01 November 2022
The Mengtian module has successfully docked with the front port of Tianhe on 1 November at 4:27 BJT, CMSA confirmed. The whole process of rendezvous and docking took approximately 13 hours. Later, Mengtian will conduct transposition as planned. The Mengtian module, together with Tianhe core module and Wentian lab module, will then form the space station's basic configuration in T shape.
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Animated footage showing the process of rendezvous and docking and module relocation
31 October 2022
Mengtian, the 2nd laboratory module of China's space station, is equipped with 8 racks dedicated to physicals science. The research facilities support experiments on fluids, materials, combustion and fundamental physics. "For example, the cold atomic physics cabinet supports studies of basic physics and condensed matter physics, and the temperature can be set to absolute zero – minus 273 degrees Celsius," said He Yufeng, chief designer of the Mengtian Space Application System under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He said that the cabinet can also promote the development of quantum devices. The high-temperature material experimental cabinet is for studies of space materials, and can reach 1,600 degrees Celsius.
And the combustion experimental cabinets can help us study how to prevent fires in space.
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31 October 2022
Space tracking ship Yuanwang 5 departed from a port on 31 October for spacecraft monitoring missions. This is the 3rd ocean voyage of the ship in 2022, during which it has spent more than 110 days at sea. Yuanwang 5 mainly undertakes maritime tracking, monitoring and communication tasks concerning rockets, high, medium and low-orbit satellites, spaceships and the Chinese space station. Before the voyage, crew members improved equipment maintenance and inspections to ensure the success of future missions, said vice-captain Liu Mingyue.
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30 October 2022
China is adopting increasingly sophisticated recruitment criteria in selecting the next generation of taikonauts who will be best suited for the more demanding, complex and frequent space missions. The process and standards of taikonaut selection are changing based on the goal of the space mission, the scale of the project and the development of technology as China advances its understanding of manned space travel. Though their tasks may vary, there are generally three types of astronauts: pilots, engineers and payload specialists. China is selecting all three for its fourth batch of taikonauts.
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31 October 2022
A CZ-5B rocket launched 31 October at 15:37 h from Wenchang Space Launch Centre and carried the Mengtian space station module into LEO. In the next couple of hours, Mengtian is scheduled to rendezvous and then dock with the Tiangong station's Tianhe core module, according to the CMSA. The lab module is about 17.9 m long, has a diameter of 4.2 m and weighs more than 23 t, according to its designers at the SAST.
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29 October 2022
On 29 October, at 09:01 BJT, a CZ-2D rocket launched the Shiyan 20C satellite from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre into orbit. The satellite will be mainly used for in-orbit verification of new technologies such as space environment monitoring. Shiyan 20C was designed and built by the Shanghai-based Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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