The core module of the Chinese Space Station (CSS) lifted off this Thursday, April 29. A dozen additional launches are already planned to complete its assembly by the end of 2022.
The International Space Station (ISS) is the only space laboratory currently in orbit, but not for very long. China has indeed just launched its own station, a project in the papers since 1992. Once completed, probably in 2022, the T-shaped structure will consist of three main modules:the 18-meter-long central module, called "Tianhe ", and two 14.4-meter-long experiment modules, named "Wentian" and "Mengtian". It will be able to accommodate three astronauts (or taikonauts) for stays of up to six months.
The CSS will weigh "only" 100 tons, less than a quarter of the mass of the ISS, built in cooperation by fifteen countries. That said, this Chinese station does not aim to compete with its "big sister". Gu Yidong, chief scientist of the China Manned Space program, points out that these three modules have been designed with the aim of "meeting only China's needs for scientific experiments “.
The station will house fourteen refrigerator-sized science experiment racks, and a few general purpose racks.
There will also be more than fifty mooring points to support experiments conducted outside the station. Space physiology, life sciences, fluid physics, materials science, astronomy or Earth observation… the fields of research will be numerous. So far, one hundred experiences have already been selected among more than 800 national proposals.
The station will also reserve space and resources for a number of international experiences. Tricia Larose, a medical researcher at the University of Oslo, will notably lead an experiment to test the effects of weightlessness on cancer growth, among other goals. To do so, the mission will use three-dimensional stem cell organoids, or "mini-colons", from cancerous and healthy tissue from the same patient to study how DNA mutations are affected by microgravity.
China will launch a second call for proposals for international experiments. Scientists can also apply through institutional partnerships to access space station resources. Naturally, there will be geopolitical obstacles. US law, for example, does not allow NASA scientists to collaborate directly with China.
Also remember that China plans to launch a telescope similar to Hubble that could evolve in the same orbit as the station, but a few hundred kilometers away. It will also be designed to be able to connect to the station in case of need (maintenance/repair). Its launch is scheduled for 2024.
