“A delicate operation” : China launched, on Sunday July 24, into space the second of the three modules of its space station under construction, a crucial step towards the finalization of the installation.
The machine, named “Wentian”, weighing about twenty tons and without an astronaut on board, was propelled by a Longue-Marche 5B rocket at 2:22 p.m. (8:22 a.m. in Paris) from the Wenchang launch center, on the tropical island of Hainan (South), according to images from public television CCTV. Hundreds of enthusiasts had gathered on nearby beaches to take photos of the launcher rising through the air in a plume of white smoke.
After about eight minutes of flight, “Wentian successfully separated from the rocket, landing in the planned orbit”welcomed the space agency in charge of manned flights (CMSA), describing the launch of “full success”.
An ambitious docking operation
Nearly 18 meters long and 4.2 meters in diameter, this laboratory-module is due to dock at Tianhe, the station’s first module, which has already been in orbit since April 2021. The docking operation constitutes a challenge for the crew, because it requires several successive, high-precision manipulations, in particular with a robotic arm.
“It’s the first time China has had to dock such large vehicles together,” and “It’s a delicate operation”, explains, to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in the United States. A manipulation that will have to be repeated with the arrival, later in 2022, of a new laboratory module.
“ [A terme], this will allow the station to be much more capable, with the space and power to carry out more scientific experiments”points out Mr. McDowell.
“Heavenly Palace”
Equipped with three sleeping spaces, a toilet and a kitchen, Wentian will serve as a backup platform to control the station in the event of a failure. The module also has spaces for scientific experiments and includes an airlock that will become the preferred passage for spacewalks.
Named in Chinese “Tiangong” (“heavenly palace”) but also known by its acronym CSS (for “chinese space station”, in English), the Chinese space station should be fully operational by the end of the year.
After Wentian this weekend, the three astronauts of the Shenzhou-14 mission, currently on the space station, will welcome the third and final module, Mengtian, there in October. The station will then have its final T-shaped shape. It will be similar in size to the defunct Russian-Soviet Mir station. Its lifespan is expected to be ten to fifteen years.
“The CSS will then have completed its construction in just one and a half years, the fastest pace in history for a modular space station”underlines Chen Lan, analyst of the site Go-taikonauts.com, specialized in the Chinese space program. “In comparison, the construction of Mir and the International Space Station (ISS) took ten and twelve years respectively. »
Moon target by 2030
The completion of Tiangong will also allow China to perform, for the first time, a crew relay in orbit. This relay should take place in December, when the astronauts of the Shenzhou-14 mission, currently in the space station, will give way to those of Shenzhou-15. Tiangong will then welcome the six crew members for several days.
China was pushed to build its own station due to the refusal of the United States to allow it to participate in the ISS. The Asian giant has been investing billions of euros in its space program for several decades.
China sent its first astronaut into space in 2003. At the beginning of 2019, it landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, a world first. In 2020, it brought back samples from the Moon and finalized Beidou, its satellite navigation system, a competitor to the American GPS. In 2021, China landed a small robot on Mars and plans to send men to the Moon by 2030.