China's Space Program Thread II

[Lethe]

A CG model of an expanded Chinese space station, which was shown during a

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, who again confirms that CSS is expandable.

If greater volume is desirable, would it not be more efficient to launch a new station built from larger modules using the forthcoming heavy-lift rockets? Skylab had greater mass than Tiangong Space Station and was put into orbit with a single Saturn V launch.

 

[taxiya]

If greater volume is desirable, would it not be more efficient to launch a new station built from larger modules using the forthcoming heavy-lift rockets? Skylab had greater mass than Tiangong Space Station and was put into orbit with a single Saturn V launch.

If you got two separate stations you have to double your launch of crew and cargo regularly, which is less efficient and more costly in the long run. To mitigate that you would want to dock the new larger station with the smaller one making them one station which defeat the idea of having two separate ones.

So regardless how big your single module can be launched, you are still better with one station.

Skylab launched in one assembled piece by Saturn V demonstrated that it is a bad idea of doing in such way. This is probably the lesson that US learnt not to repeat again when building ISS.

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For the final two crewed missions to Skylab, NASA assembled a backup Apollo CSM/Saturn IB in case an in-orbit rescue mission was needed, but this vehicle was never flown. The station was damaged during launch when the

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tore away from the workshop, taking one of the main solar panel arrays with it and jamming the other main array. This deprived Skylab of most of its electrical power and also removed protection from intense solar heating, threatening to make it unusable. The first crew deployed a replacement heat shade and freed the jammed solar panels to save Skylab. This was the first time that a repair of this magnitude was performed in space.

Also remember the largest module of Skylab is the 35t workshop, the 76.5t station made up by many modules.

If you want a much larger station, you can launch a 50t module to dock to the station with a CZ-5DY (70t LEO). But never try to launch an assembled station on top of CZ-9 (150t LEO), the G force will just damage the joints and deform the assemble.

 

[PeoplesPoster]

Has China done any work on inflatable or expandable station modules?

 

[by78]

A press blurb from the private launch firm

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:

Lingdong has recently completed a low-temperature test run of a large solid rocket motor at a facility in Inner Mongolia. All test data met safety, reliability, and performance requirements, and the test run was a complete success. This project marks the first time a private enterprise has participated in the development of large solid-motors since the implementation of the national military-civilian integration development strategy.

 

[eprash]

Has China done any work on inflatable or expandable station modules?

My colleague once mentioned about inflatable hatch, couldn't find anything about it from anywhere else though

 

[gelgoog]

China is working on inflatable heat shields but I have not heard about inflatable space station modules.
That would be a good technology to invest in I agree.

 

[Lethe]

If you got two separate stations you have to double your launch of crew and cargo regularly, which is less efficient and more costly in the long run. To mitigate that you would want to dock the new larger station with the smaller one making them one station which defeat the idea of having two separate ones.

So regardless how big your single module can be launched, you are still better with one station.

I was thinking of ultimately replacing the current station with a new, larger station assembled using larger modules enabled by forthcoming heavier rockets, not operating two stations simultaneously or operating a monolithic station like Skylab. The current station is only anticipated to have a 10-year service life.

The point of using larger modules is that they would be more efficient, offering more useful volume/mass as a proportion of total volume/mass. A single 40-tonne module would offer more habitable volume than two 20-tonne modules. The mechanisms that permit station modules to dock together are not trivial.

Obviously there are countervailing considerations also. There are limits to the payload dimensions that can be accommodated by various rocket designs, and more modules can offer better redundancy. But equally there are reasons why nobody is assembling space stations in orbit using dozens or hundreds of 1-tonne modules, and why the current station is made up of the largest modules China can presently put into orbit.

 

[Red tsunami]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1607651052731662336

 

[taxiya]

I was thinking of ultimately replacing the current station with a new, larger station assembled using larger modules enabled by forthcoming heavier rockets, not operating two stations simultaneously or operating a monolithic station like Skylab. The current station is only anticipated to have a 10-year service life.

The point of using larger modules is that they would be more efficient, offering more useful volume/mass as a proportion of total volume/mass. A single 40-tonne module would offer more habitable volume than two 20-tonne modules. The mechanisms that permit station modules to dock together are not trivial.

Obviously there are countervailing considerations also. There are limits to the payload dimensions that can be accommodated by various rocket designs, and more modules can offer better redundancy. But equally there are reasons why nobody is assembling space stations in orbit using dozens or hundreds of 1-tonne modules, and why the current station is made up of the largest modules China can presently put into orbit.

it makes sense if it is to replace.

 

[by78]

An update on the Jilin-1 constellation of observation satellites. The plan is to launch 300 satellites by 2025. So far, 75 satellites have joined the constellation, enabling revisits to any spot in the world every 55 minutes or so.

Some Jilin-1 observation satellites at the assembly line.