T-Minus Eight Years: China Sets Launch Date for Space Station

[LeveragedBuyout]

T-Minus Eight Years: China Sets Launch Date for Space Station - China Real Time Report - WSJ

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• September 11, 2014, 12:37 PM HKT

T-Minus Eight Years: China Sets Launch Date for Space Station

In this photo provided by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a 3D animation shows China’s Shenzhou 8 spacecraft docking with Tiangong-1 space lab module on a screen at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, Nov. 3, 2011.
Associated Press
China’s space station, which made its silver screen debut in last year’s Oscar-winning film “Gravity,” will walk the real-life red carpet in 2022, a top Chinese space official said on Wednesday.

Yang Liwei, deputy chief of the China Manned Space Agency and the country’s first astronaut, announced the planned launch date for the space station along with a number of other timetables for the country’s ambitious space program during an gathering of astronauts and cosmonauts in Beijing.

In addition to the space station, China plans a second space lab around 2016 as well as spacecraft to dock with it, Mr. Yang said, according to a report by the official Xinhua news agency. Mr. Yang also said a new rocket-launch center in southern Hainan, set to be China’s fourth, is nearly complete and can already launch space vehicles.

It’s unclear whether the timetables are new. Last year, China cited 2015 as a target for the lab launch and 2020 as a possible date for completing the space station. China’s most recent White Paper on Space Activities, in 2011, wasn’t specific about dates for those programs.

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The Association of Space Explorers, where Mr. Yang is listed as this year’s meeting chairman and one of China’s four representatives, gathered 93 people from 18 countries with space experience for its planetary congress in Beijing. Participants included the first person to walk in space, Russian Alexey Leonov, the second to set foot on the moon, American Buzz Aldrin, and the first female astronaut, Russian Valentina Tereshkova.

China says its space program is peaceful. It reiterated that message earlier this month with the 192nd launch from its Long March rocket family that included a payload of two satellites in one rocket. And Mr. Yang highlighted how some Chinese systems are designed to maximize the possibility for international cooperation.

The life-saving role an imagined Tiangong space station plays in “Gravity”, in which Sandra Bullock plays an astronaut adrift, thrilled members of China’s space program, according to an earlier Xinhua report. “In my list, this is the best ever space film,” Xinhua quoted Liang Xiaohong, Communist Party chief of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, as saying.



The U.S. defense establishment continues to cast a wary eye on China’s space amibitions. The Defense Department noted in a report this year that “in parallel” to expanding space based intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, metrological and communications, China is “developing a multi-dimensional program to improve its capabilities to limit or prevent the use of space-based assets by adversaries during times of crisis or conflict.” Such concerns limit U.S. cooperation with China on space programs.

In addition to China’s Tiangong-2 space lab planned for around 2016, Mr. Yang said that around 2018 a core experimental space module will be launched ahead of the space station.

China launched its first space lab, Tiangong-1, in September 2011, and in June 2012, it docked with the manned Shenzhou-9 with three astronauts onboard. In June 2013, Shenzhou-10docked with the lab and the three astronauts delivered a physics lesson onboard that was broadcast live to millions of Chinese students.

Once known as China’s first “taikonaut,” Mr. Yang made headlines around the world in 2003 after returned to earth aboard his Shenzhou-5 with the shock declaration, “I did not see our Great Wall,” shattering a myth it is the only man-made structure visible from outer space.

On Sunday, the international space men gathered in Beijing are offered a chance to actually visit the Great Wall. They’ll take a bus.

 

[Aepsilons]

Really impressive. I congratulate the Chinese for this !

 

[Guynextdoor2]

I must be dumb. I thought you guys already had one

 

[cirr]

Steady as we go。

There is no need to be in a haste，since we are not in a race with anyone。

This way，a tiny annual budget amounting to a few billions of yuan is enough to ensure that all space-related programmes are sufficiently funded。

 

[C130]

meh, time to move from space stations IMO. we haven't ventured from low earth orbit since Apollo.
good luck to the Chinese though. not sure what they can learn on their space station that we haven't already learned on the ISS for almost 2 decades now.

guess it's just for prestige if anything.

 

[Beidou2020]

I must be dumb. I thought you guys already had one

Tiangong-1 was a space lab that tested manual and automatic docking for the construction of the future space station by 2020.
Tiangong-2 will be launched in 2016 which will be part of the space station.

 

[oFFbEAT]

That's a long countdown.........
Anyway, congrats........

 

[thesolar65]

Tiangong-1 was a space lab that tested manual and automatic docking for the construction of the future space station by 2020.
Tiangong-2 will be launched in 2016 which will be part of the space station.

