Tiangong - Chinese Space Station

[ddspaceman]

https://twitter.com/TiangongStation/status/1522788531533348865

[Conexion Espacial]

May 09 17:56:30 UTC - launch of Tianzhou 4 on CZ-7
May 10 01:47:37 UTC - docking of Tianzhou 4 with aft port of Tianhe

May 10 - launch of Tianzhou 4 on CZ-7
May 11 (NET) - docking of Tianzhou 4 with aft port of Tianhe

[Rondaz]

Expert from China: It will be difficult for Russia to make launches at Tiangong.

Yang Yuguang: It will be difficult for Russia to launch to the Tiangong space station.

17:10 10.05.2022

BEIJING, May 10 - RIA Novosti. In the future, other countries will be able to send spacecraft to China's Tiangong Orbital Space Station, but Russia will face difficulties in launching ships due to the geographical location of the spaceports, said Vice Chairman of the International Astronautical Federation's Space Transportation Committee, professor at the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) Yang Yuguang.

According to him, in the future it may be possible to launch spacecraft to the Chinese orbital space station from other countries.

“Speaking of Russia , there is one factor that we must take into account. The territory of Russia is located at very high latitudes, and for docking with the Chinese space station, we have a basic requirement: the latitude at which the launch pad is located must be no higher than 42 degrees, this is the difficulty that Russia will face," Yang Yuguang said on Chinese TV channel CGTN on Tuesday.

At the same time, Yang Yuguang noted that the United States , Japan , as well as the EU countries that operate the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana , will not face such difficulties.

China's Tianzhou-4 spacecraft successfully docked at the Tiangong station on Tuesday. The truck delivered fuel, equipment, consumables and other cargo into orbit for the Shenzhou-14 crew of three, who will go to the Tiangong station in June this year and spend about six months there.

The construction of the Chinese multi-module orbital station Tiangong officially began on April 29, 2021, when the main module Tianhe was successfully launched into orbit. The construction of the station is expected to be completed this year. Three cosmonauts can be on the station at the same time, or six people during a crew change.

It is planned that the Wentian laboratory module and the Mengtian research module will dock to the station this year. In addition, in 2025, the autonomous astrophysical module "Xuntian" should be launched, which will periodically dock with the station for maintenance.

The main module of the station with a length of 16.6 meters and a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters was named "Tianhe", at the moment it is the largest spacecraft built in China . The control and management center and the main living space for the crew (about 50 cubic meters) are located here, and some scientific and technological experiments will also be carried out here.

In addition to the main module, living space is also provided in the experimental ones, so its total area will be about 110 cubic meters. The main module is equipped with two docking stations for experimental compartments, as well as three docking ports for docking manned and cargo ships.

https://ria.ru/20220510/kosmos-1787771971.html

[Steven Pietrobon]

Its a lot of work, but an option for Russia is to get Soyuz-5 launching Oryol from the old Zenit sea launch pad.

[starbase]

Completed CSS operation milestones:

2021
Apr. 29 at 3:23 UTC - launch of Tianhe on CZ-5B
May 29 at 12:55 UTC - launch of Tianzhou 2 on CZ-7
May 29 at 21:01 UTC - docking of Tianzhou 2 with aft port of Tianhe (+propellant transfer)
June 17 at 1:22 UTC - launch of Shenzhou 12 [Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo] on CZ-2F/G
June 17 at 7:54 UTC - docking of Shenzhou 12 [Nie, Liu, Tang] with forward port of Tianhe
July 4 at 0:11–6:57 UTC - spacewalk (EVA-1) from Tianhe airlock (test of new space suits, installation of foot restraints, work platform and exterior panoramic camera, emergency return to airlock training) [Liu, Tang]
Aug. 20 at 0:38–6:33 UTC spacewalk (EVA-2) from Tianhe airlock (installation of external pump assembly, panoramic camera activation, foot restraints & extravehicular working platform installation on the robotic arm) [Nie, Liu]
Sep. 16 at 0:56 UTC - undocking of Shenzhou 12 from forward port of Tianhe (+rendezvous test at nadir port) [Nie, Liu, Tang]
Sep. 17 at 4:45–4:48–5:34 UTC - jettison of OM & deorbit burn & landing of Shenzhou 12 [Nie, Liu, Tang]
Sep. 18 at 2:25~6:25 UTC - undocking of Tianzhou 2 from aft port of Tianhe and docking with forward port of Tianhe (+propellant transfer testing)
Sep. 20 at 7:10 UTC - launch of Tianzhou 3 on CZ-7
Sep. 20 at 14:08 UTC - docking of Tianzhou 3 with aft port of Tianhe
Oct. 15 at 16:23 UTC - launch of Shenzhou 13 on CZ-2F/G [Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, Ye Guangfu]
Oct. 15 at 22:56 UTC - docking of Shenzhou 13 with nadir port of Tianhe [Zhai, Wang, Ye]
Nov. 7 at 10:51–17:16 UTC spacewalk (EVA-3) from Tianhe airlock (testing of new spacesuit, installation of robotic arm adapter/end effector) [Zhai, Wang]
Dec. 26  at 10:44–16:55 UTC spacewalk (EVA-4) from Tianhe airlock (deployment of external camera platform C, object translation movement testing) [Zhai, Ye]

