Tiangong – China's Space Station
I feel like 2021 is the biggest year for space exploration. So much going on. But this time I wanted to cover a topic not everyone is familiar with. In the next two years, we might detect a new space station in the night sky. Back on April 29th China sent its first module of their space station into low earth orbit (340-450km) ;(210-280mi).
But right after I read that, the first question comes in mind:
WHY DOES CHINA CONSTRUCT ITS OWN SPACE STATION AND NOT JUST GO ONBOARD ISS?
Back in 2011 United States banned China for visiting ISS because back in time Chinas own space agency (CNSA) was viewed as too young to offer any useful contribution to the Space Station. After that China did some own space exploration and proved that this wasn’t the case.
Later, trust issues and of course some political tenses underlined the ban.
SIDE FACTS:
The Tiangong Space Station, once completed, will be roughly one-fifth the mass of the ISS (80-100t) ;(180.000-220.000lb) and will be controlled from the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center. The interesting part about this mission is, that the Space Station is planned to be finished already in October 2022 with the first crewed flight on June 10th, 2021, to make first constructions.
Its construction will manifest the third phase of the Tiangong program and will build up on the experience gained from its precursors, Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2
WHATS THE REASON BEHIND THIS MISSION?
The goal is that research conducted on the station will improve researchers' ability to conduct science experiments in space, beyond the duration offered by China's existing space laboratories.
End of Orbit – The station is used to last at least 10 years and can be extended to max. 15 years which means the mission will end at around 2037.
DID YOU KNOW THAT THE CHINA IS BANNED FROM THE ISS? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ANOTHER SPACE STATION IN LOW EARTH ORBIT?
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