Construction of the Tiangong House Station was solely accomplished late final 12 months, however China already has huge plans to increase on its low Earth orbit mission.

Throughout an exhibition on the Nationwide Museum of China, the China Manned House Engineering Workplace (CMSEO) revealed plans to launch a brand new module so as to add to the Tiangong House Station, Chinese language state media reported on Tuesday. The enlargement module will connect to the three modules already in low Earth orbit, turning the T-shaped house station right into a cross.

The plan is for the multi-functional module to have six docking ports, permitting extra spacecraft to dock with the house station. China had beforehand introduced that it will permit house vacationers to journey to Tiangong, so the additional ports will come in useful.

In October, China launched the third module of Tiangong, finishing the T-shaped construction of its three-module house station in low Earth orbit. The primary module of the house station, Tianhe, launched to orbit in April 2021, whereas Wentian adopted greater than a 12 months later in July 2022. Because it stands now, Tiangong is a couple of quarter of the dimensions of the Worldwide House Station.

CMSEO officers additionally revealed plans to start internet hosting worldwide astronauts on Tiangong, in line with SpaceNews. “We’re about to start out choosing worldwide astronauts to ship to our house station and perform scientific experiments collectively,” Chen Shanguang, a deputy chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program, is quoted as telling reporters in China.

Seeing as how Tiangong is China’s reply to the ISS, launching astronauts from completely different international locations to the house station is a part of the plan to determine it as a global hub in low Earth orbit. The European House Company had deliberate to ship a few of its astronauts to Tiangong, however later introduced that it didn’t have the funds or the political inexperienced gentle to take action.

In November 2022, China launched three of its astronauts to Tiangong as a part of the Shenzhou-15 crew. The three-person crew carried out the primary handover on board the house station, taking on duties from the Shenzhou-14 crew who had arrived on the house station in June.

Shenzhou-15 is set to spend about six months on board the house station, getting ready it for operations. It’s not clear when China plans on sending its enlargement module to Tiangong, however the nation’s nationwide house program has made a number of headway in its plans to determine the house station’s presence in low Earth orbit.

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