Tiangong - Chinese Space Station

[SciNews]

"The electric propulsion has a specific impulse of 1,600 seconds or even higher"

“天宫”核心舱配置了4台霍尔电推进发动机，这是人类载人航天器上首次使用电推进。

"The "Tiangong" core module is equipped with 4 Hall electric propulsion engines. This is the first time that electric propulsion has been used on a manned spacecraft."
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2021/06-21/9503717.shtml

[eeergo]

The station is no longer so neat and pristine, once work started... and now certainly started looking more like an ISS module

https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1407599501368606720

[eeergo]

Apparently the first EVA is planned for... early July! (July 2nd, apparently)

https://twitter.com/Kaynouky/status/1407546219728154626

[newfrontiers]

eat 

[starbase]

Completed CSS operation milestones:

April 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 [Haisheng, Boming, Hongbo] 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) [Boming, Hongbo]

Guesstimated current timeline of upcoming CSS operations:

August 18 (NET) - spacewalk (EVA-2) from Tianhe airlock
late August (NET) - undocking of Tianzhou 2 from aft port of Tianhe for rendezvous testing
September (NET) - undocking from forward port & landing of Shenzhou 12 [Haisheng, Boming, Hongbo]
September (NET) - docking of Tianzhou 2 with forward port of Tianhe (+propellant transfer testing)
mid-September (NET) - launch of Tianzhou 3 on CZ-7
mid-September (NET) - docking of Tianzhou 3 with aft port of Tianhe
October (NET) - launch of Shenzhou 13 on CZ-2F/G
October (NET) - docking of Shenzhou 13 with nadir port of Tianhe
October (NET) - robotic arm relocation testing of Tianzhou 2 (to side port)
October (NET) - undocking of Tianzhou 2 from forward (side?) port of Tianhe for EOM & reentry
March (NET) - undocking from nadir port & landing of Shenzhou 13
March (NET) - undocking of Tianzhou 3 from aft port & docking at forward port of Tianhe
March/April (NET) - launch of Tianzhou 4 on CZ-7
March/April (NET) - docking of Tianzhou 4 with aft port of Tianhe
May (NET) - launch of Shenzhou 14 on CZ-2F/G
May (NET) - docking of Shenzhou 14 with nadir port of Tianhe
May (NET) - undocking of Tianzhou 3 from forward port of Tianhe for EOM & reentry
May/June (NET) - launch of Wentian on CZ-5B
May/June (NET) - docking of Wentian at forward port of Tianhe

After this it gets a bit murky as Tianzhou 5 operations appear to overlap with Tianzhou 4 but there seems to be no free docking port. Maybe TZ-4 will undock before TZ-5 arrives as it was scheduled (according to Twitter) to fly later, in Oct. 2022.

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

Corrections & input welcome!

Edit June 25
Edit July 2
Edit July 4
Edit Aug. 16
Edit Aug. 17

[SciNews]

May 29 at 21:01 UTC - docking of Tianzhou 2 with aft port of Tianhe
September (NET) - docking of Tianzhou 2 with forward port of Tianhe for propellant transfer testing

Some propellant transfer occurred before the launch of Shenzhou-12.
"Combined with Tianhe, Tianzhou-2 will replenish Tianhe's propellant and help test equipment for space application projects."
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-05/30/c_139978564.htm
Previously: "The in-orbit refueling, under control of technicians on Earth, takes about five days, as the propellant is transmitted from the cargo spacecraft to the space lab."
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-04/27/c_136241294.htm

[DreamyPickle]

Do we know why China is not aiming for continuous habitation? Could they switch to continuous habitation later?

One possibility is that they are constrained by docking ports.

[jketch]

My understanding is that they plan to move to continuous habitation in late 2022 with a direct handover from Shenzhou 14 to Shenzhou 15.

[shijiav]

Do we know why China is not aiming for continuous habitation? Could they switch to continuous habitation later?

