China soon alone in space? “Heavenly Palace” is taking shape - US experts expect a quick start

China is pushing ahead with its space program.

The space station will soon be assembled.

Beijing's space explorers are exploring the back of the moon, and a spaceship is circling Mars

Munich / Beijing - China is making great strides with its ambitious space program. A probe has already landed on the back of the moon and a spaceship has been in orbit around Mars since February. Now it's time to assemble your own space station. The station, which will be called “Heavenly Palace” - in Chinese “Tiangong” - is the largest project of the program. If the obsolete international space station ISS goes out of service in the coming years, China would be the only nation operating an outpost in space.

In the next few weeks, three space flights are planned for the construction of the “Heavenly Palace”. First of all, the core module “Heavenly Harmony” (“Tianhe”) is to be brought into space on board a rocket of the “Long March 5B” type from the Wenchang space station on the tropical southern Chinese island of Hainan. The rocket is already on the launch pad, as videos on Chinese state television show. US experts therefore expect the start next Thursday - but the date has not yet been officially confirmed.

According to official plans, the space station should be ready in 2022.

With a length of 16.6 meters, a diameter of 4.2 meters and a weight of around 90 tons, it will be significantly smaller than the ISS, which weighs 240 tons.

The core module provides electricity and propulsion and offers accommodation for three astronauts who can stay on board for up to six months.

Two more parts for scientific experiments are attached in a T-shape. 

China alone in space: No cooperation on the ISS - and probably not on the "Heavenly Palace" either

"The main difference to the ISS is that no one else takes part," said the former German astronaut Reinhold Ewald, now a professor at the University of Stuttgart. Other countries are not involved in either construction or operation. Conversely, at the instigation of the USA, China was excluded from the joint ISS project with the Russians and Europeans. China is inviting researchers from all over the world to cooperate, the magazine

Scientific American

quoted

the chief scientist of the manned space program, Gu Yidong.

However, US law prevents NASA scientists from working directly with China, according to Scientific American. Even in Europe, pressure from NASA is making it difficult to get funding for projects involving the Chinese space program, the magazine said. At least an international cooperation, among others with Germany, is planned for scientific experiments - with the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching. 

The construction phase requires a tight flight plan: a total of eleven flights are planned - three flights with modules, four cargo missions and four manned space flights, as announced by the Chinese space program. Shortly after the start of the Chinese core module, the cargo spacecraft “Tianzhou 2” with fuel and supplies could follow in May. Three astronauts are also preparing to fly to Tianhe on board Shenzhou 12, possibly in June. Astronauts train for the first four missions to visit the module. as announced by the China Manned Space Agency in March. The state television CCTV shows them during underwater training: "Our astronauts train in underwater suits in a model of the same size of the Chinese space station in a state of neutral buoyancy," says Yin Rui,from the Chinese Austronaut Center in the video.

China: Meticulous preparation for the construction of the space station

China has been preparing the project for some time. With the former Tiangong 1 and Tiangong 2 space laboratories, it practiced rendezvous and refueling maneuvers as well as space walks. The construction of the space station should actually start earlier, but problems with the necessary new launcher caused delays. The construction phase was therefore condensed so that the “Heavenly Palace” can be completed in 2022 as originally planned. "We will fight on several fronts at the same time," said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the manned space program (CMS), according to state television. Three rocket projects are being pursued at two space stations at the same time. "We will be really busy - and what is even more important: We have to maintain success, quality, security and reliability."according to the Australian expert Morris Jones. “A space station must be able to support human life over a long period of time. That requires highly reliable systems. "

China's spacecraft, which has been in orbit around Mars since February, is scheduled to deploy a descent module in mid-May to attempt the country's first landing on the Red Planet.

China is also planning a space telescope similar to the American Hubble telescope, which will operate in the same orbit a few hundred kilometers away from around 2024, writes

Scientific American

.

As part of the “Heavenly Palace”, the China Sky Survey Telescope will have 300 times the Hubble field of view and cover a broad scientific spectrum in the near ultraviolet and optical wave range.

USA and Russia: Plans for their own space presence after the end of the ISS - but from 2024 at the earliest

Russia and the USA are still discussing what should happen to the ISS in the near future. At the same time, both are thinking of their own new outposts in space. The Russian space agency Roskosmos would like to have its own station in orbit around the earth in 2030, while NASA has its eyes on the moon. The US station, known as the Gateway, is to orbit the earth's satellite and provide support for a “long-term return of humans to the surface of the moon” as well as a basis for exploring deeper space. According to NASA, the first components could not be brought into space until 2024 at the earliest. The Chinese astronauts could watch from the "Sky Palace"

(ck / dpa)