What's new

Tiangong-2 - China one step closer to space station

.
:china::china::china:

屏幕快照 2016-09-16 00.34.39.png


屏幕快照 2016-09-16 00.34.55.png


屏幕快照 2016-09-16 00.35.19.png


屏幕快照 2016-09-16 00.35.50.png


屏幕快照 2016-09-16 00.36.54.png


屏幕快照 2016-09-16 00.37.01.png
 
. .
Congratulations to all Chinese members!

The fact that China launched TG-2 Space Lab according to the original schedule and even did live-broadcast on the heel of recent GF-10 failure, shows a lot of confidence as a space power.

China Rocks!
 
. .
China declares success of launching Tiangong-2

China on Thursday launched space lab Tiangong-2 into space, paving the way for a permanent space station the country plans to build around 2022.

In a cloud of brown smoke, Tiangong-2 roared into the air underneath a mid-autumn full moon from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the back of a Long March-2F rocket, trailing a vast volume of flame.

Once in space, the 8.6-tonne Tiangong-2 will maneuver itself into an orbit about 380 kilometers above Earth for initial on-orbit tests, Wu Ping, deputy director of China's manned space engineering office, said on Wednesday.

The space lab will then transfer to a slightly higher orbit at about 393 kilometers above Earth, a height at which the future Chinese space station will be operating, before the Shenzhou-11 manned spaceship ferries two male astronauts into space to dock with the lab. The two astronauts will work in the lab for 30 days, before reentering Earth's atmosphere.

In April 2017, China's first cargo ship Tianzhou-1, which literally means "heavenly vessel," will also be sent into orbit to dock with the space lab and provide it with fuel and other supplies.

Wu said experts will verify and evaluate key technologies involved in on-orbit propellant resupply and equipment repairing, as well as those related to astronauts' long-term stay in space in the mission process.

They will also use the lab, which is designed to operate for at least two years, to conduct space
science experiments on a relatively large scale compared with China's previous efforts.

China's manned space program has now entered a "new phase of application and development," Wu said.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2016-09/15/content_39307073.htm

https://defence.pk/threads/chinese-space-capabilities.84216/page-100
 
. .
New ship will track October spaceflight

Vessel's advanced system will monitor astronauts' journey

When the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft starts its journey next month to meet the Tiangong II space lab, it will be tracked by China's latest space monitor and communications system aboard a new tracking ship.

The fourth-generation, ship-borne space monitor and communications system, developed by China Electronics Technology Group Corp, a State-owned defense giant, is carried by the Yuanwang 7 space tracking ship and is the best of its kind in the world, said company designers.

Wang Bin, deputy director of the company's defense products, said the system features high integration, reliability and stability and was developed entirely by China.

He added that the new system's production cost was only half that of its predecessors.

Chai Lin, a senior engineer at China Electronics Technology Group Corp who took part in the system's development, said that compared with previous ship-borne space monitor and communications systems, the new one is easier to operate because it has a high level of automation and intelligence.

The Yuanwang 7 was commissioned in mid-July to the China Satellite Maritime Tracking and Control Department.

The 220 meter long, 40 meter high vessel has a displacement of 30,000 metric tons. The ship, which is capable of withstanding strong typhoons, can operate 100 days at sea, according to the department.

The vessel is the most technologically advanced space tracking ship that China has built. It will extensively boost the country's capabilities for space tracking and control, the department said.

China built its first space tracking ship, the Yuanwang 1, in the late 1970s, becoming the fourth nation in the world, following the United States, the former Soviet Union and France, to operate such vessels.

Since then, the Yuanwang fleet has carried out nearly 100 expeditions and traveled millions of nautical miles in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Currently, China has four space tracking ships in service — the Yuanwang 3, Yuanwang 5, Yuanwang 6 and Yuanwang 7.

The Shenzhou XI manned mission is scheduled to begin in mid-October, sending two astronauts for a month-long stay in the space lab.
 
.
Tiangong-2 takes China one step closer to space station

JIUQUAN -- China's Tiangong-2 space lab blasted off on Thursday, marking another milestone in its increasingly ambitious space program, which envisions a mission to Mars by the end of this decade and its own space station by around 2020.

