China's Space Program: Tiangong/Tianhe

[Randy W]

An ongoing topic - click here for Most Recent Post

I'm only seeing this in the Shanghaiist, so it's unclear if it's an actual issue, but here are the proponents.

Is China's Tiangong-1 space station really hurtling toward Earth like an out of control fireball?

Quote

The stability of China’s first space station Tiangong-1 is under question. Chinese authorities have made no public statements to declare the exact time the eight-ton uncrewed spacecraft will come back to Earth, leading to speculation that it may end up in a dangerous uncontrolled fall.

. . .

Amateur satellite tracker Thomas Dorman worries that China has lost control of Tiangong-1 after Xinhuareported in March that the data-gathering activities of the spacecraft had come to an end.

Dorman has been tracking the movements of Tiangong-1 since its launch and backs his concern with images taken from the ground suggesting that the space station’s solar panels are no longer oriented towards the sun,

. . .

Dean Cheng -- senior research fellow at an Asian Studies center of a Washington-based think tank -- is quoted by Space.com as agreeing with Dorman’s speculations.

Cheng said that he was surprised that Chinese authorities have not declared the exact time the space station will come back to earth, even though its operation life seems to be over, speculating, “that would seem to suggest that it's not being deorbited under control.”

Another expert is much more optimistic about China's space program. T.S. Kelso -- senior research astrodynamicist at the Center for Space Standards & Innovation -- gave an alternative reading of Tiangong-1’s condition, saying that the spacecraft is dormant but stable.

"So that might be why the Chinese aren't responding … they probably don't understand why they would need to," Kelso told Space.com.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Here it is from Xinhua

 

China's 1st space lab Tiangong-1 ends data service

 

Source: Xinhua | 2016-03-21 19:25:14 | Editor: huaxia

 

 

After an operational orbit of 1,630 days, China's first space lab Tiangong-1 terminated its data service, the manned space engineering office said Monday.

 

The functions of the space laboratory and target orbiter have been disabled after an extended service period of about two and a half years, although it remains in designed orbit, according to the office.

Tiangong-1 was launched in September 2011 with a design life of two years.

 

It had successfully docked with the Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft and undertaken a series of experiments, contributing to the nation's space program, the office said.

 

The lab had completed its main missions following Shenzhou-10's return to earth in June 2013.

 

During its extended flight, Tiangong-1 conducted experiments on space technology, space-earth remote sensing and space environment exploration, according to the office.

 

Tiangong-1 was invaluable to scientists understanding of the construction and management of a space station, the office said.

 

The aim of China's multi-billion-dollar space program is to put a permanent manned space station into service around 2022.

 

By around 2020, the country's first orbiting space station should be completed.

 

The flight orbit of the space lab, which will descend gradually in the coming months, is under continued and close monitoring, according to the office, which said the orbiter will burn up in the atmosphere eventually.

 

[Randy W]

. . . and now, Tiangong-2 in Xinhua

 

Spotlight: China's Tiangong-2 space lab draws global praise

 

 

China has been actively developing a three-step manned space program since the first decade of the 21st century.

The program's first mission took place in 1999 with the launch of the Shenzhou-1 to examine the performance and reliability of the launcher and verify key technologies relating to capsule connection and separation, heat prevention, control and landing.

The first step, to send an astronaut into space and return safely, was fulfilled by Yang Liwei in the Shenzhou-5 mission in 2003.

The second step was developing advanced space flight techniques and technologies including extra-vehicular activity and orbital docking. This phase also includes the launch of two space laboratories -- effectively mini space-stations that can be manned on a temporary basis.

The next step will be to assemble and operate a permanent manned space station.

China will begin building a space station that is more economically efficient and uses more data than the current International Space Station (ISS), starting as early as 2017, chief engineer of China's manned space program Zhou Jianping told Xinhua on Thursday.

With the ISS set to retire in 2024, the Chinese space station will offer a promising alternative, and it will make China the only country to have a permanent space station after the ISS.

 

[Randy W]

in the Scientific American

 

China Launches Second Space Lab

Tiangong 2 will develop expertise for a future space station and conduct science experiments

The €3-million (US$3.4 million) detector was built largely with Swiss funding, and with the collaboration of Swiss, Chinese and Polish scientists, and support from the European Space Agency (ESA). POLAR is the first space experiment developed as a full international collaboration between China and other countries, Produit says.

US law bars NASA from doing joint projects with China’s space agencies, but the Chinese Academy of Sciences is discussing a number of other space collaborations with ESA. The country has also been aggressively ramping up its space science: just in the last year, it put into orbit DAMPE, its first space probe dedicated to the search for dark matter, as well as QUESS, the world’s first quantum-communications satellite.

This is making the country an exciting place for international researchers to test ideas for space science, compared to projects run by ESA and NASA, which Produit says are slower-moving. “In China, things go fast. They have the money; they have the will,“ Produit says. “China is where things happen now.”

 

Edited September 16, 2016 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

in Xinhua

 

China to launch Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft on Oct. 17

 

The Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft will be launched at 7:30 a.m. Oct. 17, 2016 Beijing Time (2330 GMT Oct. 16). The spaceship will take two male astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong into space. The spacecraft will dock with orbiting space lab Tiangong-2 within two days and the astronauts will stay in the space lab for 30 days before returning to Earth.

 

 

 

 

Astronauts give the "Live long and Prosper" salute before departure (Okay so I Photoshopped it).

[tsap seui]

The Amurican public needs to know...are those tasers, or vibrators those space men from outer space are holdin' in their left hands ?

