China Space station

Weighing 66 tonnes, the Tiangong space station is  T-shaped with the Tianhe core module at the center and the Wentian and Mengtian experiment capsules on each side.

The station's orbit is 340 to 450 km above the Earth's surface, It has been enlarged to 180 tonnes and permanently accommodates three to six taikonauts (astronauts).

taikonauts  is from the Chinese word for “space” and the Greek word for “sailor”.

The Space Station is now awaiting a space telescope Module that is also capable of Free flying to be launched and working by 2024/25.

Taikonauts working inside the Chinese Space Station Nov 2024

What does the core module of China's space station look like?

Human missions to the Tiangong Space Station

The second human flight of three taikonauts to their Space Station are due to arrive in June 2022

China launched Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo into orbit aboard the spacecraft Shenzhou-12 at 9:22 a.m. (0122 GMT) on June 17 from Jiuquan in northwestern Gansu province. That docked with Tiangong  7 hours later.

China Space station began construction on the 28th April 2021 and fully built by Oct 2022 with the addition of the Mengtian  Module.

China have tested a seven person capsule that will also be capable to go to the Moon, but there is no news yet on when they first plan to use it to go to their Space Station, maybe after they have increased the stations  normal crew size to six; sometime in the future  with its second habitat  module.

China Space station

The Chinese launched the Space station modules on a modified Long March 5 (LM5) Rocket called CZ5B.

The Tianhe core module was then added to with the  Wentian experiment module then finally Mengtian .

China Space station 2019

The first module for China’s space station is called ‘Tianhe’ and is a 20-metric-ton module. 

Tianhe (‘Harmony of the Heavens’) is the core module for the Chinese Space Station (CSS) and will control the station’s orbit and attitude and function as the main astronaut quarters. 

Two 14.4-meter-long experiment modules, One called Wentian (“Quest for the Heavens”) and the other Mengtian (“Dreaming of the Heavens”), which will be permanently attached to either side of the core.

Wentian and the core are equipped with robotic arms on the outside, While Mengtian has an airlock for the maintenance and repair of experiments mounted on the exterior of the station. 

Tianhe has a total of five docking ports, which means an extra module can be added for future expansion. 

China also hope to use a new 20-metric-ton spacecraft that can support 6 astronauts(taikonauts) to fly to the space station, also a 14-metric-ton new generation spacecraft that can also seat 6 is being worked on.

China is also working with India for a possible Indian astronaut to launch to the Chinese Space Station in 2022.

China also plan to launch a Hubble-class space telescope in the same orbit as their Space station  SEE Chinese Sky Survey Telescope (CSST)

Mengtian (“dreaming of the heavens”) is a 17.9-meter-long, 4.2-meter-diameter and 22-ton module designed to host a range of science experiments with areas of research including fluid physics, combustion and materials science and space technologies.

China intends to keep the space station permanently inhabited for at least a decade, gaining human spaceflight experience, conducting a range of experiments and potentially exploring commercial possibilities.

The space station itself could also be expanded from three to six modules,. Such an expansion may depend upon other countries joining the project. The expansion plans for late 2020s is as of Nov 2024 being looked at. 

Rockets

The Long March-2F, the Long March-7 and the Long March-5B carrier rockets will work jointly to build the country's upcoming space station, carrying out launch missions for the space station cabins, spaceship and cargo shuffles respectively.

The Long March-2F has developed two working modes for manned and cargo-only missions, in order to meet the requirements of China's manned space missions.

The Long March-7 will be in charge of cargo shipments for the space station, delivering basic material supplies such as water, food and spacesuits for the taikonauts(astronauts). It will also be used to provide necessary material supplies for the space station maintenance as well as conducting in-orbit refuelling missions for the space stations, with a launch capability of 13.5 tons into LEO, and 5.5 tons into 700-kilometer-solar synchronous orbit (SSO.)

The first LM7 cargo mission Tianzhou-2 docked with the core Station Module 'Tianhe' on 29 May 2021.

Chinese Sky Survey Telescope (CSST)

As part of the Space Station program is The China Sky Survey Telescope (CSST also called Xuntian) ), which is set to launch in 2024, will operate as a space optical observatory for Chinese scientists to carry out sky surveys, according to Xinhua.The telescope, sometimes called "Xuntian," which literally translates to "survey the heavens," will have an impressive 6.6-foot (2 meters) diameter lens, making it comparable to the Hubble Telescope Scope. However, it boasts a field of view 300 times greater than that of 31-year-old Hubble while retaining a similar resolution.

The wide field of view will allow the telescope to observe up to 40 percent of the sky over ten years using a huge 2.5 billion pixel camera. Notably, the telescope will co-orbit Earth along with the Chinese space station and will be able to periodically dock with the future crewed outpost to refuel the telescope and carry out in-orbit upgrade[s] as the CSST will operate in the same orbit a few hundred kilometers away. 

Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST)

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