In a cloud of smoke underneath a mid-autumn full moon, Tiangong-2 roared into the air at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gobi desert, on the back of a Long March-2F T2 rocket at 10:04 p.m. Beijing Time.

The Long March-2F T2 is a two-stage launch vehicle that uses four strap-on boosters during its first stage.

About 20 minutes later, the mission was declared a success.

Tiangong-2 separated from the rocket and entered the preset orbit 575 seconds after blast-off, a statement from the mission control read.

While in space, the 8.6-tonne Tiangong-2 will maneuver itself into an orbit about 380 kilometers above Earth for initial in-orbit tests. It will then transfer to a slightly higher orbit of about 393 kilometers above Earth's surface.

Later, the Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft will carry two astronauts into space to dock with the lab. The astronauts will work in the lab for 30 days before returning to Earth.

In April 2017, China's first space cargo ship Tianzhou-1, which literally means heavenly vessel, will be sent into orbit to dock with the space lab, providing fuel and other supplies.

Wu Ping, deputy director of China's manned space engineering office, said on Wednesday that experts will verify and evaluate key technologies involved with in-orbit refueling and equipment repairs, as well as those related to astronauts' long-term stay in space during the mission.

They will also use the lab, which is designed to operate for at least two years, to conduct space science experiments on a relatively large scale compared to China's previous efforts.

China's manned space program has entered a "new phase of application and development," Wu said.

Dream lab

Measuring 10.4 meters in length and up to 3.35 meters in diameter, the tube-like Tiangong-2 is hardly the size of a palace. But its name means heavenly palace in Chinese, and it symbolizes the dream that the Chinese have long envisioned in the sky.

Originally built as a backup to Tiangong-1, Tiangong-2 looks much like its predecessor launched in 2011, but its interior living quarters and life support system have been improved to allow longer astronaut stays.

It is designed to enable two astronauts to live in space for up to 30 days and to receive manned and cargo spaceships.

Once inside Tiangong-2, two astronauts arriving from the Shenzhou-11 spaceship will carry out key experiments related to in-orbit equipment repairs, aerospace medicine, space physics and biology, such as quantum key distribution, atomic space clocks and solar storm research.


"The number of experiments carried out by Tiangong-2 will be the highest of any manned space mission so far," said Lyu Congmin with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

According to Zhu Zongpeng, chief designer of China's space lab system, Tiangong-2's workload includes POLAR, a collaboration between Swiss, Polish and Chinese institutions to study gamma ray bursts, the most energetic events in the universe.

A cold atomic space clock, which scientists say only loses one second in about 30 million years, is expected to make future navigation more accurate.

Scientists will also conduct a space-Earth quantum key distribution and laser communications experiment, to facilitate space-to-ground quantum communication.

Also, piggybacking on the Tiangong-2 launch will be a robotic arm that can be used for in-orbit repairs. There will also be a micro satellite that will orbit close to the space lab and snap on to Tiangong-2 and the visiting Shenzhou-11 spacecraft crew.

Earlier reports said Tiangong-2 will also carry out three experiments created by the winners of a Hong Kong middle school design contest.

"Tiangong-2 has a designed life of two years, but it is expected to work much longer than that in space," said Zhu.

Both Zhu and Wu referred to Tiangong-2 as China's first space lab "in the strict sense."

Its predecessor Tiangong-1, which docked with the Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spaceships and undertook a series of experiments, was mainly used to verify technology involved in space docking and serve as a simple platform for a number of scientific experiments, Wu said.

"In comparison, Tiangong-2 will boast many more experiments," said Zhu.

Tiangong-1 ended its data service earlier this year and will, reportedly, burn up as it falls into Earth's atmosphere in the latter half of 2017.

Tiangong-2 will drop into the Pacific Ocean at the end of its mission, according to the manned space engineering office.

Trailblazer

The successful launch of the Tiangong-2, along with the maiden flight of China's new generation carrier rocket Long March-7 in June, bodes well for the final phase of China's three-step manned space program.

The first step, to send an astronaut into space and return safely, was fulfilled by Yang Liwei in the Shenzhou-5 mission in 2003.

The second step is developing advanced space flight techniques and technologies including extra-vehicular activity and orbital docking. This phase also includes the launch of two space laboratories - effectively mini space-stations that can be manned on a temporary basis.

