''Tianhe'' (), officially the ''Tianhe'' core module (), is the first module to launch of the Tiangong space station. It was launched into orbit on 29 April 2021, as the first launch of the final phase of

Tiangong program The Tiangong program () is China's space program to create a modular space station, comparable to Mir. This program is independent and unconnected to any other international space-active countries. The program is part of the China Manned S ...

, part of the

China Manned Space Program The China Manned Space Program (CMS; ), also known as Project 921 () is a space program developed by the People's Republic of China and run by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), designed to develop and enhance human spaceflight capabilities f ...

(

Project 921 The China Manned Space Program (CMS; ), also known as Project 921 () is a space program developed by the People's Republic of China and run by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), designed to develop and enhance human spaceflight capabilities f ...

). ''Tianhe'' follows the earlier projects

Salyut The ''Salyut'' programme (russian: Салют, , meaning "salute" or "fireworks") was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed ...

Skylab Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operation ...

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

Tiangong-1 Tiangong-1 () was China's first prototype space station. It orbited Earth from September 2011 to April 2018, serving as both a crewed laboratory and an experimental testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities during its ...

and

Tiangong-2 Tiangong-2 () was a Chinese space laboratory and part of the Project 921-2 space station program. Tiangong-2 was launched on 15 September 2016. It was deorbited as planned on 19 July 2019. Tiangong-2 was neither designed nor planned to be a ...

space stations A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station ...

. It is the first module of a third-generation Chinese modular space station. Other examples of modular station projects include the Soviet/Russian

and the

. Operations will be controlled from the

Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center (), formerly known as Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center (; BACCC or BACC), is a command center for the Chinese space program which includes the Shenzhou missions, and is located in a suburb no ...

. In 2018, a fullscale mockup of ''Tianhe'' was publicly presented at

China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition (), also known as the Airshow China () or Zhuhai Airshow (), is the largest airshow and aerospace trade expo in China. It has been held in even years in Zhuhai, Guangdong since 1996. Hist ...

Zhuhai Zhuhai (, ; Yale: ''Jyūhói''), also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, on the southeastern edge of Pe ...

. In October 2020, China selected 18 new astronauts ahead of the space station construction to participate in the country's space station project.

Functions and systems

The core module provides life support and living quarters for three crew members, and provides guidance, navigation, and

orientation Orientation may refer to: Positioning in physical space * Map orientation, the relationship between directions on a map and compass directions * Orientation (housing), the position of a building with respect to the sun, a concept in building desi ...

control for the station. The module also provides the station's power, propulsion, and life support systems. The module consists of three sections: the habitable living quarter, the non-habitable service section, and a docking hub. Overall, the living quarters has a volume of 50 cubic meters of habitable space for three people, compared to only 15 m³ for

. The living quarters will include a kitchen and toilet, fire control equipment, air processing and control equipment, computers, scientific apparatus, and ground communications equipment. The station has a bigger robotic arm, so it can move subsequent modules or resupply vehicles to different ports of the core module as a backup. Also, this ″Chinarm″ had modern mobility, can be elongated and features 7 axes of motion to crawl. According to the latest reports, its ability is similar to

Canadarm 2 The Mobile Servicing System (MSS), is a robotic system on board the International Space Station (ISS). Launched to the ISS in 2001, it plays a key role in station assembly and maintenance; it moves equipment and supplies around the station, supp ...

Electrical power Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt, one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with other SI units: thousands, millions and billions ...

is provided by two steerable

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...

arrays, which use

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

cells to produce electricity. Energy is stored to power the station when it moves into the Earth's shadow. Tianzhou resupply ships will replenish fuel for the module's propulsion engines for station-keeping to counter the effects of

atmospheric drag In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...

. There are 4 ion engines for propulsion.

Structure

Wang Wenbao, director of the human spaceflight agency

China Manned Space Engineering Office China Manned Space Agency or CMSA () is an agency of the People's Republic of China responsible for the administration of China Manned Space Program, the Chinese human spaceflight program. Name The native name of the organization (') was ...

(CMSEO), said China has established "a good working relationship" with space agencies in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and other countries. The forward docking hub allows the core module to be docked with four other space station visiting spacecraft, including two experimental modules,

Wentian module ''Wentian'' (), officially the ''Wentian'' laboratory cabin module (), is a major module of the Tiangong space station. It is the first Laboratory Cabin Module launched, and the first module to extend the existing ''Tianhe'' core module of the ...

and

Mengtian module ''Mengtian'' (), officially the ''Mengtian'' laboratory cabin module (), is a major module of the Tiangong space station. It is the second Laboratory Cabin Module launched, after ''Wentian'', and the second module to extend the existing ''Tia ...

, a cargo ship

Tianzhou spacecraft The Tianzhou () is a Chinese automated cargo spacecraft developed from China's first prototype space station Tiangong-1 to resupply its modular space station. It was first launched (Tianzhou 1) on the Long March 7 rocket from Wenchang on Apri ...

