China space station will be completed by 2020, the super "eye" to speed up space rendezvous

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China announces its second space laboratory, the 'TIANGONG 2,' will blast off into orbit later this autumn, but that's not it! Shortly afterwards, a manned spacecraft will also be sent to dock with the lab with two astronauts set to stay longer in space than any of their predecessors.

China is pressing ahead its ultimate space goal. Tiangong-2, or "Heavenly Palace-2," will be the country's second space lab to be deployed above earth.

"Tiangong-2 will launch in the third quarter of this year. It will carry out various space scientific and application experiments," said Wu Ping, Deputy Director of China Manned Space Program Office.

If the launch is successful, the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft will follow shortly carrying 2 astronauts, who'll spend 30 days in orbit- a new record for China.

China aims to build own space station by 2020

But that's only part of the bigger picture. China's greater goal is to build its very own space station by 20-20 and it looks to be on course, to do just this.

"It takes numerous launches and docks to finish the ultimate goal. We will organize a series of missions from the middle of this year to the first half of next year," said Wu.

Tiangong-2 is a prototype for a space station. Its predecessor Tiangong-1 has been in orbit for nearly five years. In 2012 and 2013, manned spacecraft successfully docked with the space lab.

"The difference is Tiangong-2 is a space station in a real sense. Technical adjustments have been made based on experience and data from Tiangong One- which will continue scientific missions," said Wu.

Preparations are also underway for China's FIRST cargo spaceship, which is set to launch next year and dock with Tiangong 2.

Wu also said:"It will test key technologies in the construction and operation of a space station, such as cargo transportation, and propellant supply in orbit."

The international space station is scheduled to retire by 2020, when China is on course to become the only country with a permanent presence in space.

World's most sensitive 'eye' - Chinese experts develop best rendezvous and docking CCD Sensor

BEIJING, June 22 2015 (Xinhua) -- Chinese space experts have developed the world's most sensitive "eye" that enables the autonomous rendezvous and docking of two spacecraft -- flying eight times faster than bullets -- more efficiently and safely.

The "eye" is China's newly developed third-generation rendezvous and docking CCD optical imaging sensor. It will be used on China's second orbiting space lab, Tiangong-2, the Chang'e-5 lunar probe and the permanent manned space station, according to China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).

China plans to launch Tiangong-2 in 2016, and send Chang'e-5 to collect samples from the moon and return to earth around 2017. It also aims to put a permanent manned space station into service around 2022.

"Good 'eyesight' is crucial for one spacecraft chasing another for hundreds of thousands of kilometers to achieve a perfect rendezvous and docking -- it's like threading the needle," says Gong Dezhu, a CAST designer who worked on the CCD optical imaging sensor.

"The last 150 meters between the two spacecraft is the most critical moment. A slight deviation during docking might lead to a disaster like the one caused by Mann, the main antagonist in the movie Interstellar," Gong says.

Compared with the CCD optical imaging sensor used in the docking of Tiangong-1 and the Shenzhou spacecraft, the new "eye" can see clearer under direct sunlight, which will greatly improve safety. The window period of the docking process will be twice the length, Gong says.

"And the reaction time between the 'eye' capturing the first sight of its target and recognizing it has been shortened from 10 seconds to less than one second," Gong says.

The sensor's weight and power consumption is only half that of comparable products internationally, says Gong.


Such "eyes" can also be used on mechanical arms, and for refueling and repairing of spacecraft, as well as aerial refueling and docking of underwater vehicles, experts say. - Xinhua

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China set to launch bigger space programme

Enlarge

This photo of the giant screen at the Jiuquan Space Centre shows the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft preparing to link with the Tiangong-1 module on June 24. China will deploy bigger spacecraft for longer missions following the success of its Shenzhou-9 voyage, allowing it to build a manned space station and potentially put a man on the moon, experts said.

China will deploy bigger spacecraft for longer missions following the success of its Shenzhou-9 voyage, allowing it to build a manned space station and potentially put a man on the moon, experts said.

The 13-day voyage of Shenzhou-9, which returned to Earth on Friday, was China's longest-ever space mission and included the nation's first woman astronaut among its three crew members.