One possibility is that they are constrained by docking ports.

read their flight plan, continuous habitation start from shenzhou-15

[eeergo]

https://twitter.com/tzukran/status/1410642638848598019

[catdlr]

The robotic arm on the China Space Station

[eeergo]

Exercise routines:

https://twitter.com/conexionspacial/status/1411753801984454660

[eeergo]

Robot arm crawling (from one "PDGF" to another, releasing the first one) successfully completed:

https://twitter.com/Nameles94657090/status/1413349914696773633

[newfrontiers]

4K

[newfrontiers]

Tianhe

[ddspaceman]

Why is this thread so quiet?   Is there somewhere else to get updates?

China Space Crew: One Month on Orbit


By Leonard David
July 18th, 2021

Three Chinese astronauts, Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, have worked and lived in the space station core module for a month since the Shenzhou-12 piloted spacecraft was launched into space.

The astronauts have been in good condition after completing their first extravehicular operations, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). A second spacewalk is scheduled to take place.

China’s space station is operating smoothly, with the trio of Taikonauts busily carrying out various duties, such as collection of trace elements in the air and performing routine medical examinations.

Exercise regime

According to China Central Television (CCTV), telecommunication facilities on board the core module enable the crew to watch the Xinwen Lianbo (News Simulcast), a domestic news program. Since they are stationed in the core module, the ground support team has been regularly sending them news programs, to keep them up to date on what is occurring on Earth.

They exercise for about an hour after watching the news, using sports facilities in the core module, such as an exercise bike and a treadmill.

“Their physical fatigue, sleep, eating and drinking water, the whole body metabolism, nutrition, health status, through our comprehensive evaluation, are very good,” Xu Chong, director of the medical supervision and insurance department of China Astronaut Research and Training Center told CCTV.

According to the ground supporting team, the astronauts’ exercise amount and intensity were decided in terms of their own physical conditions. Each of them has their own exercise plan.

“It’s a daily routine for the astronauts to do exercise. We have formulated different exercise plans for each of the three astronauts, with a training intensity reaching 60 to 80 percent of their maximum capacity. That’s a medium to high intensity for them. As they stay longer in space, we have to increase the intensity of their exercise plans, so that they are able to maintain the physiological effects against weightlessness,” said Li Yinghui, the deputy chief designer of the astronaut system with China Astronaut Research and Training Center.

Space experiments

Starting Saturday, the space travelers put on heart rate and rhythm recording devices as part of experiments in space medicine. For the first time ever, China’s space station used a scientific research cabinet that is capable of conducting space medicine and space life science experiments, setting a total of 49 space experiment projects.

During the Shenzhou 12 mission in space, the astronauts will complete 14 of them.

“We set three aims for these 14 experimental projects. The first one is that the mission needs the technologies that are able to support advanced development, so the projects were set for making technical reserves to support the mission,” said Li.

“The second one is to set sights on the leading edge, so as to obtain new discoveries and new explorations. The third one is to continuously accumulate long-term flight data,” Li told CCTV.

https://www.leonarddavid.com/china-space-crew-one-month-on-orbit/

[SciNews]

China Manned Space - The orbital parameters of the core module assembly:
July 22, 2021, 08:00:00 a.m (UTC/GMT+08:00)
Apogee Altitude: 394.9 km
Perigee Altitude: 384 km
Inclination: 41.581°
Altitude: 389.47 km
Velocity: 7.68 km/s
http://en.cmse.gov.cn/news/202107/t20210722_48418.html

[SciNews]

Nature News - China’s space station is preparing to host 1,000 scientific experiments
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02018-3

Scientists in China told Nature that the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has tentatively approved more than 1,000 experiments, several of which have already been launched.

[ddspaceman]

https://twitter.com/guo_linli/status/1421981290887143424

[ddspaceman]

https://twitter.com/CNSAWatcher/status/1422106229678161920