China Plans Launch of Space Station Core During First Half of Year
China will launch the Tianhe core module of its first permanent space station aboard a Long March-5B Y2 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site during the first half of 2021, according to the chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program. Xinhua reports:
“Subsequent space missions include the launches of Tianzhou-2 cargo craft and Shenzhou-12 manned craft after the core module is sent into orbit,” Zhou [Jianping] said.
China is scheduled to complete the construction of the space station around 2022.
Two experiment modules named Wentian and Mengtian will be attached to the core. Launches of the new modules are scheduled for 2021 and 2022.
The space station will be similar in size to the Mir space station built by the Soviet Union during the 1980’s. It will have a mass about one-quarter that of the International Space Station.
Chinese astronauts will travel to the space station using three-seat Shenzhou spacecraft. Later flights will be aboard the nation’s next-generation crewed spacecraft, which will be capable of carrying six or seven astronauts. The next-generation vehicle is being designed for trips to the moon.
Robotic Tianzhou-2 spacecraft capable of carrying around 6,000 kg of cargo will resupply the station.
9 responses to “China Plans Launch of Space Station Core During First Half of Year”
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Hrm…
That’s interesting news. About one year quicker than I knew.
I was under the impression that the Space Station plan was one launch cycle per year: one module, one cargo flight, one manned flight. Meaning completion of the three-module Space Station would have happened in 2023.
…Later flights will be aboard the nation’s next-generation crewed spacecraft, which will be capable of carrying six or seven astronauts. The next-generation vehicle is being designed for trips to the moon…
No word on when that little beauty will be ready to fly. But it ought to be a real game-changer. They’re not SpaceX…but they’re certainly in it for the long haul.
curious what they do with the station
I’m especially curious about what percentage of the time it will be occupied as opposed to unoccupied. It was never intended for continuous occupancy, but it would be nice to know what the percentage will be, whether that percentage will stay fixed or rise over time and whether it winds up being occupied more of the time than the scarcely-occupied Gateway is likely to be when it finally flies. Could be the Chinese are putting up their own Earth-orbital “line shack” a bit in advance of the U.S.-ESA-JAXA lunar orbital “line shack.”
The Chinese seem to plan pairing one cargo launch with each manned launch to the Space Station. That’s 6,000 kg of cargo.
Assuming half of that cargo is for sustaining crewed operations and the other half is for science and/or station outfitting, that’s roughly one tonne of cargo per each crew. With a crewman consumption of supply rate of 5 kg per day, that’s a mission duration of 200 days. Roughly the same six month duration as a normal crew rotation on the ISS.
With one crewed mission per year to the Chinese Space Station, that’s a roughly 50% occupation rate.
That’s not Gateway. That’s not ISS either. Probably more like Mir. Occupied more often than it is unoccupied.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they eventually keep it continuously crewed. That render shows what looks to me like two crew vessels. That would provide for overlap between crews.
The station design does seem to have sufficient docking ports to support overlapping visits by crew vehicles. But I think one of those vehicles in the render is probably a Tianzhou cargo vehicle. The Tianzhou seems to bear about the same resemblance to the Shenzhou crew vehicle as Progress does to Soyuz – no surprise as the Chinese vehicles are upgraded versions of their Russian ancestors.
I think Jeff2Space has a point.
The render shows a total of six elements. Three are space station modules, two are Shenzou (one docked), and one in the upper right corner is the Tianzou cargo spacecraft.
I suspect the design of the Tianzhou was heavily influenced by the design of the Soviet FGB.
Here’s one photo I found of Tianzhou…
https://spaceflight101.com/…
Do we have to keep calling it the “next-generation crewed spacecraft”? What is the official name? Heck, what is the true capsule diameter for that matter? Is it really big enough for seven taikonauts? Did the Chinese make the same boneheaded error with that capsule that NASA made with the Orion capsule, making it too heavy for the job?
So many key details of the NGCS are still unknown. I’ve got a feeling it more closely resembles the Apollo CSM than the Orion MPCV. That it is really a three crew spacecraft. Maybe?
Maybe until we know more, we should also just invent a name for the danged thing. ‘Next generation crewed spacecraft’ is a mouthful. Hrm… I’ll call it Red Dawn! At least that’s better than an acronym like NGCS.
I’m actually surprised China didn’t just push on with their Shenzou spacecraft. As an improved version of Soyuz, Shenzou is actually extremely well suited for use as a cislunar spacecraft because it is so light. Heck, China now even has direct experience with a Shenzou shaped reentry capsule that has succeeded in reentry at high lunar-return-speed and demonstrated accurate skip-reentry techniques!