Finally, the third step will be to assemble and operate a permanent manned space station.

It is expected that the space station will consist of three parts -- a core module attached to two space labs, each weighing about 20 tonnes.

According to Zhou Jianping, chief engineer of China's manned space program, one important target of Tiangong-2 is to verify technology involved in the construction of the space station.

"It has the basic technological capacity of a space station," Zhou said.

"Once the space lab mission comes to an end, China will start building our own space station," he said, adding this could start in as early as 2017.

Construction of the space station is planned for completion by around 2020.

It will enter into service around 2022, with an initial designed life of at least 10 years, Zhu Zongpeng told Xinhua. By then, astronauts could be stationed in orbit for missions that last more than one year, he added.

The Chinese space station will be much smaller than the current International Space Station (ISS), which weigh 420 tonnes, but it can be expanded for "scientific research and international cooperation," Zhou said.

With the ISS set to retire in 2024, the Chinese station will offer a promising alternative, and China will be the only country with a permanent space station.

According to Zhou, the Chinese space station will be more "economically efficient and informationized" than the ISS. It will be able to house a maximum of six astronauts at the same time and manned missions will become routine once the space station enters service.

Starting from scratch, China's ever-expanding multi-billion-dollar space program is increasingly becoming a source of national pride and a marker of technological expertise in the global community.

After launching its first manned mission in 2003, China staged a spacewalk in 2008, and sent Tiangong-1 into space in 2011.

It succeeded in a manned docking in space in 2012, becoming the third country to do so after the United States and Russia, and landed its Yutu rover on the moon a year later.


Now China is preparing Tianhe-1, a core space station module, which may be lifted by the powerful Chinese rocket Long March-5 in 2018. Additionally, Chinese scientists are making a Hubble-like telescope to orbit near the planned space station.

China also aims to send the Chang'e-5 probe to the moon and return with lunar samples in the second half of 2017, and to land a probe on Mars by 2021.
 
.
China acquires basic technology for manned lunar missions: chief engineer

JIUQUAN -- China has acquired the basic technology to carry out manned lunar missions, chief engineer of China's manned space program Zhou Jianping said Thursday.

Compared with current missions, the technology used for manned lunar missions are more complex, Zhou said.

In order to achieve the goal of carrying out manned lunar missions, China needs rockets with greater load capacity, manned aircraft that can land on the lunar surface and return, and aircraft that can shuttle between Earth and the moon, Zhou said.

In addition, Zhou disclosed that the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province is likely to be the second launch site for China's manned space program.

China's space station and cargo spacecraft will be launched at the Wenchang launch site, Zhou said, adding that from a technical perspective it is better to carry out manned lunar missions at the Wenchang site.

Completed in 2014, the Wenchang launch site is the fourth of its kind in China. Being the closest site to the equator, Wenchang boasts considerable latitudinal advantages. Satellites launched nearer the equator have a longer service life as they have a shorter journey to make it into geostationary orbit and save fuel accordingly.

"China has begun to develop a Mars probe, but such exploration will be a very complex project," Zhou added.
 
.
Video of the launch.


China successfully launches Tiangong-2 space lab
CCTV News

Published on 15 Sep 2016

China has announced late on Thursday that the launch of its space lab Tiangong-2 was successful. A Long March-2F T2 carrier rocket, loaded with the Tiangong-2 space lab, blasted off at 10:04 pm local time on September 15 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
 
.
The Tiangong-2 space launch is big news all over the world.
One of our local Aussie papers reported the following:-


--------
Tiangong 2: China launches second space station
SEPTEMBER 16, 20164:20AM
AP and staff writers | News Corp Australia Network

CHINA has launched its second space station in a sign of the growing sophistication of its military-backed program that intends to send a mission to Mars in the coming years.

The Tiangong 2 was carried into space on Thursday night atop a Long March 7 rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northern China.

Plans call for the launch next month of the Shenzhou 11 spaceship with two astronauts to dock with the station and remain on board for a month.

The station, whose name means “Heavenly Palace,” is considered a stepping stone to a mission to Mars by the end of the decade.

