China’sSpace Program Sees New Age of Achievement

China's space industry made several remarkableaccomplishments last year. In the past 12 months, scientists have landed arover on Mars and moved closer to completion of an orbiting laboratory.

The highlights were a massive spacestation, which is now orbiting Earth, and a rover that landed on Mars in ahistoric interplanetary adventure for the nation.

The country embarked on its ambitious spacestation program in late April－after decades of preparations and about three years of delays causedby rocket malfunctions. The aim was to complete an engineering marvel beforethe end of the year.

On April 29, the first, and central,component of the Tiangong space station－the Tianhe core module－lifted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan provinceatop a Long March 5B heavy-lift carrier rocket.

The biggest and heaviest spacecraft Chinahas ever constructed, Tianhe is 16.6 meters long and 4.2 meters in diameter. At22.5 metric tons, the craft equals the combined weight of 15 standard-sizedautomobiles. It has three parts: a connecting section; a life-support andcontrol section; and a resources section.

The module is Tiangong's most importantelement, given that astronauts will live there for long periods and control theentire station from inside. It is also the station's main platform forscientific experiments and technological tests.

When completed, by the end of this year,Tiangong will consist of three main components－a core module attached to two space labs－with a total weight of nearly 70tons.

The station will operate for about 15 yearsin a low-Earth orbit, about 400 kilometers above the planet.

Yang Hong, the module's chief designer atthe China Academy of Space Technology, said Tianhe is designed to accommodatelong-term visits and support spacewalks, which will be essential for assemblyof the station, assessments of its external integrity and repair of brokenparts.

The astronauts' living and working space isabout 50 cubic meters, much larger than that of previous Chinese mannedspacecraft. Once the space station is completed, the occupants will have asmuch as 110 cu m of usable space, Yang said.

By comparison, the usable space in a crewedspaceship in the Shenzhou series is about 7 cu m.

Zhang Hao, a senior designer at the academywho took part in the module's development, said that compared with previousChinese manned spaceships, the module features better living conditions.

"There are separate quarters forworking, sleeping, personal hygiene, dining, healthcare and physicalexercise," he said.

"Each astronaut has their own bed andthey share a dedicated washroom, the first to feature on a Chinese spacecraft.We installed many appliances to make the stay easier, such as an airconditioner, microwave oven, refrigerator and water dispenser, as well as atreadmill."

Each astronaut has a specially designedsmartphone capable of not only making calls between the crew and people on theground, but also of remotely controlling the capsule's internal equipment, headded.

First occupants

In mid-June, the Shenzhou XII spacecraft,carrying a three-strong crew－Major General Nie Haisheng, Major General Liu Boming and SeniorColonel Tang Hongbo－was launched by a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan SatelliteLaunch Center in the Gobi Desert in Northwest China.

The craft docked with Tianhe just hoursafter reaching the module's orbit and the crew quickly entered the facility,becoming the first occupants of the Tiangong space station.

During the crew's 90-day stay, theyverified plans and equipment designed for long-term spaceflight, performed anumber of scientific experiments and technological tests, and made twospacewalks to use a large robotic arm and other apparatus to install and adjustequipment outside the station.

They also made video calls with PresidentXi Jinping and hundreds of researchers, teachers and students in Hong Kong.

The Shenzhou XII crew finished their 92-daymission in mid-September and then returned to Earth.

Tiangong is now occupied by the crew ofShenzhou XIII－Major GeneralZhai Zhigang, Senior Colonel Wang Yaping and Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu－who arrived at the station inmid-October and are scheduled to stay there for six months.

In their first spacewalk in November, Wangbecame China's first female spacewalker. The 41-year-old performed extravehicularoperations that lasted six and a half hours along with mission commander Zhai.

Last month, the astronauts gave aspace-based science lecture to tens of millions of primary and middle schoolstudents nationwide. They also made their second spacewalk.

According to the schedule of the ChinaManned Space Agency, the crew will finish their tenure around mid-April andthen return to Earth.

