China's goal is to have a permanent, manned space station in operation by 2022. When the space lab Tiangong-3 launches, it will have the Chinese version of the Hubble Telescope, but in a smaller, more powerful package.
China's manned space program Chief Designer Zhou Jianping confirmed this week the nation's plan for the installation of the space telescope on the Tiangong-3. The 2-meter-wide (6.6 feet) lens of China's space telescope, will give it a field of view that is 300 times bigger compared to that of Hubble Telescope's.
With a wider field of view, China's space telescope can possibly map about 40 percent of the cosmos in 10 years. The telescope is being designed to look for dark energy, exoplanets and dark matter. Apart from the impressive field of view, the planned location for China's space telescope is also impressive.
Deputy to the National People's Congress Zhang Yulin said the telescope will orbit near the planned Chinese space station. Zhang was also the previous chairman of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
This close proximity will allow the Chinese astronauts to make quick repairs if necessary. This is quite impressive when compared to the 3.5-year vigil that NASA experienced to fix Hubble's mirror dilemma.
Tiangong-3 will have two robotic arms that are 15 meters (49 feet) in length. These would be helpful in the space telescope's repairs. This support tandem of a satellite and space station has not been seen before.
To make the prompt repairs possible, China will need to pile up on supplies on board its space station. The new method can improve future space projects, including the planned asteroid mining and manned missions to the Red Planet.
The second space lab Tiangong-2 will launch into orbit in the third quarter of this year and will be followed by the launch of the Tianzhou-1 cargo ship in the middle of 2017. The cargo ship is planned to dock with the second space lab to perform several tests.
Carrying two astronauts, the spacecraft Shenzhou 11 will launch using two Long March 2F carrier rockets later this year and also dock with Tiangong-2.
Photo: Richard Fisher | Flickr
