Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: CCTV/CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab

China’s now-orbiting Shenzhou-19 astronauts are moving supplies and equipment into the Tiangong space station, brought to the orbiting facility by the newly docked Tianzhou-8 cargo craft.

Weighing about six tons, China’s Tianzhou-8 cargo craft includes supplies for the astronauts, propellant, application experiments and test equipment, with over 880 pounds (400 kilograms) of scientific gear.

Roughly three hours after the launch, the Tianzhou-8 cargo craft autonomously docked at the rear docking port of the space station’s core module Tianhe.

Handover of station between Shezhou-18 and Shenzhou-19 crew.
Image credit: CCTV/CMSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Larger cargo capacity

China launched the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship on October 30, sending a fresh crew of three astronauts — Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze — to its space station for another six-month mission.

Image credit: CCTV/CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab

The newly arrived cargo craft, compared to its predecessors — Tianzhou-6 and Tianzhou-7 — boasts a larger cargo capacity — an increase of more than 200 liters of space and more than 100 kilograms of cargo load.

Friday’s launch is the third cargo delivery mission since China’s crewed space program entered the space station’s application and development stage.

Lunar brick specialist, Zhou Cheng.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Lunar bricks

According to China Central Television (CCTV), for the first time, a brick made of synthetic lunar soil will be brought aboard the space station and subject to an exposure experiment to test whether it could be used to construct buildings on the Moon.

It is expected that the lunar soil brick will be returned to Earth by the end of next year, following the experiment.

Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

“What we are most concerned with are: first, its mechanical properties, as they are most closely related to building structures; second, its thermal properties, particularly how well it performs in terms of insulation and heat resistance; third, the impact of radiation on it,” said Zhou Cheng, professor, National Center of Technology Innovation for Digital Construction, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. “We want to know if these lunar bricks can withstand the exposure to cosmic radiation,” Zhou told CCTV.

Go to video detailing the supply ship docking at:

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