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China is exploring the possibility of building the world’s largest orbital station. The state wants to build an analogue of the ISS, but only ten times larger
First Chinese in space in five years
In June 2021, China launched the Shenzhou-12 ship into space with three taikonauts (as the Chinese call astronauts) on board – Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo. It was the country’s first manned mission since 2016. The task of the team, in addition to the usual research work for astronauts in orbit, included the construction of the Chinese Tiangong Modular Orbital Station (KMKS) – the third in the world after the Soviet-Russian Mir and the ISS, but smaller in size.
The crew spent three months in the first, base compartment of the KISS station – Tianhe. They were preparing Tiangong to connect new modules. In July 2021, Bomin and Hongbo became the first taikonauts in 13 years to go into outer space. In September of the same year, they returned safely to Earth.
After the first successful mission, the taikonauts flew into space again – in October 2021, these were Ye Guangfu, Wang Yaping and Zhai Zhigang. The last two went into open space in November. They managed to prepare the station for docking another module and set up a robotic arm.
What is known about the station “Tiangong”
The construction of the Chinese orbital station “Tiangong” (“Heavenly Palace”) began in April 2021 – then the first, basic module “Tianhe” was launched. On July 24, 2022, China launched the Wentian science module into orbit, which docked with the base module. The launch of the third Mengtian module is scheduled for October 2022, and the Xuntian telescope flying nearby is scheduled for the end of 2023. The latter, although formally it will become part of the station in the same orbit, will become an autonomous module. When assembled, the station will weigh about 90 tons – for comparison, the ISS weighs 420 tons.
Tiangong is planned to serve for ten years (with the possibility of an extension for another five). However, the station probably won’t be the end point of the Chinese space program.
From an ordinary station to a giant ship city
Tiangong’s successor could be another object in space ten times the size of the ISS. China’s National Natural Science Foundation, under the Ministry of Science and Technology, has prepared a project to build an “ultra-large spacecraft” several kilometers in length, according to the South China Morning Post, state-run Chinese media. They want to build a new Chinese station in the same way as the International one – to assemble it from separate modules. According to the plan, it will allow us to more successfully “explore the mysteries of the Universe” and stay in Earth orbit as long as possible.
All for gravity
Zachary Manchester, an associate professor at the Institute of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, notes that the idea of making a multi-kilometer station has an important goal – such dimensions will allow creating artificial gravity. Prolonged stay in weightlessness negatively affects the health of astronauts – their muscles are seriously weakened, and their bones become less strong.
Artificial gravity has long been considered science fiction. However, now scientists think that it can be achieved, and regularly conduct appropriate experiments. Physicists suggest that it will be easiest to create artificial gravity using centrifugal force. The most accessible option is to build an object resembling a carousel. The multi-kilometer Chinese station, “twisted into a ring”, in theory will be able to create artificial gravity inside itself. This will solve many of the already existing problems of astronautics and will allow flying to Mars and beyond without significant health risks.
Former NASA chief technologist Mason Peck believes that creating artificial gravity is possible from the point of view of physics, but there are problems in the field of engineering and finance. The biggest obstacle is the price. Building such a large object in space would require many costly launches. The construction of the ISS with a length of 109 meters cost about $100 billion. The construction of a station several times larger may become unfeasible for one country. At the same time, Peck notes that the price increases due to the mass of objects: “If we are talking about something that is just long, but not heavy, then this is a different story.”
Now Chinese engineers are studying how to reduce the weight of the modules to build a giant station. If they manage to solve the problem, the government will provide an initial $2,3 billion grant for further research.