BEIJING: China plans to expand its space station to 6 modules from three in coming years, offering astronauts from other countries an alternative platform for near-Earth missions as the NASA-led International Space Station is about to end of its lifespan.
The operational lifetime of the Chinese space station will be more than fifteen years, the China Academy of Space Technology, a unit of China’s main space contractor, said at the 74th International Astronautical Congress in the capital city of Azerbaijan, Baku, on Wednesday.
The self-built space station of China, also known as Tiangong, or Celestial Palace in Chinese, has been fully operational since late last year, hosting a maximum of 3 astronauts at an orbital altitude of up to 280 miles (450 km).
At 180 metric tons after its expansion to 6 modules, Tiangong is still just 40 per cent of the mass of the ISS, which can hold a crew of 7 astronauts. But the ISS, in orbit for over two decades, is likely to be decommissioned after 2030, about the same time Beijing has said it could become “a major space power”.
In 2022, Chinese state media said that Tiangong became fully operational that China would be no “slouch” as the ISS headed toward retirement, several nations had asked to send their astronauts to the Chinese station.
Blow to China’s aspirations
But in a blow to the aspirations for China in its space diplomacy, the European Space Agency said this year it did not have the budgetary or “political” permission to participate in Tiangong, shelving a years-long plan for a trip by European astronauts.
A leading Chinese daily reported at the same time that giving up cooperation with China in the manned space domain is clearly short-sighted, which shows that the United States-led camp confrontation has resulted in a new space race.
Tiangong has become an emblem of Beijing’s growing clout and confidence in its space endeavours, and a challenger to the US in the domain after being isolated from the ISS. It is prevented by US law from any collaboration, direct or indirect, with NASA.
Russia, a participant in the ISS, has similar space diplomacy plans, suggesting that its partners in the BRICS could construct a module for its space station.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos said last year it was planning to build a space station comprising 6 modules that could accommodate up to four cosmonauts.