2022
Jan. 5 at 22:12–22:59 UTC - robotic arm relocation testing of Tianzhou 2 (near port side port)
Jan. 7 at 21:56–23:55 UTC - undocking & docking of Tianzhou 2 at forward port of Tianhe (manual docking test)
Mar. 27 at 7:59 UTC - undocking of Tianzhou 2 from forward port of Tianhe for EOM
Mar. 31 at 10:40 UTC - reentry of Tianzhou 2 over the South Pacific
Apr. 14 at 16:44 UTC - undocking of Shenzhou 13 from nadir port of Tianhe [Zhai, Wang, Ye]
Apr. 16 at 1:07–1:09~1:31–1:56 UTC - jettison of OM & deorbit burn & jettison of PM & landing of Shenzhou 13 [Zhai, Wang, Ye]
Apr. 19 at 21:02–01:06 UTC - undocking of Tianzhou 3 from aft port & docking at forward port of Tianhe
May 10 at 17:56 UTC - launch of Tianzhou 4 on CZ-7
May 11 at 0:47 UTC - docking of Tianzhou 4 with aft port of Tianhe
June 5 at 2:44 UTC - launch of Shenzhou 14 on CZ-2F/G [Chen Dong, Liu Yang, Cai Xuzhe]
June 5 at 9:42 UTC - docking of Shenzhou 14 with nadir port of Tianhe [Chen, Liu, Cai]
July 17 at 2:59 UTC - undocking of Tianzhou 3 from forward port of Tianhe for EOM
July 24 at 6:22 UTC - launch of Wentian on CZ-5B
July 24 at 19:08–19:13 UTC - (soft/hard) docking of Wentian at forward port of Tianhe
July 27 at 3:31 UTC - reentry of Tianzhou 3 over the South Pacific

Guesstimated current timeline of upcoming CSS operations:

September (NET) - robotic relocation of Wentian from forward to starboard on Tianhe
October - launch of Mengtian on CZ-5B
October - docking of Mengtian at forward port of Tianhe
October? - robotic relocation of Mengtian from forward to port on Tianhe
Late October (NET) - undocking of Tianzhou 4 from aft port of Tianhe for EOM & reentry
November - launch of Tianzhou 5 on CZ-7
November - docking of Tianzhou 5 with aft port of Tianhe
November/December - launch of Shenzhou 15 on CZ-2F/G
November/December - docking of Shenzhou 15 with forward port of Tianhe
December - undocking from nadir port & landing of Shenzhou 14 [Chen, Liu, Cai]
April? (NET) - undocking of Tianzhou 5 from aft port of Tianhe for EOM & reentry

Corrections & input welcome!

