Tianhe

Meet the first module of China’s new space station!

Called Tianhe, meaning “harmony of the heavens,” this will be the core element China will use to build a multi-module space station.

Tianhe will house the station’s life support systems and crew living areas and will serve as the primary “brain” of the station for guidance, navigation, control, and propulsion.

It will also provide power for the initial use and operation of the outpost.

The module is based on the Functional Cargo Block station core designed by the Soviet Union/Russia, the same basic kind used on the Mir space station and the International Space Station.

The Tianhe module also carries the critical docking hub that will provide a place to add two more science modules as well as a place to dock the cargo (Tianzhou) and crew (Shenzhou) spacecrafts that will go to and from the station.

Tianhe is 16.6 meters long and 4.2 meters wide. It has a total mass at launch of 22,000 kg.

Picture: Supercluster

Chang Zheng 5 (and 5B)

This is China's heavy lift rocket. Developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the Chang Zheng 5 can take:

• 25,000 kg to Low Earth Orbit
• 14,000 kg to Geostationary Transfer Orbit
• 8,200 kg to the Moon.

The rocket's engineers undertook 20 years of study before the program was approved by the Chinese government in 2007.

It flew for the first time in 2016, but its first two missions were less than perfect. The first flight dropped the payload off in a wrong - but "workable" - orbit. The second launch failed.

After this, the rocket's booster engines were redesigned. The third flight was a success, paving the way for a host of critical missions.

In 2020, the Chang Zheng 5 launched China's Chang'e 5 lunar sample return mission, a new crewed spacecraft, and the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars.

The rocket is also tasked with launching China's multi-module space station, for which it uses the Chang Zheng 5B variant that replaces the second stage with the payload (the station module) being launched instead.

Wenchang is an orbital launch site located in Wenchang, Hainan, China.

It is China's southernmost launch site. Located on an island, rocket stages are delivered via ship.

Construction of the orbital launch pads was approved on September 22, 2007, and the launch site was completed in October 2014, with the first orbital launch taking place on June 25, 2016.

The site has two active launch pads, with a third planned. LC-101 is used to launch the Chang Zheng 5 rocket, while LC-201 is used for the Chang Zheng 7 and Chang Zheng 8 rocket families.

Operations at Wenchang are managed by the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

Image: CMSA

This is the Tiangong Space Station, China's large, in-space construction project that will take two years to complete.

The station will have three modules for a crew of three to live and work and will have three sets of solar arrays for power.

It will be one-fifth the size of the International Space Station when complete and about the same size as the former Mir space station.

Construction began with the launch of the Tianhe module on April 29th, 2021.

A second module, Wentian, is planned to launch in July 2022, followed by the Mengtian module in October 2022.

Tiangong is in a 41-degree orbit, meaning it travels as far North as 41 degrees and as far South as 41 degrees latitude when seen from the ground.

It is designed to operate for at least 10 years.

Picture: China Manned Space Engineering Office