou-15 crew successfully obtained 3D structural images of their skin cells with the country’s self-developed two-photon microscope, which is the first of its kind in the world.
The CMSA also announced a plan for human lunar exploration, which aims to send three astronauts to lunar orbit and allow two to land on the Moon. Developments for a lunar probe and a sample return that will involve human-machine collaboration are underway.
The Chinese Exploration Space Telescope, also known as the China Space Station Telescope (CSST), will be launched as part of the expanded space station project. The telescope will fly independently in the same orbit as China’s Tiangong. The CSST is a space-based optical observatory for astronomers to conduct sky surveys, capturing a general map or images of the sky. It can be docked to the space station for refueling and servicing as scheduled or as needed, making it more affordable to maintain than Hubble.
This Chinese telescope is expected to survey an all-sky area of 17,500 square degrees in 10 years. According to the CMSA, scientists wish to obtain more information about the accelerating expansion of the universe, dark matter and dark energy.
Over the next few years, more than 1,000 applications will be implemented on the space station in 65 projects. This effort aims to advance key technologies in special materials preparation, stem cell and regenerative medicine, high-precision time-frequency systems and quantum-precision measurement, according to the CMSA.
