Chinese Shenzhou craft launches on key space mission

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent,
BBC News

The Shenzhou 8 spacecraft is lifted into orbit by a Long March 2F rocket

China has taken the next step in its quest to become a major space power with the launch of the unmanned Shenzhou 8 vehicle.

The spacecraft rode a Long March 2F rocket into orbit where it will attempt to rendezvous and dock with the Tiangong-1 lab, launched in September.

It would be the first time China has joined two space vehicles together.

The capability is required if the country is to carry through its plan to build a space station by about 2020.

The Long March carrier rocket lifted away from the Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert at 05:58, Tuesday (21:58 GMT Monday). TV cameras relayed the ascent to orbit.

 

It will be a couple of days before Shenzhou 8 is in a position to attempt the docking

 

Shenzhou separated from the rocket's upper-stage about nine minutes into the flight. Confirmation that its solar panels had been deployed was received a short while after.

It will be a couple of days before Shenzhou is in a position to attempt the docking, which will occur some 340km above the Earth.

The vehicles will be using radar and optical sensors to compute their proximity to each other and guide their final approach and contact.

The pair will then spend 12 days circling the globe together before moving apart and attempting a re-docking. Finally, Shenzhou 8 will detach and its return capsule will head back to Earth.
 
This will allow experiments carried into orbit to be recovered for analysis. The German space agency has supplied an experimental box containing fish, plants, worms, bacteria and even human cancer cells for a series of biological studies.

• Tiangong-1 was launched in September on a Long March 2F rocket
• The unmanned laboratory unit was put in a 350km-high orbit
• Shenzhou 8 will will try to rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1
• The project will test key technologies such as life-support systems
• China aims to start building a 60-tonne space station by about 2020

Assuming the venture goes well, two manned missions (Shenzhou 9 and 10) are likely to try to make similar dockings in 2012.

 

Shenzhou 8 carries experiments developed with the German space agency

 

Chinese astronauts - yuhangyuans - are expected to live aboard the conjoined vehicles for up to two weeks. There is speculation in the Chinese media that one of these missions could also include the country's first female yuhangyuan.

The 10.5m-long Tiangong-1 module was launched on 29 September and has been operating well, according to Chinese officials.

Its orbit has been lowered slightly and the vehicle turned 180 degrees in preparation for its upcoming union with Shenzhou 8.

Beijing sees the Tiangong and Shenzhou dockings as the next phase in its step-by-step approach to acquiring the skills of human spaceflight operations.

It is a learning curve China hopes will eventually lead to the construction of a space station, starting at the end of the decade.

At about 60 tonnes in mass, this future station would be considerably smaller than the 400-tonne international platform operated by the US, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan, but its mere presence in the sky would nonetheless represent a remarkable achievement.

 

Tiangong-1 was launched in September

Concept drawings describe a core module weighing some 20-22 tonnes, flanked by two slightly smaller laboratory vessels.

Officials say it would be supplied by freighters in exactly the same way that robotic cargo ships keep the International Space Station (ISS) today stocked with fuel, food, water, air, and spare parts.

China is investing billions of dollars in its space programme. It has a strong space science effort under way, with two orbiting satellites having already been launched to the Moon and a third mission expected to put a rover on the lunar surface.

Next week should see its first Mars orbiter - Yinghuo-1 - begin its journey to the Red Planet.

The Asian country is also deploying its own satellite-navigation system known as BeiDou-Compass.
Bigger rockets are coming, too. The Long March 5 will be capable of putting more than 20 tonnes in a low-Earth orbit. This lifting muscle, again, will be necessary for the construction of a space station.

USSR's Moon Lander: A New Look At A Space Race Oddity

By Richard Connelly

From http://blogs.houstonpress.com/

You can see the hammer and sickle, and the "C" in "CCCP."

What is this thing? It's the USSR's version of the lunar module that -- as far as know -- never made it to the moon.

It's not on public display, but a student got a tour of the storage facility in Russia and posted pictures to his livejournal page, the website ZMEScience reports.

It's not like no one knew what the LK Lander looked like, but the historic curiosity has been out of public sight for a while.

The somewhat translated explanation from the livejournal page:Very original shot was due to secrecy. "Much to show you I just can not, although that may be confidential in the engines, R-7, I do not understand, because in the internet and so this in bulk, but here at the Department of the R-7 - a secret unit. Okay, we are accustomed to all sorts of wonders and absurdities."

It's "an engineering relic," ZMEScience says.

As always, the USSR's design seem more brutal compared to NASA's sleekness

International Space Dominance: 7 Nations Launching the Next Space Race

North Korea is about to launch its first satellite. Iran launched theirs last month. India's space agency recently got the green light to send people into space, and China's announced plans to build a space station. Getting to space is no longer for a few, technically apt nations. Here's a look at seven countries that have their sights on orbit and the capabilities to get there.

By Michael Belfiore

A Russian Proton-M rocket. (Photograph by STR/AFP/Getty Images)

With a flurry of international efforts toward satellite launch capability (from one's home country), getting back to the moon and putting citizens in space, some experts say we are looking at a new space race–one focused on total space dominance. Should we be worried? After all, the first space race had at its core a battle for who could build the biggest intercontinental ballistic missiles.

No doubt about it, says Henry Hertzfeld, research professor at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute, "there are a lot of new starts." But he cautions that it's important to put them in perspective. "There are different launch vehicles and different capabilities, too. Comparing a manned capability that India might want to spend some money on with Iran launching a very small, very low Earth orbit satellite is really apples and oranges." Here is a look at the capabilities of the top–and most-talked-about–space-faring nations in what may be a new world order. The race is on for space dominance.

China

Last month, France signed on for a sat launch on a Chinese Long March rocket. The deal circumvents U.S. restrictions on Chinese commercial launches by using a satellite made without American parts. It should boost China's economic clout by setting an important precedent in the lucrative commercial-launch market. Meanwhile, China continues to send taikonauts to orbit aboard its Shenzhou spaceship and has just announced plans to build a space station. Is a manned moon landing next?
Capability: High, along with its ambition.

Europe

The European Space Agency has seemed content to sit back and watch the rest of the space-faring world pour money into manned spaceflight and exploratory missions while focusing on lower-cost satellite launches. But plans to convert its Automated Transfer Vehicle from a space cargo container into a manned spaceship—unveiled last year—could make Europe the fourth world power to develop manned spaceflight capability, if it so desires.
Capability: Moderate, limited mainly by its own ambition, or lack thereof.

United States

While waiting on the new NASA leader, the United States continues its focus on the moon—with Martian aspirations—with its technically troubled Constellation system. After the space shuttle retires in 2010, NASA will find itself without a manned spaceflight capability until Constellation is completed–as early as 2015.
Capability: High, but subject to change with the retirement of the space shuttle.

Russia

Six private cosmonauts have paid tens of millions of dollars each for rides on Russian Soyuz ships, and the demand is now so great that the Russian space agency plans to launch the first mission dedicated to paying passengers next year. Russia seems to have found its niche, serving the emerging commercial spaceflight industry—including selling rides to NASA's astronauts. It has even approved plans to send a manned commercial mission to the moon–if only two passengers will step up with $100 million each for tickets.
Capability: High, limited by private capital.