if you want to conduct experiments like
this in space we are trying to grow
edible plants this is the only place to
do it but soon the international space
station will have company
in april china launched the core part of
its new space station called tiangong
which means heavenly palace in chinese
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this is a brand new modular space
station there are many exciting things
about it china says tiangong will be up
and running by 2022 becoming a research
spacecraft that will orbit earth
alongside the nearly 23 year old
international space station nasa and its
partner countries have agreed that the
older spacecraft will operate through
2024 though its future after that is
unclear if the international space
station retires in 2024 the chinese
space station will be the only permanent
space station in low earth orbit it
means that china would have a very
strong global presence and influence so
here's what's on china's new space
station and how it compares with the
international one
the first thing you have to know about
china's space station it's building it
all by itself and some of the reasons
for that go back about a decade
china
is not part of the international space
station quentin parker is the director
of the laboratory for space research at
the university of hong kong he's been
researching space science for over four
decades they're primarily political
around issues of trust and technology
transfer which is driven principally by
the united states since 2011 china has
been excluded by u.s law from working
with nasa as a result china's astronauts
have not been allowed to set foot on the
international space station which is a
collaboration with five space agencies
china's foreign ministry said that the
u.s is judging an upright man with a
petty mind in some ways it's been
extremely beneficial to china because
they've given china the impetus and the
political will to move forward with
their own very ambitious space endeavors
and china's space station ambition has
been 30 years in the making
in 2003 it sent its first astronaut to
space making it the third country after
the u.s and russia to do that
less than a decade later china said it
successfully launched two test modules
which are the basis for any space
station design these modules are then
put together a bit like lego the reason
they're modular of course is you can't
put the whole thing up in one go you
have to put it up bit by bit using many
launches the international space station
currently has 16 modules whereas china
only has one in orbit but eventually
tiangong will be made up of three it's
only about a quarter or so of the size
of the current international space
station three people can live on the
chinese space station at the moment
compare that with the six people usually
on board the international space station
or in 2009 when there was a record total
of 13 astronauts at one time and china
could potentially reach that capacity
too just by adding more modules
thanks to this design the international
space station has been an evolving
project since 1998. so if one module has
failed catastrophically or it's no
longer cutting edge you can detach it
and just reattach a new one
while the tiangong spacecraft is smaller
china says it's equipped with more
advanced technology when you're the last
kid on the block you have the
opportunity to do things at the last
minute with the best technology around
and one of them is a system that helps
power tiangong with solar panels
the electricity generated from the panel
wings essentially helps keep the lights
on the one unique part about china's
setup is that it also powers the
spacecraft's propulsion technology so
even though tiangong still uses regular
fuel propellants like the international
space station china says it doesn't have
to use as much to stay afloat in orbit
if you're not using liquid or solid fuel
propellant for your propulsion then
you're not carrying that weight then
that's a saving china space agency says
its propulsion system is about five
times more efficient and powerful than
the international space stations which
is a gas guzzler we're going to fire
the engines and the aft end of the space
station consuming about nine tons of
fuel annually to stay in orbit
another piece of equipment that the
international space station doesn't have
a tagalong space telescope it's called
shin tien which means heavenly cruiser
in chinese and will orbit parallel to
the space station a bit like the hubble
space telescope but this will have an
enormously large camera
which can look at 300 times the field of
view of the hubble space telescope in
one hit the chinese telescope will be
able to refuel and be serviced by
directly docking at tiangong unlike the
hubble telescope which because it orbits
on its own requires astronauts to fly in
from earth for repairs
and one day china's space telescope
could be used by other countries because
china has said its new space station is
designed for collaborations so for china
international cooperation in space means
its space capacity has legitimacy and
second it can build influence namrata
goswami is an independent researcher
who's been studying global space policy
for more than 20 years with the
completion of the chinese space station
by 2022 that will be a competitive
alignment for countries that want to
choose which space station they would
launch their
experiments on goswami says china's
decision-making process could be very
different from the international space
station which requires consensus among
its partners chinese space station is
going to be operated by china any
decision
to
allow a particular
scientific experiment to be conducted in
the chinese space station will of course
be taken by china
and more of these decisions could come
soon since tiangong is set to be
completed by 2022
and that milestone is another one in
just a few years in addition to landing
on the far side of the moon
to sending a rover to rome mars it is
very clear that china's investment in
space is about turning china into
aerospace power but china won't be the
only one left to fill the vacancy when
the international space station heads
into retirement nasa is leading a plan
to launch an outpost that will work like
the international space station but
instead orbit the moon and russia has
indicated that it could launch its own
space station by 2030. space is always
seen as a part of geopolitics the
competition that is ongoing is which
country has the more attractive space
capacity in low earth orbit and beyond
you