China is ready to welcome foreign astronauts to fly to its space station, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said. The invitation comes after China earlier this month announced plans to expand Tiangong – as it calls its station – in the coming years. And when there are already plans to decommission the International Space Station (ISS) under the leadership of NASA.
“We invite the world and welcome all countries and regions committed to the peaceful uses of outer space to cooperate with us and participate in Chinese space station missions,” said Lin Siqiang, deputy director of CMSA.
China launched the first module of its Tiangong space station, which translates as “Sky Palace”, into orbit in 2021. The last of its three main parts, the Mengtian Laboratory – “Dreams of Paradise” – docked with the rest of the station in 2021. November last year.
Currently, the station is capable of accommodating a maximum of three astronauts at an orbital altitude of up to 450 kilometers. It is proposed to expand its structure to six modules. The authorities have not confirmed this, but it is expected that this work will be carried out in the next four years.
State media already reported in 2020, after the docking of the third Tiangong module, that several countries had requested to send their astronauts to the Chinese space station.
Chinese space station as a NASA option
With its latest announcements, China is trying to bolster the idea that its space station could function as an alternative to the ISS, which has been in orbit since 1998. This year, NASA asked the US Congress for funds to begin developing a “space tug” to lower the station from orbit. There is no exact date yet, but the goal is to have it operational by around 2030.
NASA is leading the ISS with support from several partners. Among them is Russia, which has said it will remain at the station until 2028. Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency (ESA) have confirmed that they will maintain continuity of operations until 2030. But China has not participated in the agreement since 2011. , after the US, the US will veto this country.
The Chinese space agency said its country’s space technology has reached for peaceful purposes and has not sought and will not seek hegemony in space. “We are willing to continue to carry out international cooperation and exchanges on the basis of peaceful use, equality, mutual benefit and common development,” Lin said, according to state news agency Xinhua.
India, a key NASA partner, also confirmed this month that it hopes to have its own space station in orbit by 2035. The country has gradually strengthened its space project, scoring a key victory this year: being the first to land a spacecraft on the moon’s south pole.
Foreign cooperation on the moon landing
Lin also promised to involve foreign astronauts in his future mission to land on the moon. “as soon as the necessary conditions are met”Xinhua reports this. China has said it hopes to send a crew to the Moon before 2030. “We are making significant progress in our research and development to ensure that the goal is achieved as planned,” a CMSA spokeswoman said.
China’s plans are much more secretive. But it is known that researchers in this country are developing a new generation of manned spacecraft, a lunar lander and a manned lunar ship. Even before its crew arrives, Beijing hopes to begin building a base at the moon’s south pole using a robot that will use material from the moon’s soil.
The base will run on nuclear energy, as stated by those responsible for the project. The entire plan is being developed as NASA prepares its own mission to return to the Moon in 2025. There is a clear goal: Scientists explained that frozen water can be found at the south pole of the Moon.
“We want to stop China from coming in and claiming the water is theirs,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in an interview in which he acknowledged China’s space potential in the space race. India also said it hopes to launch its own crew on the lunar surface, but this will not happen until 2040.
Source: Hiper Textual