To continue construction of the Tiangongstation, two large space labs will be launched this year to connect with themodule. Moreover, the Shenzhou XIV and XV manned missions and two robotic cargoflights will also be undertaken and will dock with Tianhe, carrying astronautsfor shifts and ferrying supplies and mission payloads.

Following the Shenzhou XIII mission,Tiangong will be manned regularly by three-strong groups of astronauts insix-month shifts.

During handovers to new groups, the stationwill accommodate as many as six astronauts.

Hao Chun, director of the China MannedSpace Agency, said his team's goal is to ensure that the best use will be madeof the station to advance space science, technology and applications.

Scientists are using the facility's uniqueenvironment to conduct breeding experiments, produce special medicines andcreate new materials, thus generating scientific, technological and economicbenefits, he added.

He also said that China is open tocooperation with foreign nations in the space station project, adding thatafter the Tiangong station starts formal operations, there will be more than 20cabinets onboard reserved for international-standard scientific instruments.

Moreover, Hao said foreign astronauts willdefinitely work on the station.

Martian journey

After deploying a robot on the far side ofthe moon and bringing fresh lunar soil back to Earth, China achieved its newestfeat in deep-space exploration by placing a rover on Mars.

On May 15, Zhurong, named after a Chinesegod of fire, was released from the Tianwen 1 robotic probe and pierced theMartian atmosphere in an extremely risky landing procedure.

It quickly touched down safely on thesouthern part of Utopia Planitia, a large plain on the Red Planet.

On May 22, Zhurong left its landingplatform and traveled on the Martian soil, becoming the sixth rover on Mars,following five predecessors from the United States.

The 1.85-meter-high, 240-kilogram rover hasnow worked on the Martian surface for more than seven months－far outliving its three-month lifeexpectancy.

It has traveled more than 1.4 km andtransmitted a number of video clips and photos taken en route for itsdestination, an ancient coastal area on Utopia Planitia.

Tianwen 1, the nation's first interplanetaryexploration endeavor, was launched on July 23, 2020, from the Wenchang launchcenter.

It was the world's 46th Mars explorationmission since October 1960, when the former Soviet Union launched the firstMars-bound, albeit unsuccessful, spacecraft.

The Chinese craft consisted of two majorcomponents－the Zhurongrover and an orbiter. It traveled more than 470 million km and carried outseveral maneuvers before entering Martian orbit on Feb 10 last year.

Before releasing Zhurong for its landing,the Tianwen 1 probe circled Mars for more than three months, mainly to collectinformation about the rover's planned landing site for ground controllers toanalyze and make decisions.

There are three operational rovers on theRed Planet－Curiosity andPerseverance of the US and China's Zhurong.

In the Martian skies, the Tianwen 1 orbiteris traveling in an orbit to conduct remote-sensing and signal-relay operations.

The mission has obtained nearly 540gigabytes of data and transmitted them back to Earth, according to missioncontrollers at the China National Space Administration.

They added that the rover and orbiter haveplentiful energy resources and are in good condition.

Aiming at the sun

Following the moon and Mars, China has setits exploratory sights on the sun, the core of our solar system.

In mid-October, the country launched itsfirst solar observation satellite, aiming to deepen scientists' knowledge ofthe star.

The 508-kg Chinese H-Alpha Solar Explorersatellite was launched by a Long March 2D rocket from the Taiyuan SatelliteLaunch Center in Shanxi province, before entering a sun-synchronous orbit,about 517 km above Earth.

The mission is expected to providescientists with the first high-quality observation data of the source area of asolar eruption and will improve China's research capability in solar physics,according to program officials at the administration.

Wang Wei, the satellite's project manager,said it is China's first space-based solar telescope and is designed to workfor at least three years.

"Scientifically speaking, the H-alphaimaging spectrograph on the satellite is able to observe and record changes inthe sun's physical elements, such as temperature and speed, facilitatingscientists' studies of dynamics and physics during a solar eruption," hesaid.

Zhao Jian, a senior official in charge ofthe satellite program, said it is important to study the sun because solaractivities have many effects on life on Earth.

Studying the sun also allows scientists todeepen their research on the origins and evolution of celestial magneticfields, the acceleration and distribution of energetic particles and otherphysical phenomena, he said.