China's Space Program News Thread

[Lion]

Re: china manned space - news and views

Is there any logical reason why they chose not to send a manned module

Reduced risk. Any manned space flight mission is always dangerous.

 

[AssassinsMace]

Re: china manned space - news and views

If China has an automated docking capability that works at a 50km distance, that could me China could construct a space station orbiting Mars before people even get there.

 

[plawolf]

Re: china manned space - news and views

I am somewhat confused. China has announced that it's docking system is domestically developed but simultaneously is compatible with the Russian APAS system.

Is is possible that the mechanics of the system are identical (they do look identical) but the tracking system/software/optics were developed domestically?

It just means the Chinese hatches are of a similar enough size to dock with Russian spacecraft or the ISS. All the collaberation you need to do that is a tape measure.

 

[plawolf]

Re: china manned space - news and views

If China has an automated docking capability that works at a 50km distance, that could me China could construct a space station orbiting Mars before people even get there.

Let them first build a space station orbiting the earth before we speak of Mars. .

Besides, I do not really think it is necessary or indeed economical to assemble a space station around Mars. Not for the first manned visits anyways.

If anyone is going to build a space station orbiting something other than the earth, the moon is the only likely place anytime in the foreseeable future.

 

[Centrist]

Re: china manned space - news and views

It just means the Chinese hatches are of a similar enough size to dock with Russian spacecraft or the ISS. All the collaberation you need to do that is a tape measure.

I am talking about the pin structure and mechanism. It looks identical to Russia's APAS. I am wondering if China's claims of it being domestically developed are correct or not...

 

[bladerunner]

Re: china manned space - news and views

Reduced risk. Any manned space flight mission is always dangerous.

So lets see if ive got this right

tiangong 1 has a docking port
shenzhou 8 has a docking port

so when docked theyre sorta nose to nose (is there a spare docking port anywhere?)
because if if some reason they dont separate when it comes time to undock, then any manned mission is in trouble?

 

[Centrist]

Re: china manned space - news and views

So lets see if ive got this right

tiangong 1 has a docking port
shenzhou 8 has a docking port

so when docked theyre sorta nose to nose (is there a spare docking port anywhere?)
because if if some reason they dont separate when it comes time to undock, then any manned mission is in trouble?

Correct. There is no other docking port. Though I imagine that there is some way to manually disengage them if necessary.

 

[LesAdieux]

Re: china manned space - news and views

so when docked theyre sorta nose to nose (is there a spare docking port anywhere?)
because if if some reason they dont separate when it comes time to undock, then any manned mission is in trouble?

that's probably not the issue, the shenzhou consists of three sectors: orbit sector, re-entry sector and power plant, it docks with tiangong by the orbit sector. to safe return, the orbit sector and the re-entry sector must separate.

 

[delft]

Re: china manned space - news and views

It just means the Chinese hatches are of a similar enough size to dock with Russian spacecraft or the ISS. All the collaberation you need to do that is a tape measure.

It's somewhat more complicated and you do not need just a tape measure. The interfaces of docking spacecraft are normalized so any spacecraft can dock to any other spacecraft, Russian, NASA, ESA or Chinese. This was first done in the Apollo-Soyuz mission in the '70's when the Russian interface was adopted as the World standard.

 

[Quickie]

Re: china manned space - news and views

It's somewhat more complicated and you do not need just a tape measure. The interfaces of docking spacecraft are normalized so any spacecraft can dock to any other spacecraft, Russian, NASA, ESA or Chinese. This was first done in the Apollo-Soyuz mission in the '70's when the Russian interface was adopted as the World standard.

I didn't come across news that says that's really the case, but if so, only the interface and interlocking parts would be identical. The design of the mechanisms driving these parts and, more importantly, the sensors and computer control system required for the docking process will have to be designed independently since this sort of info are not freely shared.

Edit: And then there's the question of the interaction between the sensors and control systems of the 2 docking spacecrafts. There needs to be some standardization here in order for the spacecrafts to be interdockable.