Edit May 11
Edit June 4
Edit June 6
Edit July 12
Edit July 17
Edit July 24
Edit July 29

[Rondaz]

An illustration of the China Space Station core module robotic arm with the laboratory module arm connected at the end.

https://twitter.com/CNSpaceflight/status/1543492387950931969

[Rondaz]

I made this one combining Chinese CGI.

https://twitter.com/ShuttleAlmanac/status/1543499354358824961

[Rondaz]

Tianzhou-3 deorbit burns will happen after the launch and docking of Wentian Laboratory Module, so it will fly with Tianhe Core Module for at least one more week, not just few days. What jobs will the cargo spacecraft do during this period? Can it assist Wentian docking?

https://twitter.com/CNSpaceflight/status/1548733661285036033

[Rondaz]

According to a post by CASC, the relocation of Wentian Lab Module from the forward to starboard port will happen ~1 month before the launch of Menttian. Wentian measures 17.9m in length, 4.2m in width. 50m^3 pressurized volume hosting 8 research racks, among which 4 belong to CAS..

1 probably to ACC, and the remaining 3 are probably empty shelves to host customer payloads.

https://twitter.com/CNSpaceflight/status/1550713355974742016

[Lsquirrel]

Latest News of WenTian Lab：

[eeergo]

The newly-installed CO2-reduction ECLSS (basically a Sabatier reactor) has produced 22L of water in about a month's worth of operations:

https://mobile.twitter.com/SegerYu/status/1550665365046595584

[Lsquirrel]

Latest News of WenTian Lab：

Officical video from Xinhuanet：
http://www.news.cn/tech/2022-07/23/c_1128858014.htm

I have uploaded it to youtube:

[Rondaz]

Here comes my interview with Mr. ADOLFO UBIDIA INCIO,Director of Peruvian Chapter, The Mars Society. We'll talk about topics including the international scientific #experiments aboard China’s space station (#CSS).

https://twitter.com/wulei2020/status/1550775773044174849

[Rondaz]

A post by ChinaDaily & Our Space, cited @TricLarose's tweet of conducting #TumorsInSpace research in #Tiangong, adding "Dr Larose is currently taking training as a payload specialist. She's expected to board the China Space Station in 2025-2026". It seems an official recognition..

https://twitter.com/CNSpaceflight/status/1552113208462217217

[Rondaz]

Dr. Larose, the future astronaut, in spacesuit..

https://twitter.com/CNSpaceflight/status/1552168436070895617

[Rondaz]

Watch an interesting video: CSS Intelligent Induced Maintenance System. The video simulates the astronaut wearing AR glasses, and according to voice, animation and text guidance, initializes and unlocks the "mobile maintenance platform" of the Mengtian experimental cabin "online maintenance and adjustment operation cabinet MMW". *This MMW cabinet is in Mengtian, not Wentian's scientific glove box and cryogenic storage cabinet GCSR. These two cabinets look a bit similar, don't mix them up.

Mobile maintenance platform - expand the operating area, support large-load on-orbit maintenance operations, and carry out popular science education activities... MMW is a cabinet used to repair experimental cabinets. Astronauts cannot fully understand the maintenance of each hardware of the space station, so CAS/ CSU designed this intelligent induced maintenance system to help astronauts do their jobs easily. In the future, the system will also add a real-time expert system.

What should we call this in English?

Maintenance & Malfunction Workstation?
Mobile Maintenance Workstation?

https://twitter.com/SegerYu/status/1552753969034043392

[Rondaz]

CSS may be approached to within 9.155km (5.08 vertical) by Starlink #52640 on 2022-07-30T04:53:14.054Z.   7/29/2022

https://twitter.com/starlink_map/status/1553083155485118464

[Rondaz]

CSS may be approached to within 9.018km (7.23 vertical) by Starlink #52643 on 2022-07-30T14:05:56.584Z.  7/30/2022

https://twitter.com/starlink_map/status/1553269381357965312

[Rondaz]

good morning. This morning is #CSS #Tiangong in Nagoya (Chinese space station #TIANGONG ). It grew and became smaller for a while, but before dawn on the 25th, the new experimental building module #Qianten docked and became like a space station at once.

https://twitter.com/sorauta_jp/status/1553109242521198592

[alang]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62333546
"Designing objects to disintegrate upon atmospheric re-entry is becoming a priority for satellite operators. It's done partly by using materials which have low-melting point temperatures, such as aluminium.

In the case of rockets, this can be expensive, as historically the materials used for housing fuel, such as titanium, require very high temperatures to burn up. The sheer size of such objects is also an issue, especially in the case of the Long March 5, weighing over 25 tonnes."

Expensive?