Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Artist view of China’s space station. Credit: CMSE

China is offering space experiment “room and board” on the country’s future space station, as well as upcoming Moon, asteroid and comet explorers.

In early June, the China Manned Space Agency announced the first batch of nine international cooperation projects for the country’s space station involves 23 entities from 17 countries.

The deadline for new station proposals is August 31^st.

Credit: CMSA

Rack space

Domestically, research institutions, universities, science and technology enterprises, and even the public are welcome to suggest experiments to be conducted on the Chinese space station through an online portal.

Sixteen experiment racks are to be installed in the core module of the space station, and two lab capsules of the space station and an extravehicular experiment platform.

Each rack is regarded as a lab that can support various space experiments, and astronauts can upgrade and replace the facilities. In addition, a capsule holding a large optical telescope will fly in the same orbit as the Chinese station, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency, quoting the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Prototype of the Tianhe core module. China’s space station is expected to be operational around 2022.
Credit: CCTV/Screengrab/Inside Outer Space

Future applications

In the future, applications will be reopened every two or three years, explains Zhang Wei, director of the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

China is scheduled to complete the construction of the space station around 2022.

More information about the United Nations/China Cooperation on the Utilization of the China space station can be found here:

China Space Station Progress: Shortlist of Experiment Ideas

https://www.leonarddavid.com/china-space-station-progress-shortlist-of-experiment-ideas/

Also, go to:

http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/psa/hsti/chinaspacestation/ao_main.html

Credit: CNSA

Lunar exploration

In related China space news, an August 31^st deadline has been set for proposals to fly on the Chang’e-6 lunar sample return mission.

Chang’e-6’s launch time and landing site will depend on the status of the upcoming Chang’e-5 lunar sample and return to Earth mission.

China’s Chang’e-6 lunar sample return mission elements.
Credit: CNSA

The orbiter and the lander will each provide 22 pounds (10 kilograms), with a total of 44 pounds (20 kilograms) for scientific payloads onboard.

Space experiment spots available onboard Chang’e-6 Moon mission.
Credit: CNSA

Asteroid, comet studies

Also available for ride-along experiments is a Chinese sample return mission to Asteroid 2016HO3 and the orbiting of a main-belt comet.

Following Earth return of the asteroid samples, the Chinese probe will make a gravity assist of Earth and Mars, and arrive at the asteroid belt and orbit the Comet 133P. Comet 133P/(7986) Elst–Pizarro is a body that displays characteristics of both an asteroid and a comet.

Credit: CNSA

The entire mission will last roughly 10 Earth years.

The deadline for scheme proposals for Chang’e-6 and the asteroid mission is August 31, 2019.

Contacts for submitting ideas at the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is Gan Yong. At CNSA’s Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center the contact is Yang Ruihong.

Website: www.cnsa.gov.cn