, and a

Shenzhou spacecraft Shenzhou (, ; see ) is a spacecraft developed and operated by China to support its crewed spaceflight program, China Manned Space Program. Its design resembles the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, but it is larger in size. The first launch was on 1 ...

. The axial (forward-facing) and nadir (Earth-facing) port of the module will be fitted with rendezvous equipment. A mechanical arm similar to the Russian Lyappa arm used on the

space station will be fitted to each of the future experiment modules. The axial port on the docking hub will be the primary docking port. When new modules arrive, they will first dock here, then the mechanical arm will attach and move the module to a radial port. Crew and supply ships from the

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC; also known as Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center; Launch Complex B2; formally Northwest Comprehensive Missile Testing Facility (); Base 20; 63600 Unit) is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility ( spa ...

will dock to either of the axial ports of the module, as well as the nadir port. The

zenith The zenith (, ) is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction ( plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location ( nadir). The zenith is the "high ...

(space facing) port has been modified to act as the station’s

extravehicular activity Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable atmosphere of Earth, Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmen ...

(EVA) hatch, as the spherical docking hub is also the EVA airlock. The first generation space stations such as

1 and NASA's Skylab stations were not designed for re-supply, while

Salyut 6 Salyut 6 (russian: Салют-6; lit. Salute 6), DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth station of the Salyut programme. It was launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket. Salyut 6 was the first space station to receiv ...

Salyut 7 Salyut 7 (russian: Салют-7; en, Salute 7) (a.k.a. DOS-6, short for Durable Orbital Station) was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first crewed in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last v ...

and Mir had more than one docking port and were designed to be resupplied routinely during crewed operation. The TCM as a modular station can allow the mission to be changed over time, and new modules can be added or removed from the existing structure, allowing greater flexibility. It is designed for replenishment of consumables and has a service life of at least 10 years. The length of the module is . It is cylindrical with a maximum diameter of and an on-orbit mass of .

Launch

On 14 January 2021, CMSEO announced the beginning of the construction phase for China's three-module space station. The core module, ''Tianhe'', passed a flight acceptance review. This core module provides living space and life support for astronauts and houses the outpost's power and propulsion elements. ''Tianhe'' launched on 29 April 2021, at 03:23:15 UTC atop a Long March 5B

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...

from the

Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site The Wenchang Space Launch Site ( zh, 文昌航天发射场, links=no), located in Wenchang, Hainan, China, is a rocket launch site — one of the two spacecraft launch sites of Xichang Satellite Launch Center (the other site is in Xichang, ...

. After the core module was put into orbit, the empty first stage of its launch vehicle entered a temporary, uncontrolled failing orbit. Some concerns were raised over possible damage from debris of the uncontrolled re-entry: observations showed the rocket was tumbling, which complicates predictions about an eventual landing area, although the most likely outcome was a maritime impact. Parallels were made with respect to a previous launch in May 2020 which reportedly caused some damage in the

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. The rocket re-entered over the Arabian peninsula on 9 May at 02:24 UTC, landing in the Indian Ocean west of the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives,, ) and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is a country and archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the A ...

according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO), with much of it having reportedly burned up prior to impact.

United States Space Command United States Space Command (USSPACECOM or SPACECOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometers (62 miles) and grea ...

confirmed the re-entry location. The first spacecraft scheduled that visited the ''Tianhe'' core module was the

Tianzhou 2 Tianzhou 2 () was a mission of the Tianzhou-class unmanned cargo spacecraft. The launch took place at 29 May 2021, 12:55:29 UTC. The spacecraft successfully docked with the Tiangong space station later on the same day. Mission profile Ti ...

cargo resupply spacecraft on 29 May 2021, followed by

Shenzhou 12 Shenzhou 12 (, see § Etymology) was a Chinese spaceflight launched on 17 June 2021. The flight marked the seventh crewed Chinese spaceflight and the twelfth flight of the Shenzhou program. The spacecraft carried three members of the People' ...

, carrying a crew of three to the station on 17 June 2021.

Tianzhou 3 Tianzhou 3 () was a mission of the Tianzhou-class uncrewed cargo spacecraft, launched on 20 September 2021, at 07:10:11 UTC. Like previous Tianzhou missions, the spacecraft was launched from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Hainan, Chin ...

and

Shenzhou 13 Shenzhou 13 () was a Chinese spaceflight launched on 15 October 2021 at 16:23 UTC. The flight marked the eighth crewed Chinese spaceflight and the thirteenth flight of the Shenzhou program. The spacecraft carried three People's Liberation Arm ...

were launched to the station on 20 September 2021 and 15 October 2021 respectively.

Dockings

Maneuvers

On 1 July 2021, the space station performed a maneuver in response to a possible close encounter with the

Starlink Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, providing satellite Internet access coverage to 45 countries. It also aims for global mobile phone service after 2023. SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019. As ...

-1095 communications satellite. On 21 October 2021, the space station performed a maneuver in response to a possible close encounter with the

-2305 communications satellite.

Notes

References

External links

Chinese Manned Space Agency website
by

{{2021 in space Chinese space stations Spacecraft launched in 2021 2021 in China