China Launches Space Station Laboratory Module

wisebabo writes with news from CNN that "China's first space laboratory module launched Thursday, according to state-run media, an important milestone in China's plan to build a space station." The module, known as Tiangong-1, features sleeping areas and exercise equipment. Writes wisebabo: "In another universe (Arthur C. Clarke's 2011), it would be on its way to Europa by now. Anyone know what orbital plane/altitude it's at? Can it be reached by NASA/Soyuz? Are the docking ports compatible? How about the air pressure/breathing mix?"

Comments

Good or bad neighbors with the ISS?

[acidradio]

Will they make sneering faces at each other? Rude hand gestures? Will they "haze" the other space station? Teepee their solar collectors in the night? Will the ISS astronauts pop in from time to time to borrow a cup of sugar? Host a friendly neighborhood barbecue?

Re:Good or bad neighbors with the ISS?

[shutdown -p now]

Space program is (effectively) a part of military in all countries that do it. These technologies are so obviously dual-use that it would be a waste to do things differently.

Re:Good or bad neighbors with the ISS?

[PyroMosh]

SpaceX isn't a space program, it's a launch service. It makes sense to be able to deliver stuff to orbit. We do this all the time and there is a commercial need.

There is less commercial demand for studying embryonic development in microgravity, or launching climate observation satellites or experimenting with solar sails.

The two can coexist, and even benefit from one another, but SpacX is *not* a space program by the traditional definition.

Re:Good or bad neighbors with the ISS?

[Vectormatic]

Have you learned nothing from how chinese immigrants behave in other countries? Now the guys up in the ISS finally can have cheap take-out and dry-cleaning!

Clarke's naive miscalculation

[elrous0]

"In another universe (Arthur C. Clarke's 2011), it would be on its way to Europa by now.

Clarke naively believed NASA and the U.S. government when they said that the space race WASN'T just a Cold War pissing contest. He never figured in the possibility that once the U.S. had the capability to plant the Stars and Stripes on the moon that funding would be slashed.

Re:Clarke's naive miscalculation

[Kuruk]

<quote><p>"In another universe (Arthur C. Clarke's 2011), it would be on its way to Europa by now.</p></quote>

<p>Clarke naively believed NASA and the U.S. government when they said that the space race WASN'T just a Cold War pissing contest. He never figured in the possibility that once the U.S. had the capability to plant the Stars and Stripes on the moon that funding would be slashed.</p></quote>

All the better. Bring on a new pissing contest. Good on China reaching for the stars. It not like we want too.

Re:Clarke's naive miscalculation

[doconnor]

In Arthur C. Clarke's 2010 (not 2011), which was written before the cold war ended, the cold war was still going on into 2010 and they where still pissing away.

Re:Clarke's naive miscalculation

[Wyatt Earp]

Funding was slashed in 1968-'72 because of the increasing cost of the Vietnam War and costs of implementing LBJ's Great Society program. The Democratic Senators who had the power to cut NASA (like Mondale), went out of their way to go after it's funding for the Great Society programs. By the time Nixon took the White House, he ramped up Vietnam to force the North to the peace talks (which worked by late 1972) and the Democrats hated him, so there was very little he could push.

We are lucky Congress didn't close NASA down from '72-'77

Good for them

[LordNacho]

The Chinese seem willing to spend the money on space tech. Someones gotta carry the flag. Unbelievable how long it's been since people were walking the moon.

Re:Good for them

[denis-The-menace]

The states had the money, too.
But they just spent it on more important things:
-Liberating oil in Irak.
-Molesting the terrorists out of our shorts.
-Covering rich people for bad bets in the stock market

Re:Good for them

[Bardwick]

It's actually free. Just using interest on all the money that they've loaned out.. So hey, why not? heh.

Re:Good for them

[Dunbal]

it benefits no one.

I know a few astronomers who would give their right testicle to be able to put a telescope somewhere where there is no air and no magnetosphere. And preferably on the far side of the moon to get rid of light from that pesky blue thing in the middle of the sky. Don't write off a "moon base" just yet, there are legitimate uses.

Re:Good for them

[Wyatt Earp]

There is a historical precedence for going somewhere and then not going back for a while.

The first English colony in North America was established in 1585 at Roanoke, a second voyage there in 1590 found it missing, there was not an attempt by the English to colonize North America again until 1607. And going to North America from western Europe was much, much easier than going from the Earth to the Moon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_colonization_of_North_America

docking port

[hackingbear]

Are the docking ports compatible?

I read many years ago on Chinese media (can't find the source anymore) when they first launched Shenzhou that the docking port is imported from Russia for the explicit goal of compatibility with other vehicles as the Russian design is now the de factor standard.

military equipment

[G3ckoG33k]

A few years ago the funding would have come as soon as China would start adding their military equipment there, too. Ironically, however, now China will just pull the financial rug under the US, or just squeeze those hairy a bit harder.

Re:military equipment

[Dunbal]

They're as fucked as we are.

Why? They have all of Latin America, India and Africa to sell to. It doesn't take long for those countries to catch up the US when economic growth in the US is virtually nil. The US by no means has the largest population in the world, so its economic importance can only shrink over time as others grow. Haven't you noticed how China has been very active signing trade agreements all over South and Central America lately? And with none of those bullshit "sign here but also you have to change your laws to match ours" clauses either.

Orbit

[Skylax]

From my chinese coworkers I got the information that the module is currently in a 350km by 200km orbit at around 45 inclination.The finished station will consist of 3 modules at 20t each and has a designed lifetime of 2 years. It is basically used for testing purposes (docking procedures etc.) and will be manned by a 2-3 man crew with 20 day rotation.

Re:Orbit

[ZankerH]

Actually, you've got two different programs mixed up. The Tiangong-1 (the one launched today) will not form a part of the larger space station, and the 2 years lifetime only refers to this experimental module. Also, the Tiangong-1 will first be visited by the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft (to launch this november), followed by two manned Shenzhou expeditions in 2012. They're only planning to built the 60 ton space station by 2020.

first step

[schlachter]

China has begun its own effort to construct a space station that will one day look like this....exactly like this.

http://nationalspacestudiescenter.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/space-station-iss.jpg

Can it be reached by NASA?

[subreality]

Can it be reached by NASA

Unfortunately, no. NASA doesn't currently have a man-rated vehicle that can exceed about 60,000 feet.

The DOD can probably deliver a decent size payload to it, but their craft aren't exactly designed to dock in a diplomatic way.

Funny?

[subreality]

Slashdot needs a "Sad but true" moderation option. :/

Looks familiar

[pesho]

The schematic kind of reminds me of the old Russian Salyut station