45e426b65bd2ff0789380b097c32e457.jpg

China's Tiangong 2 space lab is launched on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

The Tiangong 2 module will be used for “testing systems and processes for midterm space stays and refuelling,” and will house experiments in medicine and various space-related technologies. China’s first space station, Tiangong 1, was launched in September 2011 and officially went out of service earlier this year after having docked with three visiting spacecraft.

China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, becoming only the third country after Russia and the US to do so, and has since staged a space walk and landed its Yutu rover on the moon.

842f270ae09e985fba884589be1557f2.jpg

The spacecraft of Shenzhou X is seen on top of the Long March 2F launch vehicle on June 3, 2013. Picture: ChinaFotoPress/Getty ImagesSource:Supplied

Administrators suggest a manned landing on the moon may also be in the program’s future.

China was prevented from participating in the International Space Station, mainly due to US concerns over the security risks of involving the increasingly assertive Chinese military in the multinational effort.

A source of enormous national pride, China’s space program plans a total of 20 missions this year at a time when the US and other countries’ programs are seeking new roles.

China is also developing the Long March 5 heavier-lift rocket needed to launch other components of the Tiangong 2 and other massive payloads.

China plans to land a rover on Mars by 2020, attempting to recreate the success of the US Viking 1 mission that landed a rover on the planet four decades ago.

6161855fa41fc2ca6bae5888b0042705.jpg

The Shenzhou 8 craft docks with the Tiangong 1 module on November 3, 2011. Picture: AP Photo/CCTV via APTN Source:AP
 
.
The Tiangong-2 space launch is big news all over the world.
One of our local Aussie papers reported the following:-


--------
Tiangong 2: China launches second space station
SEPTEMBER 16, 20164:20AM
AP and staff writers | News Corp Australia Network

CHINA has launched its second space station in a sign of the growing sophistication of its military-backed program that intends to send a mission to Mars in the coming years.

The Tiangong 2 was carried into space on Thursday night atop a Long March 7 rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northern China.

Plans call for the launch next month of the Shenzhou 11 spaceship with two astronauts to dock with the station and remain on board for a month.

The station, whose name means “Heavenly Palace,” is considered a stepping stone to a mission to Mars by the end of the decade.

View attachment 334833
China's Tiangong 2 space lab is launched on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

The Tiangong 2 module will be used for “testing systems and processes for midterm space stays and refuelling,” and will house experiments in medicine and various space-related technologies. China’s first space station, Tiangong 1, was launched in September 2011 and officially went out of service earlier this year after having docked with three visiting spacecraft.

China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, becoming only the third country after Russia and the US to do so, and has since staged a space walk and landed its Yutu rover on the moon.

View attachment 334834
The spacecraft of Shenzhou X is seen on top of the Long March 2F launch vehicle on June 3, 2013. Picture: ChinaFotoPress/Getty ImagesSource:Supplied

Administrators suggest a manned landing on the moon may also be in the program’s future.

China was prevented from participating in the International Space Station, mainly due to US concerns over the security risks of involving the increasingly assertive Chinese military in the multinational effort.

A source of enormous national pride, China’s space program plans a total of 20 missions this year at a time when the US and other countries’ programs are seeking new roles.

China is also developing the Long March 5 heavier-lift rocket needed to launch other components of the Tiangong 2 and other massive payloads.

China plans to land a rover on Mars by 2020, attempting to recreate the success of the US Viking 1 mission that landed a rover on the planet four decades ago.

View attachment 334835
The Shenzhou 8 craft docks with the Tiangong 1 module on November 3, 2011. Picture: AP Photo/CCTV via APTN Source:AP
Awesome... I like the way Chinese execute their space projects...Respect.
 
. .
Tiangong-2 orbits the earth
CCTV.com
09-16-2016 10:15 BJT


Tiangong-2 space lab is now orbiting the earth at about 380 kilometers high.

Initial in-orbit tests are now being carried out to make sure all equipment be working properly. Tiangong-2 will later maneuver itself to a slightly higher orbit of about 393 kilometers above Earth's surface. That is the altitude where the docking with a manned spacecraft will take place in October.

The two astronauts onboard will work in the lab for 30 days before returning to Earth. The lab will conduct 14 experiments on space science and application of space technology. The results will help prepare for longer space flight and longer space habitation.
 
.
Back
Top Bottom