China Space Station

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

China’s third and final module called Mengtian docked with its permanent space station  to further a more than decade-long effort to maintain a constant crewed presence in orbit, as its competition with the U.S. grows increasingly fierce.

• Mengtian was blasted into space from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern island province of Hainan
• 3 astronauts arrived for a six-month stay on board, during which they will complete the station’s assembly, conduct space walks and carry out additional experiments.

Mengtian

• Mengtian is the third and final module which was blasted into space from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern island province of Hainan.
• Mengtian, or “Celestial Dream,” joins Wentian as the second laboratory module for the station, collectively known as Tiangong, or “Celestial Palace.” Both are connected to the Tianhe core module where the crew lives and works.
• Like its predecessors, Mengtian was launched aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, a member of China’s most powerful family of launch vehicles.
• Mengtian weighs in at about 23 tons, is 17.9 meters (58.7 feet) long and has a diameter of 4.2 meters (13.8 feet). It will provide space for science experiments in zero gravity, an airlock for exposure to the vacuum of space, and a small robotic arm to support extravehicular payloads.
• The already orbiting 23-ton Wentian, or “quest for the heavens” laboratory is designed for science and biology experiments and is heavier than any other single-module spacecraft currently in space.
• Following Mengtian’s arrival, an additional uncrewed Tianzhou cargo craft is due to dock with the station.

Tiangong Space Station

• It is a planned Chinese Permanent space station to be placed in Low Earth orbit.
• The Space Station roughly will have one-fifth the mass of the International Space Station.
• The space station consists of three modules — the core module, Tianhe and two lab modules Wentian and Mengtian.
• In all, the station will have about 110 cubic meters (3,880 cubic feet) of pressurized interior space, including the 32 cubic meters (1,130 cubic feet).
• China’s crewed space program is officially three decades old this year, with the Mengtian launch being its 25th mission. But it truly got underway in 2003, when China became only the third country after the U.S. and Russia to put a human into space using its own resources.
• The permanent Chinese station will weigh about 66 tons — a fraction of the size of the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and weighs around 465 tons.
• With a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, Tiangong could one day find itself the only space station still running, if the International Space Station adheres to its 30-year operating plan.