In another first for China's 20-year space programme, which has cost more than $6 billion, the crew also achieved the country's first-ever manual docking with an orbital module, the Tiangong-1, a high-speed and high-risk manoeuvre.

In the next mission that will occur at the end of this year or in 2013, Shenzhou-10's astronauts will link up with Tiangong-1 in a similar flight, said Morris Jones, an Australian space expert focusing on China's programme.

The mission will be the last docking with the Tiangong-1, which was put into orbit in September last year.
Morris said no more astronauts would go on Tiangong-1 after the next mission. Then, in a few years, China will launch a more sophisticated version, the Tiangong-2.

When that comes into play, the dimensions of China's space programme will grow significantly, said Isabelle Sourbes-Verger, a specialist on China's space programme at France's National Centre for Scientific Research.

She said future vehicles would allow for larger space modules, longer missions and more powerful launch vehicles,


Enlarge

This photo of the giant screen at the Jiuquan Space Centre shows Chinese astronauts Liu Wang (C), Jing Haipeng (L) and Liu Yang in the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft as it prepares to link with the Tiangong-1 module on June 24. The crew achieved the country's first-ever manual docking with an orbital module, the Tiangong-1, a high-speed and high-risk manoeuvre.

"Longer periods in space -- one to three months -- cannot take place unless there is a vehicle bigger than the 8.5 tonne Tiangong-1, which also did not appear to have a resupply system," she told AFP.

"Tiangong-1... will be followed by two other versions with more powerful 'life support' systems... and will possibly be capable of docking with a second vehicle."

China is also developing the Long March 5, a next-generation booster rocket that will be needed if the nation hopes to place a bigger space station in orbit, said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the US Naval War College.

"Launching that space station... depends on the successful development of a new heavy launch vehicle, the Long March 5," she told AFP.

"I would expect to see this large space station in orbit within the next 10 years -- which could make it the de facto replacement for the now orbiting International Space Station (ISS)," said Johnson-Freese.

She was referring to the life expectancy of the ISS -- run by the American, Russian, Japanese, European and Canadian space agencies -- which is likely to function only to around 2020.

China has never been invited to join the ISS.

Sourbes-Verger said further advances in China's space station programme would "guarantee" that the country plays a major role should any eventual cooperation with the ISS take place.

To realise its ambitions beyond 2020, which may include sending a man to the moon, China has also been advancing its "Chang'e" exploration programme. This entails satellite launches to explore the lunar surface.

"Likely within the next five to eight years China will also make a decision as to whether to pursue a human lunar mission," Johnson-Freese said.

Meanwhile the United States, after retiring its space shuttle fleet, is also developing a new rocket and technologies to place a man on an asteroid or on Mars, she said.

"Both countries are moving forward, but not in a competitive path," she said.

China's space programme remains far behind the Americans. This was highlighted by the fact that the manual space docking trumpeted by the Chinese on the Shenzhou-9 mission was done by the Americans in the 1960s.

"If there is a space race going on, I think it is in Asia," Johnson-Freese said, pointing out that India had also set ambitious goals.

July 1, 2012 by Boris Cambreleng
(c) 2012 AFP_PHYS.ORG

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China's Space Age Grows Up As U.S. Space Race Winds Down

The Russians started the space race back in the 1950s.

This picture taken on June 12, 2012 shows Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force fighter pilot Liu Yang (L) together with her two male colleagues, Jing Haipeng (C) and Liu Wang (R), in their spacesuits as they pose for an official photo at the Jiuquan space base, north China's Gansu province. China said on June 15, 2012 that a female astronaut will be among the three-person team on board the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, and will take off at 6.37 pm (1037 GMT) on June 16 from the Jiuquan space base in the Gobi desert for the country's fourth manned space launch, with Liu Yang, 33, and two male astronauts on board. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

The U.S. perfect it with putting a man on the moon, then with a series of modern high tech space shuttle missions and Mars ROVERS.  But now, the final frontier captains are more likely to be Russians, with their hopes for a human Mars landing someday, or Chinese, with a new China space station due within the next 8 years.

While the U.S. has basically scrapped its space mission, slashing the budget of NASA and now too close to a fiscal cliff to invest in fly-by-night government funded manned space operations, China is on the move.

