China is making plans to create and launch its own space station by the year 2020. Before this happens, the country has decided to launch its second ever space lab known as the Tiangong-2 spacecraft.
The Tiangong-2 was sent into space on Sept. 15 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest of China. A Long March-2F T2 rocket has been used to ferry the space lab into orbit. If everything goes according to plan, then the Tiangong-2 should manage to settle in an orbit that is over 200 miles away from Earth.
After settling in orbit, the Chinese space lab will then perform several checks and other important tests to make sure everything is in order. Finally, the space lab will climb to an altitude of more than 244 miles, and there it will wait for a team of astronauts to arrive via the Shenzhou-11 by the end of October.
We understand the astronauts in question have yet to be publicly identified, but we do know they plan to stay for up to 30 days on the Tiangong-2. The plan for these astronauts is to experiment on space medicine, biology, and physics, according to a report from Xinhua.
"The number of experiments carried out by Tiangong-2 will be the highest of any manned space mission so far," said Lyu Congmin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
By April 2017, China will launch its first ever cargo space ship that is expected to bring supplies and fuel to the Tiangong-2. This cargo ship is known as the Tianzhou-1, and we expect more of them to be sent to deliver goods in order to keep astronauts fed and maintain the space lab in orbit.
What about the design of the Tiangong-2?
It's similar to that of the Tiangong-1, which was launched back in 2011. Interestingly enough, Chinese astronauts have only visited the Tiangong-1 only twice since it went into space.
There must have been some underlying problems because the Tiangong-2 is being released quite early. The plan right now is to have the Tiangong-1 fall to Earth in 2017. China did not give an update, but we expect if the Tiangong-2 is good enough, then the government won't hesitate.
In late August, China sent its first quantum communication satellite to space. It was a huge achievement for the country as it moves to secure its presence outside of Earth.
The country is also making plans to launch its own version of the Hubble Space Telescope in 2020.