[Randy W]

in the Global Times

 

Preparations made for Chinese astronauts' return from space

in the SCMP

Two Chinese astronauts safely back on earth after nation’s longest manned space mission

Month-long stay in space lab a step closer to China’s goal of fully functioning space station

 

A screen shot from CCTV shows the retrieval team at the landing craft. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Quote

The successful completion of the latest space mission takes China a step closer to its goal of building a fully functioning space station by 2022.

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[True Blue]

http://www.newsweek.com/new-predictions-tiangong-1-crash-723088

Edited November 28, 2017 by Randy W
merged w/existing topic (see edit history)

[Randy W]

http://www.newsweek.com/new-predictions-tiangong-1-crash-723088

 

 

The Newsweek article is from Western sources - see Xinhua's version in post # 2 above.

[Randy W]

from the Shanghaiist - What's up ??!?

 

 

China’s out-of-control space station expected to crash into Earth in next few weeks!

 

It’s probably nothing to worry about. Probably.

 

Just a quick update. A Chinese space station that’s hurtling toward Earth like an out of control fireball is expected to make its final descent in the next few weeks. So, head’s up for that!

Launched in 2011, the 8.5-tonne Tiangong-1 was China’s first space laboratory and prototype space station. Over the original planned operational time of two years, the Tiangong-1 underwent three dockings, hosted two manned missions, and experienced one orbital maintenance mission.

Following that time, the space-lab was put into sleep mode, where it has remained in orbit for the last four years or so.

. . .

The European Space Agency has been keeping close watch over the Tiangong-1 and now estimates that the space station will fall out of orbit sometime between March 29th and April 9th.

 

 

[Randy W]

in the scmp

 

This would be around 6:25PM CDT (US time) on Sunday

The European Space Agency forecast the space lab’s re-entry for about 7.25am on Monday, Hong Kong time. It said the density of the upper atmosphere, through which Tiangong-1 was moving, had not increased as predicted, which would have dragged the spacecraft down sooner.

 

 

China’s out of control space lab to enter Earth’s atmosphere on Easter Monday, Beijing says

Tiangong-1 continues to edge closer, but exact time of arrival still unknown

 

 

[Randy W]

In the NY Times

 

China’s Tiangong-1 Space Station Has Fallen Back to Earth Over the Pacific

 

A Chinese space station the size of a school bus re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at about 5:16 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday, scattering its remaining pieces over the southern Pacific Ocean, according to the United States’ Joint Force Space Component Command.

 

[dnoblett]

Seems China has a different definition for controlled and un-controlled, when you lose contact with a satilite or space station in my book that is un-controlled.

 

In most cases when a satilitein low earth orbit becomes obsolte or compleated it's mission the controling space agency tends to deorbit the satilite and controls where that happens to allow any part of it that survives reentry to fall in a place that would not be of danger to people on the ground, typicially that is a remote part of the Indian Ocean. Control requires radio contact with the satilite and some fuel on the satilite to initiate the re-entry where and when apropriate.

 

Interesting article: https://www.space.com/40101-china-space-station-tiangong-1-crashes.html

[Randy W]

A little more information from SCMP

 

Can debris of fallen Tiangong-1 space lab reveal secrets of China’s space programme?

In the wake of the crash, a scientist has revealed that Beijing routinely reclaims its fallen space debris to keep sensitive information secret - even when it lands in another country

 

 

Tiangong’s re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere happened somewhere north of Point Nemo, a location named in honour of Jules Verne’s fictional submarine captain and which is also Latin for “no one”.

The spot, which is a graveyard for more than 200 spacecraft, is one of the most remote on the planet and is officially known as an “oceanic pole of inaccessibility”.

Controlled re-entries of spacecraft have often been directed to Point Nemo because of its remote location and lack of biodiversity, according to Stijn Lemmens, a space debris expert at the European Space Agency in Darmstadt, Germany.

By far the largest object to have splashed down there was Russia’s MIR space lab in 2001, which weighed in at 120 tonnes before it broke up on re-entry. The massive 420-tonne International Space Station is also expected to crash down at Point Nemo in 2024.

 

 

[Randy W]

from China Daily - this is Tiangong II

 

Space lab returns to Earth after nearly three years in orbit

 

Quote

China's Tiangong II space lab made a controlled descent on Friday back into the atmosphere after a 1,036-day space journey, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

 

The spacecraft reentered the atmosphere at 9:06 pm Beijing time after several orbital maneuvers following control signals from Chinese space authorities.

 

Much of the spacecraft burned up during reentry while a small amount of debris fell in a designated secure area in the South Pacific, the agency said in a statement, adding that the reentry marked the successful completion of China's space lab program.

 

. . .

 

The spacecraft had significantly outlived its designed life span by a year and an extended period in orbit might create hazards, Zhu said.

 

Therefore, the country chose to decommission it to honor its obligations as a responsible global space power, the designer added.

 

. . .

 

During its orbital stay, Tiangong II carried out four dockings with the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft and Tianzhou 1 cargo spaceship, enabled China to verify a series of key technologies such as midterm life support and in-orbit refueling, and to execute multiple extended experiments, according to the agency.

 

It carried about 600 kilograms of scientific payloads in 14 categories and fulfilled more than 60 scientific experiments and technological tests, gaining a great deal of achievements.

 

. . .

 

In the next phase in China's manned space endeavor, the country plans to build its first manned space station and put it into service around 2022.

 

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)