The country’s Shenzhou IX spacecraft, carrying two male astronauts and one female astronaut into space this week, completed its first-ever manual docking with the Tiangong I space lab on Sunday.  The manual docking of two ships whipping through space ultimately demonstrates China’s grasp of essential space rendezvous and docking know-how. Manual docking requires astronauts to have a precise judgement on the relative distance between Shenzhou IX and the Tiangong-1 module, a challenge to their capability of coordination, accuracy and psychological stability. The astronauts have done more than 1,500 docking simulations on the ground to ensure a successful manual docking.

Their successful completion of the docking mission at 12:47 pm local time on Sunday means China is fully capable of transferring humans and cargo to an orbiter in space much like the Americans, only the Americans have abandoned further work in this area beyond the current International Space Station expedition which ends next month. That current mission is actually being commanded by Oleg Dmitrievich Komonenko, a Russian national born in Turkmenistan.  He’s one of three Russians on the Russian Proton vesssel, with two Americans and one astronaut from The Netherlands.

China’s three astronauts boarded Tiangong through Shenzhou IX where they will continued conducting various scientific experiments on the space lab before heading returning.

By Kenneth Rapoza, Forbes Contributor

Covering Brazil, Russia, India & China.

See: Will China Blast Past America In Space? — National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation”

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Jun 24, 2012

China to launch 3 astronauts in new manned space flight docking

 • China will launch its Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft sometime in mid-June.

 • Shenzhou-9 and its carrier rocket, the Long March-2F, had been moved to the launch platform.

 • In the next few days, scientists will conduct functional tests on the spacecraft and the rocket.

The Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft, the Long March-2F rocket, and the escape tower are vertically transferred to the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province, June 9, 2012. China will launch its Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft sometime in mid-June to perform the country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module, a spokesperson with the country's manned space program said here Saturday. (Xinhua/Wang Jianmin)

Click to see more photos

JIUQUAN, Gansu, June 9 (Xinhua) -- China will launch its Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft sometime in mid-June to perform the country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module, a spokesperson said here Saturday.

By 10:30 a.m. Saturday, the spacecraft and its carrier rocket, the Long March-2F, had been moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, a spokesperson with the country's manned space program said.

In the next few days, scientists will conduct functional tests on the spacecraft and the rocket, as well as joint tests on selected astronauts, spacecraft, rocket and ground systems, according to the spokesperson.

The Shenzhou-9 will be launched into space to perform China's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module.

The manned spacecraft Shenzhou-9 and its carrier rocket were delivered to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in early April this year.

The Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, was lowered to docking orbit in early June and is orbiting normally, the spokesperson said.

The final preparations are running smoothly, and the selected astronauts have completed their training and are in sound physical and mental conditions, according to the spokesperson.

Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of the country's manned space program, said earlier that the three-person crew on Shenzhou-9 might include female astronauts, but the final selection would be decided "on the very last condition."

The space docking mission will be manually conducted by astronauts, giving China another chance to test its docking technology, the program's spokesperson said previously.

One of the three Shenzhou-9 crew members will not board the Tiangong-1 space module lab, but will remain inside the spacecraft as a precautionary measure in case of emergency, the spokesperson said.

The target module Tiangong-1, which blasted off on Sept. 29, 2011, went into long-term operation in space awaiting docking attempts of Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 after completing China's first space docking mission with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in early November.

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Shenzhou-9 may take female astronaut to space: official
BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Authorities have completed the initial selection of crew members for China's first manned space docking mission, and the roster includes female astronauts, an official with the country's manned space program has said.  Full story

China to carry out manned space flight

The manned space flight will dock with the Tiangong 1 space station module, pictured here being launched

Continue reading the main story

 

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China has announced it will carry out a manned space flight at some point in the middle of June.

A rocket carrying the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft has been moved to a launch pad in the north-west of the country.

According to state news agency Xinhua, it will carry three astronauts - possibly including a woman - to the Taingong 1 space station module.

This will be China's fourth manned space flight and its first since 2008.

It became only the third country to independently send a man into space in 2003.

