The American space industry appears to be going through a lull as NASA plans their next generation of space vehicles. In this period where the United States isn’t testing new rockets and Russia isn’t sending out any manned missions, China seems to be doing its part to help fill the space exploration gap. On September 29, the world’s most populous nation launched its first inhabitable space lab module, Tiangong-1.
Tiangong-1 is a space lab with a planned lifespan of two years, designed to test and demonstrate China’s ability to dock modules in space, which has not been attempted by the Chinese space program yet. The docking technology will be tested with three of China’s Shenzhou spacecraft: Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10. Shenzhou-8 is to be launched in November, and will be the first to attempt docking with Tiangong-1.
The space lab was launched to booming orchestral music and released alongside an official China Central Television animation in a statement of pride and accomplishment. In true China fashion, the animation was bizarrely released with America the Beautiful as its soundtrack. For a moment of Chinese achievement, it seems strange they would pick such an American patriotic song.
Shenzhou-10 is expected to bring Tiangong-1 its first astronauts and possibly China’s first astronaut. These astronauts will be interacting in the first of the space lab’s primary components, the experiment module. This is the primary living area for astronauts to sleep and do work. The experiment module is powered by two solar arrays located in the second primary component, the resource module. The resource module also contains the propellant and rocket engines.
This is the first step towards China’s plan of building a 60-ton space station by 2020. In 2013, China is expected to launch the Tiangong-2, a larger station prototype, followed by Tiangong-3 at a later date. The rate at which China is accelerating their space program is incredible, considering China’s manned spaceflights only started in 2003, with Yang Liwei piloting the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft. By the end of the Tiangong-1’s lifespan, they hope to have gained enough experience to comfortably operate space stations and repeatedly dock small spacecraft to their other spacecraft. All of this leads to China potentially landing someone on the moon by 2020.
Many observers have seen China’s hastiness in pushing its space program further as a sign that it views space exploration as a sign of being a superpower, on the same level as Russia and the United States. Some countries are uncomfortable with China’s further exploration into space, worrying that it could lead to China having greater military dominance since technological advancements typically find their way into the military. China naturally maintains that its space program is based on peaceful exploration to extraterrestrial regions. Undoubtedly, we will find out what China’s true goals are as they continue developing their space program. As the main spacefaring nations roll back on their programs, it’s good to see China picking up on their slack and advancing our space technology further.
Leave a Reply