China prepares to launch first part of new space station

First of 11 missions to build country's first permanent station in orbit is expected to lift off on Thursday

The Long March 5B rocket which is expected to carry the core module of the Tianhe space station into orbit. AFP

China plans to launch the core module for its first permanent space station this week, in the latest big step forward for the country’s space exploration programme.

The Tianhe, or “Heavenly Harmony” module is set to blast into space aboard a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Launch Centre on the southern island of Hainan. The launch could come as early as Thursday night if all goes to plan.

It would be the first of 11 missions to build and supply the space station for a three-person crew.

Another 10 launches will send up two more modules; four cargo supply shipments and four missions with crews.

At least 12 astronauts are training to fly to and live on the station, including veterans of previous flights, newcomers and women.

When completed in late 2022, Tianhe is expected to weigh about 66 tonnes, a fraction the size of the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and will weigh about 450 tonnes when completed.

Tianhe will have a docking port and will also be able to connect with a powerful Chinese space satellite. Theoretically, it could be expanded with more modules.

Tianhe’s main module will initially be about the size of the American Skylab space station of the 1970s and the former Soviet Mir station, which operated for more than 14 years after launching in 1986.

China has launched two experimental modules over the past decade in preparation for a permanent station. One, Tiangong-1, which means “Heavenly Palace-1” was abandoned and burnt up during an uncontrolled loss of orbit. Its successor, Tiangong-2, was successfully taken out of orbit in 2018.

China began preparations for a space station in the early 1990s as its space programme gained momentum. It was excluded from the ISS largely due to US objections over the Chinese programme’s secretive nature and close military ties.

After years of successful rocket and commercial satellite launches, China put its first astronaut into space in October 2003. It was only the third country to independently do so after the former Soviet Union and the US.

Since that Shenzhou 5 mission, China has sent other astronauts into orbit, placed crews on the original Tiangong station and conducted a spacewalk.

It also has increased co-operation with space experts from other countries, including France, Sweden, Russia and Italy.

Nasa must first get permission from a reluctant Congress before engaging in such collaboration.

China also has pushed ahead with crewless missions, particularly in lunar exploration and has landed a rover on the little-explored far side of the Moon. In December, its Chang’e 5 probe returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the US missions of the 1970s.

The Tianhe mission comes just weeks before a Chinese probe is due to land on Mars, making China the third country to accomplish that feat after the former Soviet Union and the US.

The Tianwen-1 space probe has been orbiting the red planet since February while collecting data. Its Zhurong rover will be looking for evidence of life.

Another Chinese programme aims to collect soil from an asteroid, a key focus of Japan’s space programme.

China plans another mission in 2024 to bring back lunar samples and has said it wants to land people on the moon and possibly build a scientific base there. No timeline has been proposed for such projects.

A highly secretive space plane is also reportedly under development.

China’s programme has advanced in a steady, cautious manner on a carefully designed schedule, largely avoiding the failures seen in the US and Russian efforts when they were locked in intense competition during the heady early days of space flight.

One recent setback came when a Long March 5 rocket failed in 2017 during development of the Long March 5B variant that will be used to put the Tianhe module into orbit. Engineers moved swiftly to fix the problem.

Critics say China’s space programme has successfully reproduced the achievements of the US and Russia without breaking much new ground. The country’s rising technological prowess may end such talk in coming years.

But China may need greater private sector involvement to spur innovation, as the US has done with SpaceX and Blue Origin, and to apply new technologies such as reusable rockets.