CHINA’S METHODICAL SPACE PROGRAM
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hina is known as the copy cat nation when it comes to making inexpensive products for the world. But soon its investment in human space exploration might not just copy, but dominate the low Earth orbit once only occupied by the International Space Station. And how about a permanent Chinese Moon base nine years from now in 2025? And an outpost on Mars in 2040? That’s the advertised plans of the People Republic of China. Space watchers are expecting in October 2016 the launch of three “taikonauts” to the newly orbited Chinese space station, Tiangog 2, or “Heavenly Palace.” They will deorbit their first space station, Tiangog 1 in September 2011, and it has seen two crews stay for one month. The last Chinese manned mission was June 2013 when Shenzhou 10 visited with two men and a woman. The 30-foot-long by 10-foot-wide Tiangog is a stepping stone to a much larger space station. The methodical Chinese have planned their human space missions in a pattern of confidence building for the future construction of a permanent manned outpost in orbit, from where they can expand out to the Moon and Mars. And it’s no coincidence that the Chinese spaceship Shenzhou (for “Divine Craft or Magic Boat”) looks exactly like the Russian Soyuz (for “Union”) as the two Superpowers have been sharing space information for decades. The three-man Soyuz design was first orbited in 1967 and has gone through interior technological redesigns over the decades, but is still the same concept. The Soyuz is three parts: the bulbous first section is a room for equipment, experiments and supplies. The center section is where three cosmonauts are crammed side-by-side for launch, docking and reentry. The third section is the service module with solar panels outside and inside the power units, with propulsion tanks, the life-support systems and more. The orbital module is where cosmonauts dwell while taking their time on a one-day trip to the ISS. But the front module and the rear service module break away before reentry. The middle section with the cosmonauts has a heat shield to withstand the fiery, wild ride back to Earth. The Soyuz and Shenzhou spaceships float under a parachute and land on the Earth with retrorockets blasting six feet above the ground to cushion the hard impact. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And that seems to be a good approach to manned spacecraft. China has also copied the Russian design for their Tiangog space stations. They are single module cylinders much like the former Salyut space stations of the 1970s and 80s, where knowledge was achieved to build the much larger MIR Space Station and its segments. That knowledge was parlayed into the incredible ISS orbiting Earth 17 times a day with 3-6 human inhabitants. The new Chinese space station awaits its first occupants, rumored be two men and a woman, like the last mission to the old space station. Chinese Long March rockets are launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, 1,000 miles southeast of Beijing
18 | October 11, 2016 | theloaferonline.com
Detailed plans have been revealed by the usually secret Communist nation of 1 billion citizens. And the plans of the China National Space Administration are big. The ultimate goal is a space-based, solar powered satellite system that beams energy back to Earth. Hopefully, peacefully. China put a lander and rover on the Moon in December 2013 called Chang’e 3, the first since Russia’s Luna 24 in 1976. They want to bring a lunar soil sample back to Earth next year in 2017. And land Chinese on the Moon by 2025. Plans for Mars are also big in China. They are planning unmanned missions to survey landing sites until 2033. Then plan a landing and return around 2040, the entire round-trip taking maybe four years. While China’s manned space program is beginning to take off, Russia is in serious need of money and America’s new spaceship, Orion, is many years behind production. America last blasted human into space from Cape Kennedy with the 135th Space Shuttle mission carrying four to resupply the ISS. That was July 2011. The three reusable Shuttles were mothballed to museums to make money available for the new Orion spacecraft, a conical capsule like the manned Apollo Command Module. Orion is built like Apollo on steroids with enough room for four astronauts. It is being designed with a life support and communication systems to allow missions to the Moon, Mars and asteroids. The first spaceships are being built at Lockheed Martin in New Orleans. On Dec. 5, 2014 an unmanned Orion successfully tested the heat shield and guidance systems when launched in a looping orbit 3,600 miles from Earth. But the first manned mission is still 5-7 years away, probably after 2023. Why the long delay? Money. The budget for Orion allows tests and stages of certification to be completed on a financial time scale, not as production schedules dictate. So equipment might sit around until the budget money is freed for that financial month and the ability to pay personnel and costs for the tests. The ISS has been occupied since November 2000, almost 16 years. There have been more than 260 different individuals aboard from the 17 nations who have contributed dollars and science. The structural hardware of the ISS is expected to last until 2028, but it might be deorbited before that time. Of course, Russia and America are big players in the ISS. Japan and European group of nations are the other occupants. The only human access to the ISS is via the threeman Soyuz spacecraft of Russia. Those crews are rotated every three months with up to six astronauts living at a time aboard the incredible orbiting research center. Russia has said it will consider building their own space station in the 2020s, maybe even taking with them their two research modules attached to the ISS. Meanwhile, China continues to brag that it is ready to accelerate their manned conquest of Earth orbit and eventually land on the Moon. And then Mars. To keep up with space activities among the two other Superpowers, check out frequently the website of RussiaSpace.com and Space.com for Chinese information.