China is set to become, and possibly the only, country to have a private ‘space station’ by the year 2024 or maximum by 2030.
India is also planning to set up its own space station in the next few years.
Recently, Union Space Minister Jitendra Singh had announced in the Parliament, India’s first space station to be set up by 2030.
Background:
Although currently the term of the ‘International Space Station’ (ISS) is scheduled to end in the year 2024, NASA and other international partners of this project have started the operation of ‘International Space Station’ (ISS). Life expectancy to be extended till 2030.
About Chinese Space Station:
China’s new multi-module ‘Tiangong’ space station is ready to function for at least 10 years.
This space station will work in low earth orbit at an altitude of 340-450 km above the earth’s surface.
Significance of Chinese Space Station:
The Chinese space station, located in low-Earth orbit, will act as China’s sky view, and it will provide a round-the-clock bird’s eye view of the rest of the world for Chinese astronauts.
This space station will help China achieve the goal of becoming a major space power by 2030.
Related concerns:
China’s space station will be equipped with a robotic arm, which has raised concerns about its potential military applications by the US.
Worryingly, this technology “could be used in future to do mall-wars with other satellites”.
Indian Space Station:
India is planning to launch its ‘Space Station’ by the year 2030.
The Indian space station will be much smaller (mass 20 tonnes) than the International Space Station and will be used to conduct microgravity experiments (not for space tourism).
Under the initial plan for the space station, astronauts would be held in space for 20 days. This project will be an extension of ‘Gaganyaan Mission’.
This space station will orbit the Earth at an altitude of about 400 km.
A space docking experiment (Spadex) is being worked on by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). This is an important technology for making the space station functional.
Other Space Stations:
At present, the only space station in space orbit, the International Space Station (ISS) is operational. The ISS is an international cooperation project of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.
China has so far sent two test space stations named ‘Tiangong-1’ and ‘Tiangong-2’ into space orbit.
Importance:
‘Space stations’ are necessary to collect meaningful scientific data, especially for biological experiments.
‘Space stations’ provide platforms for scientific studies for a greater number and longer periods of time than those available on other space vehicles.
Each crew member stays on the space station for weeks or months, but the duration of their spaceflight usually does not exceed one year.
Space stations are also used to study the effects of long duration space flight on the human body.
No Comments