8/10/2019 China's Space Program

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/chinas-space-program 1/2

China’s Space Program: Technological Advances and Future Plans 

Laurice Wong 3U

Since China took flight in rapid economic and social development in the past 30 or so

years, the country has also been determined from the start to launch a long term space

 program comparable to that of the USA and the other developed countries. Up to this point,

China has already successfully launched artificial satellites, sent astronauts into space, and

most recently, completed the construction of China’s very own space lab, named the Tiangong

1.

1.  Space Laboratory Project: the Sky Palace

The construction of a space laboratory is a part of the second phase of China’s space

 project. There are three parts of the Space Laboratory project: first, Tian Gong 1, a space

structure consisting of a resource model, which is where its photovoltaic solar panels

(which uses the photons in sunlight to discharge electrons from the silicon atoms on the

surface of the panel to create electricity and provide power to the space craft) are

mounted and where its propulsion motors are installed; and a second part is the living

area and laboratory, built for a crew of three. The module is designed to let manned and

unmanned space crafts practice docking techniques in space. On 18 th of June, the

Shenzhou 9 spacecraft was sent up to space, consisting of 3 crew members: Jing

Haipeng, Liu Wang and China’s first female astronaut, Liu Yang. Then, on 24th June

2012, a crew guided docking of the Shenzhou 9 to Tiangong 1 was successfully

completed, and was considered as a huge step forward for the Chinese’s development inspace technology. The Tiangong 1 will be used to test key technologies used in future

Chinese space laboratories such as the Tiangong 2 or 3: some experiments carried out on

 board included microbiology and medical experiments, and the monitoring of the

astronauts’ cardiovascular activity and biological signals, in order to better understand

the reaction of the human body in micro gravity conditions.

2.  Future Plans

China plans to further develop its space technologies. After the success of Tiangong 1,

 besides further space laboratory projects, China is also considering building a complete

space station in orbit. The first parts of the space station will be sent up to space in 2015,

with other parts following. The Chinese government is also planning to open this station

for international cooperation space work- by the time the Chinese space station is

complete in 2020, it may replace the current International space station, which will retire

in the same year. Astronauts of all nationalities are expected to house in the Chinese

station from 2020 onwards; various space experiments will be carried out continuously in

it too. Furthermore, the space program is including lunar and Mars exploration in its

agenda, both of them planned to be commenced in around 2030 to 2040. For example, an

unmanned Mars exploration is planned to be carried out anytime between 2014- 2030,

8/10/2019 China's Space Program

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/chinas-space-program 2/2

while a manned Mars exploration may be occurring between 2040- 2060.

In conclusion, China has been vigorously improving its abilities in science and

astronomical endeavors. Hopefully, it will be able to further expand its capabilities in

space, so that technologies used in space might eventually be developed into usable new

technologies that benefit the lives of the people of our country.