China to launch Heavenly Harmony space station core module

China plans to launch the core module for its first permanent space station this week in the latest big step forward for the country’s space exploration program.

The Tianhe module, or “Heavenly Harmony”, is expected to be launched into space aboard a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang launch center on the south island of Hainan. The launch could take place as early as Thursday evening if all goes as planned.

It would be the first of 11 missions to build and supply the space station for a crew of three.

Here’s a look at the planned launch and the past and future of the Chinese space program.

11 MISSIONS PLANNED TO COMPLETE THE SPACE STATION BY THE END of 2022

10 more launches will send two more modules; four shipments of goods and four missions with crews. At least 12 astronauts train to fly and live at the station, including veterans from previous flights, newcomers and women.

When completed in late 2022, Tianhe is expected to weigh around 66 tonnes, a fraction of the size of the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and will weigh around 450 tonnes when completed. Tianhe will have a docking port and will also be able to connect to a powerful Chinese space satellite. Theoretically, it could be extended with more modules.

Tianhe’s main module will initially be roughly the size of the 1970s US space station Skylab and the former Soviet / Russian Mir, which operated for over 14 years after its launch in 1986.

THE SPACE STATION A LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE

China has launched two experimental modules over the past decade in preparation for a permanent station. One, Tiangong-1, which means “Heavenly Palace-1” was abandoned and set on fire during an uncontrolled loss of orbit. Its successor, Tiangong-2, was successfully taken out of orbit in 2018.

China began preparations for a space station in the early 1990s as its space program gained traction. He was excluded from the ISS in large part due to US objections to the secret nature of the Chinese program and close military ties.

RAPID PROGRESS IN SPACE

After years of successful launches of rockets and commercial satellites, China put its first astronaut into space in October 2003. It was only the third country to do so independently after the former Soviet Union and the United States. -United. Since this Shenzhou 5 mission, China has sent other astronauts into orbit, placed crews at the original Tiangong station and carried out a space walk.

It has also strengthened its cooperation with space experts from other countries, including France, Sweden, Russia and Italy. NASA must obtain permission from a reluctant Congress to engage in such contacts.

China has also moved forward with unmanned missions, particularly in lunar exploration, and has landed a rover on the unexplored far side of the moon. In December, its Chang’e 5 probe returned moon rocks to Earth for the first time since US missions in the 1970s.

MARS ROVER AND FUTURE AMBITIONS

The Tianhe mission comes just weeks before a Chinese probe lands on Mars, making China the third country to accomplish this after the former Soviet Union and the U.S. The Tianwen-1 space probe is orbiting the Red Planet since February while collecting data. . His Zhurong rover will search for evidence of life.

Another Chinese program aims to collect earth from an asteroid, a key objective of the Japanese space program.

China is planning another mission in 2024 to bring back lunar samples and has said it wants to land people on the moon and possibly build a science base there. No timetable has been proposed for such projects. A highly secret space plane is also reportedly under development.

IS THE CHINESE PROGRAM COMPETITIVE?

China’s program has progressed steadily and cautiously on a carefully crafted schedule, largely avoiding the failures seen in efforts by the United States and Russia when locked in intense competition during the heady first days of the flights. space. A recent setback came when a Long March 5 rocket failed in 2017 while developing the Long March 5B variant that will be used to put the Tianhe module into orbit, but engineers acted quickly to resolve the issue.

Critics claim that the Chinese space program has managed to replicate the achievements of the United States and Russia without innovating. The country’s growing technological prowess could put an end to such rhetoric in the years to come. The country may need greater private sector involvement to spur innovation, as the United States has done with SpaceX and Blue Origin, and to apply new technologies such as reusable rockets.

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