Stellar plans
 
Last year, China completed a complicated space docking manoeuvre when an unmanned craft docked with the Taingong 1, or "Heavenly Body", by remote control.

The astronauts onboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft will also dock with the Taingong 1 - an experimental module currently orbiting Earth - and carry out scientific experiments on board.

Xinhua reported that Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of China's manned space programme, said the crew "might include female astronauts".

The mission is part of China's programme to develop a full orbiting space station.

Beijing is planning to complete the 60-tonne manned space station by 2020.

China was previously turned away from the International Space Station, a much bigger project run by 16 nations, reportedly after objections from the United States.- BBC

China to Launch 3 Astronauts to Space Lab This Month

by Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor

A Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou 9 rocket rolls out to the launch pad at China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center ahead of a planned June 2012 launch of the country's first manned space docking mission. CREDIT: China Manned Space Engineering Office View full size image

China will launch its first manned mission to an orbiting space laboratory in mid-June, according to state media reports and the country's human spaceflight agency.

A Long March 2F rocket will launch three astronauts aboard a Shenzhou 9 capsule for China's first manned space docking at the mini-space station Tiangong-1. The space lab module has been circling Earth unmanned since its launch last year.

"The Shenzhou 9 will perform our country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong 1 space lab module," the Xinhua news agency quoted Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program, as saying today (June 9).

Zhou's comments came as he accompanied the rocket set to launch the Shenzhou 9 mission to a pad at China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest region.

The mission, Zhou told Xinhua, will be a major milestone for China's space exploration program.

"It means China's spacecraft will become a genuine manned shuttle tool between space and Earth. It can send human beings to space stations or space labs," Zhou told Xinhua. "This will be a significant step in China's manned space flight history."  [Gallery: Tiangong 1, China's First Space Lab]

China's Shenzhou 9 mission will mark the fourth human spaceflight for the country, which has been making steady advances since the launch of Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei in 2003 on Shenzhou 5, the country's first human spaceflight. China is the third country to achieve human spaceflight after Russia and the United States.

Since its first flight, China has launched two more manned missions, the two-man Shenzhou 6 flight and three-person Shenzhou 7 mission. Last September, China launched the Tiangong 1 module — a prototype for a future space station — into orbit. That launch was followed in November by the unmanned Shenzhou 8 mission, which successfully docked a capsule with the space laboratory twice during the test flight.

The Shenzhou 9 mission will mark China's first human spaceflight to an orbiting module. Earlier this year, space program officials said the mission could also mark the first launch of China's first female astronaut, but a final decision on that is pending, Xinhua reported.

This image released by the China Manned Space Engineering Office shows
the Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou 9 capsule that will launch
three astronauts to the Tiangong 1 space lab in June 2012.
CREDIT: China Manned Space Engineering Office

View full size image

A translation of an announcement released online by the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSE), which oversees China's human spaceflight program, stated that preparations of both the rocket and Shenzhou 9 astronaut crew are going smoothly.

A series of spacecraft and rocket tests, as well as final mission training, are underway ahead of the planned spaceflight, CMSE officials said.

China's Shenzhou (or "Divine Vessel") spacecraft are three-module space capsules with a design originally based on Russia's Soyuz space capsules, but the Chinese vehicles carry substantial modifications.

Like the Soyuz, Shenzhou vehicles carry up to three astronauts and consist of a propulsion module, a crew capsule and an orbital module. But unlike Russia's Soyuz, the orbital module of Shenzhou spacecraft carries its own solar arrays and can remain in space after its crew returns to Earth in the crew capsule.

China's Tiangong 1 ("Heavenly Palace 1") space laboratory module, meanwhile, is a prototype space station designed to test the technologies required for a much larger space station complex currently under development. The Tiangong 1 module is 34 feet long (10.4 meters), 11 feet wide (3.35 m) and weighed about 8.5 metric tons.

Chinese space officials have said the country is developing a larger, 60-ton space station that will consist of several modules. That space station is slated to be launched in 2020.

China is currently following a three-step space exploration program that ultimately aims to land an astronaut on the moon. According to a white paper released by the Chinese government in December, the country plans to launch a series of robotic moon landers and a lunar sample-return mission by 2016.

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