China’s space station Tiangong is slowly coming together

Construction of the orbiting habitat – called Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace” in Chinese – began in April, when a Long March 5B rocket carried the core module into low Earth orbit. More modules are planned to be installed in the classroom in the next 12 years. Months, with the crew constantly on the station conducting a series of tests and spacewalks to manage assembly.

When completed, Tiangong will weigh about 150,000 pounds and will be about one-sixth the size of the International Space Station, a 900,000-pound craft that has hosted more than 200 astronauts from more than a dozen countries over the past two decades. Is. Tiangong will have a large robotic arm for construction and maintenance, and there are plans for a powerful space telescope, which will remain adjacent to the station.

Tiangong is seen as the centerpiece of China’s increasingly ambitious space program, which has made several notable achievements in recent years—including the successful landing of a rover on Mars in May.

Tiangong’s creation comes a decade after national security concerns led the US to bar the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from working with China and China-based companies, effectively detaining Chinese astronauts from the ISS. Although it is being built entirely by China, several other countries have signed off on flight experiments at Tiangong. China has not disclosed how much it will cost to build or operate the station.

Tiangong’s main module—Tianhe, or “Harmony of the Heavens” in Chinese—is now orbiting at an altitude of about 250 miles. In 2022, two more modules are to be launched for the budding outpost: Ventian (“Quest for the Heaven”) and Mengtian (“Dreaming of the Heaven”), both of which will contain scientific experiments.

The ISS has a large robotic arm, and so will Tiangong. China says the arm will be used to help control cargo handling, station maintenance and the docking of spacecraft—though US Space Command warned Congress earlier this year that the technology could be used to attack satellites. Can also be deployed as a tool to

China’s answer to the Hubble Space Telescope is set for launch in 2024. The Chinese Space Station Telescope—also known as Xuntian, or “Survey the Heavens” in Chinese—will survey and photograph the universe using its 2-meter-diameter lens. 2.5 billion-pixel camera. The telescope will orbit near Tiangong to maintain and refuel it.