China’s rise as a Space Power

China’s rise as a Space Power

Subject : Science and Technology

Section: Space technology

Concept :

• Three astronauts working at China’s space station returned to Earth on Sunday (June 5), state media reported, hailing their six-month-long mission as a “complete success”.
• The astronauts have been replaced by the crew of Shenzhou 16 spacecraft, which was launched on May 29 and docked at the space station the following day.
• As per the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), the returning astronauts — Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu — touched down in their Shenzhou 15 spacecraft return capsule at the Dongfeng landing site.
• They had travelled to China’s new Tiangong space station in November 2022, and carried out four extravehicular activities (EVA), or spacewalks, during their stay, thus becoming the crew to accomplish the most EVAs of all Chinese crews to date.

Shenzhou 16 Mission

• The successful completion of the Shenzhou 15 mission and the glitch-free launch of Shenzhou 16 underscore China’s rapidly growing space programme.
• This important mission marked the fifth manned mission to the Chinese space outpost since 2021, underscoring China’s commitment to advancing its space program.
• The Shenzhou 16 crew, which includes China’s first civilian who has gone into space, has taken over the operations of the Tiangong space station.
• The astronauts will conduct large-scale in-orbit tests and experiments in various fields, including studies related to quantum phenomena, space time-frequency systems, general relativity, and the origins of life.

How has China’s space programme evolved?

• The roots of China’s space ambitions go back to 1957 when the Soviet Union successfully launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1, into space. That year, Chairman Mao Zedong declared China would also launch its own satellite.
• China’s first major milestone came in 1970 when it launched its first artificial satellite, Dong Fang Hong 1, from the Jiuquan launch centre in the northwestern province of Gansu.
• Although the satellite wasn’t technologically sophisticated, it made China the fifth country to send a satellite into orbit after the Soviet Union, the US, France and Japan.
• Buoyed by the success of Dong Fang Hong 1, China announced plans to send two astronauts into space by 1973 — the programme, known as ‘Project 714’, it was officially adopted in 1971. The programme, however, had to be cancelled as the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) played out.
• By the 1980s, China began launching satellites on a regular basis, and entered the commercial market, offering to send satellites into space for companies and other countries for much cheaper than the US.
• In 1992, China announced Project 921, a programme to launch and return to Earth a crewed spacecraft.
• This goal was achieved in 2003, when China became the third country after the US and Russia to use its own rocket to send a human into space: astronaut Yang Liwei spent about 21 hours in space aboard the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft.
• China’s Mars rover China sent its first rover, known as Zhurong, to Mars in 2020. However, has been in hibernation since last May due to an “unpredictable accumulation” of dust.
• A string of successes followed. China sent a rover to Mars in 2020, accomplished a soft landing on the far side of the Moon in 2019 and collected and brought back to Earth samples from the lunar surface.
• In November 2022, China finished the Tiangong space station, which it had begun building in 2011. The space station currently has three modules, and can support three astronauts, or up to six people during crew rotations.
• It carries several pieces of cutting-edge scientific equipment including, according to the state news agency Xinhua, “the world’s first space-based cold atomic clock system”.
• It is possible that once the multi-agency International Space Station (ISS) reaches the end of its operations in 2030, Tiangong will be the sole in-orbit outpost for scientific research.

What space missions has China planned for the future?

• In January 2022, China published ‘Perspective’, which showcased its major achievements in the space sector since 2016, and laid out the roadmap for upcoming space missions.
• It said, “In the next five years, China will integrate space science, technology and applications while pursuing the new development philosophy, building a new development model and meeting the requirements for high-quality development. It will start a new journey towards a space power.”
• Among several ambitious future projects, the one that stands out is its goal to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030.
• Another important Chinese project involves building a base on the Moon in collaboration with Russia.
• International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) will be constructed “on or close to the South pole of the Moon, with long-term and short-term crew missions planned for the early 2030s”.
• Other future missions include expanding the Tiangong space station, sending another probe to Mars, and eventually sending probes to Jupiter and Saturn.