China’s Tiangong Space Station | 11 Jun 2022

Why in News?

Recently, China’s strategically significant space station project entered the final phase as three astronauts entered the orbiting module of the Tiangong Space Station.

• They were launched into the designated orbit by the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft.
  • Shenzhou-1 to 4 space flights were unmanned spaceflight missions.
  • Shenzhou-5 to 14 spaceflights are manned spaceflight missions.
• A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting crew members, designed to remain in space for an extended period of time and for other spacecraft to dock.

What is the Tiangong Space Station?

• The Tiangong space station is a Chinese space station being built in low Earth orbit between 340 and 450 kilometers above the earth.
  • It is part of China Manned Space Program and is the country's first long-term space station.
• China is going to operationalize its new Tiangong multi-module space station for at least ten years.
• China launched an unmanned module named "Tianhe", or "Harmony of the Heavens" for its permanent space station in 2021 that it plans to complete by the end of 2022.
• Tianhe core module is the first module to launch the Tiangong space station module.

What is the China Manned Space Programme?

• The Chinese government decided to launch a human space programme using a "three-step" method in 1992 which is known as the China Manned Space Program.
  • The 1^st step: To launch manned spaceships to master basic human space technologies.
  • The 2^nd step: To launch Space Labs to make technological breakthrough in R&D, and accommodation of long-term man-tended utilization on a modest scale
  • The 3^rd step: To construct China’s Space Station to accommodate long-term man-tended utilization on a large scale
• It is managed by the China Manned Space Agency.

What is the Importance of this Launch for China?

• China is only the third country in history to have put both astronauts into space and to build a space station, after the Russia and the US.
• The China Space Station (CSS) is also expected to be a competitor to the International Space Stations.
  • The International Space Station (ISS) Is a collaborative project of several countries.
  • The ISS is the most complex international scientific and engineering project in history and the largest structure humans have ever put into space.

What are India's Space Station Programmes?

• About:
  • India is planning to launch its own space station by 2030, joining the league of US, Russia, and China to an elite space club.
  • The Indian space station will be much smaller (mass of 20 tonnes) than the International Space Station and will be used for carrying out microgravity experiments (not for space tourism).
  • Preliminary plan for the space station is to accommodate astronauts for up to 20 days in space, and the project will be an extension of the Gaganyaan mission.
  • It will orbit Earth at an altitude of around 400 km.
  • ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) is working on a space docking experiment (Spandex), a technology that is crucial for making the space station functional.
    • Space docking is a technology that allows transferring humans from one spacecraft to another.
• Significance:
  • Space stations are essential for collecting meaningful scientific data, especially for biological experiments.
  • Provide platforms for greater number and length of scientific studies than available on other space vehicles. (as Gaganyaan will take humans and experiments in microgravity for a few days only).
  • Space stations are used to study the effects of long-term space flight on the human body.

Source: TH