Quote from: Star One on 09/25/2013 07:09 AMQuote from: Phillip Clark on 09/24/2013 11:12 AMQuote from: Star One on 09/24/2013 11:01 AMI am mildly surprised that they don't go with two docking ports on their second station. I know this transition took a while with Salyut but then something like two docking ports had never been done before.I would guess that the design changes required to have a second docking port - at the rear? - on Tiangong 2 are too great for a one-off mission. The second docking port was introduced with the second generation Soviet Salyuts so it was not for a one-off station design: Salyuts 6, 7, the Mir core and the second generation Almaz stations. So, a single docking port for Tiangong 2 makes perfect sense.Is this station only to have a very limited life then, is there much at all design wise that is different from the first I wonder?Unless the facilities were incorporated into Tiangong 1 but never intended for use, Tiangong 2 would need to have a propellant transfer system. Also, it is clearly intended to host crews for longer than two weeks. So, I would expect Tiangong 2 to be an "uprated Tiangong 1" rather than something radically new.
Quote from: Phillip Clark on 09/24/2013 11:12 AMQuote from: Star One on 09/24/2013 11:01 AMI am mildly surprised that they don't go with two docking ports on their second station. I know this transition took a while with Salyut but then something like two docking ports had never been done before.I would guess that the design changes required to have a second docking port - at the rear? - on Tiangong 2 are too great for a one-off mission. The second docking port was introduced with the second generation Soviet Salyuts so it was not for a one-off station design: Salyuts 6, 7, the Mir core and the second generation Almaz stations. So, a single docking port for Tiangong 2 makes perfect sense.Is this station only to have a very limited life then, is there much at all design wise that is different from the first I wonder?
Quote from: Star One on 09/24/2013 11:01 AMI am mildly surprised that they don't go with two docking ports on their second station. I know this transition took a while with Salyut but then something like two docking ports had never been done before.I would guess that the design changes required to have a second docking port - at the rear? - on Tiangong 2 are too great for a one-off mission. The second docking port was introduced with the second generation Soviet Salyuts so it was not for a one-off station design: Salyuts 6, 7, the Mir core and the second generation Almaz stations. So, a single docking port for Tiangong 2 makes perfect sense.
I am mildly surprised that they don't go with two docking ports on their second station. I know this transition took a while with Salyut but then something like two docking ports had never been done before.
Quote from: Phillip Clark on 09/25/2013 08:01 AMQuote from: Star One on 09/25/2013 07:09 AMQuote from: Phillip Clark on 09/24/2013 11:12 AMQuote from: Star One on 09/24/2013 11:01 AMI am mildly surprised that they don't go with two docking ports on their second station. I know this transition took a while with Salyut but then something like two docking ports had never been done before.I would guess that the design changes required to have a second docking port - at the rear? - on Tiangong 2 are too great for a one-off mission. The second docking port was introduced with the second generation Soviet Salyuts so it was not for a one-off station design: Salyuts 6, 7, the Mir core and the second generation Almaz stations. So, a single docking port for Tiangong 2 makes perfect sense.Is this station only to have a very limited life then, is there much at all design wise that is different from the first I wonder?Unless the facilities were incorporated into Tiangong 1 but never intended for use, Tiangong 2 would need to have a propellant transfer system. Also, it is clearly intended to host crews for longer than two weeks. So, I would expect Tiangong 2 to be an "uprated Tiangong 1" rather than something radically new.Would it be fair then to draw a parallel with the evolution of the Salyut stations where they reused the same design initially but with improvements?
Quote from: Star One on 09/26/2013 01:29 PMQuote from: Phillip Clark on 09/25/2013 08:01 AMQuote from: Star One on 09/25/2013 07:09 AMQuote from: Phillip Clark on 09/24/2013 11:12 AMQuote from: Star One on 09/24/2013 11:01 AMI am mildly surprised that they don't go with two docking ports on their second station. I know this transition took a while with Salyut but then something like two docking ports had never been done before.I would guess that the design changes required to have a second docking port - at the rear? - on Tiangong 2 are too great for a one-off mission. The second docking port was introduced with the second generation Soviet Salyuts so it was not for a one-off station design: Salyuts 6, 7, the Mir core and the second generation Almaz stations. So, a single docking port for Tiangong 2 makes perfect sense.Is this station only to have a very limited life then, is there much at all design wise that is different from the first I wonder?Unless the facilities were incorporated into Tiangong 1 but never intended for use, Tiangong 2 would need to have a propellant transfer system. Also, it is clearly intended to host crews for longer than two weeks. So, I would expect Tiangong 2 to be an "uprated Tiangong 1" rather than something radically new.Would it be fair then to draw a parallel with the evolution of the Salyut stations where they reused the same design initially but with improvements?Yes, although the Tiangong design will not be used as a space lab beyond Tiangong 2: after that the design will be used for the cargo freighters which will fly to the larger station(s).
This photos - dating back around ten years - shows the two modules which comprise Tiangong. There appears to be a connecting hatch between them. This has always puzzled me.
There were also models showing docking at each end of TG, though never both at the same time.
Quote from: Phillip Clark on 09/26/2013 06:55 PMThis photos - dating back around ten years - shows the two modules which comprise Tiangong. There appears to be a connecting hatch between them. This has always puzzled me.There were also models showing docking at each end of TG, though never both at the same time.
China's first astronaut Yang Liwei has revealed that China will launch the Tiangong-2 space lab in 2016 and will finish building a space station around 2022.
QuoteChina's first astronaut Yang Liwei has revealed that China will launch the Tiangong-2 space lab in 2016 and will finish building a space station around 2022.http://english.cri.cn/12394/2014/09/10/189s843637.htm
Please update the thread title to "TG-2 Tiangong-2 - 2016", thanks!
Quote from: beidou on 09/10/2014 09:21 PMPlease update the thread title to "TG-2 Tiangong-2 - 2016", thanks!I införmed the mods via the Report to Moderator link.