Testing starts on all space application systems of Tiangong 2
Tiangong-2 space lab enters preset orbit for docking with manned spacecraft
Source: Xinhua 2016-09-25 21:45:03
BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists on Sunday maneuvered the country's Tiangong-2 space lab to a preset orbit 393 kilometers above Earth's surface, in preparation for a planned docking with the Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft set to launch next month.
Tiangong-2, which blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the back of a Long March-2F T2 rocket on Sept. 15, has already gone through about nine days of on-orbit testing before Sunday's maneuver, according to Li Jian, deputy head of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.
"All test results suggest the space lab is in good condition," Li said.
Earlier reports said China's future space station, which the country plans to put into service around 2022, will also be orbiting the Earth at approximately the same height - 393 kilometers above ground.
The Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft is expected to carry two astronauts into space to dock with the Tiangong-2 in October. The astronauts will work in the lab for 30 days before returning to Earth.
Li said the docking will be the country's first-ever simulation of future space station docking technologies, which will see the manned spacecraft "catching up with the space station using its own space maneuvering capacities."
In April 2017, China's first space cargo ship Tianzhou-1, which literally means heavenly vessel, will also be sent into orbit to dock with the space lab, providing it with fuel and other supplies.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-09/25/c_135712721.htm
Scientific experiment apparatus on Tiangong-2 put into operation
Source: Xinhua 2016-09-24 11:34:14
BEIJING, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Scientific apparatus carried by Tiangong-2 began operational at around 6:41 p.m. Thursday Beijing Time after being on standby mode for nearly seven days since the space lab entered its preset orbit on Sept. 15.
"Most of the scientific payload will be put into operation in the next 30 hours," said Guo Lili, director with the payload operation and application center at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Nearly 100 ground operators, including staff from the operation and application center, payload developers and subscribers to related applications, are coordinating in the operation.
The space lab of Tiangong-2 will dock with the Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft later this year and the country's first cargo space ship Tianzhou-1 in 2017, according to experts.
Its predecessor Tiangong-1, which was launched in 2011 and docked with the Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spaceships, was mainly used to verify technology involved in space docking and serve as a simple platform for a number of scientific experiments, said Wu Ping, deputy director of China's manned space engineering office.
In comparison, Tiangong-2 hosts many more experiments and is taken as China's first space lab "in the strict sense."
Its payloads include POLAR, a collaboration between Swiss, Polish and Chinese institutions to study gamma ray bursts, and a cold atomic space clock, which scientists say only loses one second in about 30 million years.
Also piggybacking on the Tiangong-2 launch is a robotic arm that can be used for on-orbit repairs, and a micro satellite that will orbit close to the space lab and snap on to Tiangong-2 and the visiting Shenzhou-11 spacecraft crew.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-09/24/c_135710370.htm
China's space survival experiment goes on well
Source: Xinhua 2016-09-20 22:35:24
BEIJING, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's experiment in human living for space exploration is going smoothly, halfway into the project, the Astronaut Center of China (ACC) announced Tuesday.
Four volunteers started a 180-day experiment in June in a sealed space capsule, testing technology that will be used in deep-space exploration.
The experiment examines how oxygen, water and food can be used and reused in space.
The ACC has used Mars time with 24 hours and 40 minutes in a day in the experiment since Aug. 26.
Scientists are also examining the physiological changes and emotional fluctuations brought by a hermetic environment.
A total of 25 kinds of plants in the capsule as part of a larger ecological treatment system are also growing well.
The experiment will conclude on Dec. 13.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-09/20/c_135700743.htm