The third and final module of China's space station builder, Mengtian, has docked with the Tiangong space station after being launched on Monday (31/10) from the Long March 5B rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Center.
After eight minutes of flight, the module separated from the rocket and entered low-Earth orbit before docking with the space station, China's manned space agency CMSA said. The module initially arrives at the axial port at one end of the Tianhe module, but will be repositioned while in orbit via the robot arm to the radial port on the side.
This 23 tonne module provides a second lab for the space station and is equipped with a hidden cargo airlock module so that cargo can be carried in and out of the cab with ease. On the outside of the airlock, the spacecraft will have a platform for experiments with robotic arms.
This module also has a release for projecting cube satellites into space and 138 square meters of flexible solar panels. When combined with the Wentian module, the duo is promised to generate around 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per day.
Quoted from the Global Times, this module is also equipped with 13 cargo cabinets for experiments in microgravity and fluid physics, combustion and materials, including planting seeds and studying how spiders make webs, all in microgravity. Then there are cold atomic clocks that are very accurate, namely hydrogen clocks, rubidium clocks, and optical clocks.
Tiangong is scheduled to receive the Xuntian space telescope in December 2023 to be fully operational in 2024. Xuntian will travel with Tiangong in a slightly different orbit and have the capability to dock with it.
China's space station is planned to be used for 10 years by three taikonauts (as Chinese astronauts are called) at once, but its service life can be extended.
According to CMSA, the Long March 5b has received upgrades that will allow it to enter orbit more accurately. However, his ability to control his descent back to Earth has not changed.
In May 2021, simultaneous uncontrolled rocket landings alarmed the world's population and ended up crashing in a sea area 45 km from the Maldives.
In August 2022, it left debris in Southeast Asia before falling into the seas off the Philippines after placing Wentian into orbit. NASA administrator Bill Nelson was harsh on both incidents and called on China to be more transparent about its rocket paths. This was reported by The Register, Thursday (11/3/2022).