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China Launches Second Space Lab (space.com)
Reader hackingbear writes: China's next space laboratory, Tiangong-2 launched from the country's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center today at 10:04 a.m. EDT (1404 GMT) on a Long March 2F carrier rocket. Like its predecessor Tiangong-1, Tiangong-2 is an orbiting space lab -- but this latest model has made several improvements in the series. Among the advances: astronauts can remain on the station up to 30 days; New systems allow in orbit refueling of propellant; and 14 new experiments in a wide range of sciences including composite material fabrication, advanced-plant cultivation, gamma ray burst polarization, fluid physics, space-to-earth quantum communications. The space lab is also equipped with a cold atom space clock, that has an estimated precision of 10 to the power of minus 16 seconds, or a one-second error every 30 million years, enhancing accuracy of time-keeping in space by one to two orders of magnitudes. This exactitude will help measure previously undetectable fluctuations for experiments conducted in zero-gravity.The Tiangong 2, while is an experimental space station, is still operational. The astronauts that would come on board next month are to spend a full month up there -- a longer period of time than possible on Tiangong 1.
It would probably be considered an act of piracy in international legal terms.
:)
Of course, it might just be worth it for that alone, to go down in history as the first Space Pirate.
In many ways it's too bad USA banned them from the current station (ISS) due to possible military-related secrets.
ISS requires a lot of maintenance such that there's not much time left for science. If China participated, then there would be more time-slots for science instead of fixing toilets, etc.
By now the ISS's technology should be old enough to not be secret: it's decades old. Plus, Russia already has access to it and they trade secrets with China anyhow.
Why did US put sensitive tech in ISS to begin with? We F'd up.
Table-ized A.I.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Slashdot, where size is the only metric that some give a shit about when it comes to a non-US space program.
How about we stand in silent appreciation of the feat that China is accomplishing, like the geeks we should all be would do, k?
Perhaps China doesnt need a large station to achieve its goals - the Chinese don't seem to be bothered about taking it slow and steady with regard to their program, after all.