First of all Congrats!!. I do not know if I am correct to say this or may be China has a lot of money and expertise. But I will certainly be glad if Chinese ask others to contribute if they can for example some modules which can be added to it like ISS (where you have russian, european, japanese modules). See, in future going alone will put a lot of pressure on a single country!!

 

[JSCh]

Space station eyes cooperation with other countries

Updated: 2014-09-11 07:09
By Zhao Lei(China Daily USA)

China is open to cooperation with foreign nations on its manned space station project, according to a senior space official.

"We reserved a number of platforms that can be used for international cooperative projects in our future space station when we designed it," Yang Liwei, deputy director of China Manned Space Agency, said at a news conference following the opening ceremony of the 27th Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers in Beijing on Wednesday.

"In addition to collaboration in applied experiments, we also designed adapters that can dock with other nations' spacecraft," he said.

Yang, China's first astronaut, who went into space in 2003, said the country is willing to deepen collaboration on its space station with other nations in a wide range of fields such as equipment development, applied technology and joint operation.

"We will share our knowledge, experience and achievements in space activities with other countries, especially developing countries," Yang added.

China plans to launch the core module of its space station in 2018 to test related technologies and engineering issues, and the whole station will become fully operational around 2022, according to Yang.

China has been in comprehensive cooperation with many foreign space agencies regarding aerospace medicine, applied sciences and astronaut selection and training.

"For instance, our scientists and engineers conducted 17 experiments pertaining to life science in space with the German Aerospace Center during the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft mission in 2011," Yang said.

During an international workshop on human space technology in Beijing last year, Yang said China would be happy to help train astronauts for other countries and organizations and would also be glad to provide rides to foreign astronauts.

"We will welcome foreign astronauts who have received our training to work in our future space station," Yang said.

China launched its manned space program in September 1992. So far, the nation has sent 10 Shenzhou spacecraft - five of them manned - and the Tiangong-1 space laboratory into space.

Andy Turnage, secretary general of the Association of Space Explorer's international executive committee, said China is "serious and enthusiastic" in space activities and members of the association should encourage their governments to work with China in this field.

Responding to questions on the US ban on space cooperation with China by its officials and scientists, Turnage, who has been executive director of the association's US branch since 1995, said: "The US policy with regard to China is not helpful in space. ... We can move beyond the politics and start moving into technologies and cooperative attitude."

The US National Research Council said in June in a report mandated by the US Congress that the ban on NASA-China ties "denies the US partnership with a nation that will probably be capable of making truly significant contributions to international collaborative missions."

Turnage suggested that spacefaring country can all work closer with each other to push forward humanity's space exploration.

"We have 50 years of competition in space and haven't gotten past that yet, but we will."

Founded in 1985, the Association of Space Explorers is an international nonprofit professional and educational organization of nearly 400 astronauts from 35 nations.

This is the first time that China has hosted the association's planetary congress, which enables astronauts from all spacefaring nations to meet and exchange information about human spaceflight operations and future plans.

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn

 

[Aepsilons]

Perhaps there might be a possibility of cooperation with JAXA.

 

[vostok]

It would be great if next space station Russia create with China and not with the United States.

 

[conworldus]

First of all Congrats!!. I do not know if I am correct to say this or may be China has a lot of money and expertise. But I will certainly be glad if Chinese ask others to contribute if they can for example some modules which can be added to it like ISS (where you have russian, european, japanese modules). See, in future going alone will put a lot of pressure on a single country!!

First of all, the USA has banned China from the ISS, so the topic is a non-starter. China did have several countries, including Germany, conducting research on Tiangong-1, but further cooperation will be difficult because the US has effectively put sanction on Chinese space programs and European countries are afraid of the US.

 

[Cyberian]

Congratulations China.

Counting down 2,669 days until January 1, 2022...

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Perhaps there might be a possibility of cooperation with JAXA.

It all depends on Japan's attitude. If NASA (or more accurately, the government which runs NASA) refuses to cooperate, will JAXA toe the line or will JAXA be independent? Based on Japan's record, I'm not so confident as to the answer.

 

[Aepsilons]

It all depends on Japan's attitude. If NASA (or more accurately, the government which runs NASA) refuses to cooperate, will JAXA toe the line or will JAXA be independent? Based on Japan's record, I'm not so confident as to the answer.

JAXA already cooperates with multinational governments on disaster preparation through satellite reporting of storm forecasts, flooding et al. I don't see the reason why JAXA cannot cooperate with Chinese, Russian as well as American counterparts. We already cooperate and maintain a positive rapport with the Russian counterpart. This is irrespective of political differences. I personally want JAXA to build a culture of trust and cooperation with CNSA.