China is working to develop a space telescope capable of offering astronomy research capabilities rivaling those of Hubble. If all goes as planned, the observatory could be launched as early as 2024.
A Chinese station called "Tiangong" (Heavenly Palace) is soon to join the ISS in orbit, before taking over permanently in a few years. On board this structure, which will have three modules, Chinese taikonauts will conduct experiments and prepare for future long-duration flights.
When completed, the Chinese station will also be joined by a space telescope named Xuntian. Scheduled to be placed in orbit in 2024, it will be equipped with a mirror two meters in diameter, comparable to that of Hubble (2.4 m). However, the Chinese observatory should benefit from a field of vision 300 times greater to that of its old American cousin (31 years old, but still as prolific), while maintaining a similar resolution.
The wide field of view will allow the telescope to observe up to 40% of the sky over ten years in the near ultraviolet and visible light.
A priori, Xuntian will co-orbit the Earth with the Chinese space station and can periodically dock with the future outpost responsible for supporting the crew. "This will help us refuel the telescope and perform upgrades directly in orbit “, had indeed declared last March Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the Chinese program of human spaceflight.
The Hubble Telescope had meanwhile required several mission flights with American shuttles to repair, upgrade and replace a variety of components and systems. Being able to manage these operations directly in orbit will therefore be a "plus" for China.
Meanwhile, four research centers are being built to analyze the data collected by the telescope. The most notable objectives include the study of the properties of dark matter and dark energy or the formation and evolution of galaxies. The observatory will also contribute to the detection and monitoring of Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNO) and near-Earth asteroids.
In the meantime, China is preparing to carry out eleven launches between this year and next year (including four crewed missions) to assemble its station in orbit. The core module, codenamed "Tianhe", is scheduled to be launched from Wenchang Base in the coming weeks aboard a Long March 5 rocket.
