• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

China Unveils New Prototype Space Shuttle To Restock Tiangong Space Station

November 14, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

China has unveiled the design for its new reusable space shuttle, set to ferry cargo between Earth and the country’s Tiangong Space Station.

While we hear a lot about the International Space Station (ISS), it’s not the only science laboratory orbiting our planet. China operates the smaller Tiangong Space Station, which launched its core module in 2021 and now offers a permanent base for a crew of up to six astronauts.

Advertisement

Currently boasting three modules, the Chinese Space Agency plans to expand the space station to six modules in the coming years. The space station, as you might expect given the lack of farms and manufacturing equipment in space, needs regular resupplies in order to keep it functioning and the crew “alive”. For this purpose, and to bring experiments and other equipment back to Earth, China has commissioned a new reusable space shuttle.

The design, and a small prototype, of the Haolong Cargo Space Shuttle have now been revealed in a video from China Central Television.



Currently, the space agency uses the non-reusable Tianzhou cargo spacecraft – designed to burn up on re-entry and aimed into the Pacific Ocean – and the Shenzhou spacecraft for taking crew and a limited amount of supplies to and from the space station. The new Haolong cargo spaceship, measuring 10 meters (32.8 feet) long will weigh less than half of its predecessor, saving on costs as well as being more friendly to the environment than the single-use model.

Advertisement

The plan is for the spacecraft to dock with the space station, and have the astronauts unload and reload it before it returns to Earth uncrewed.

“The Haolong space cargo shuttle is a winged aircraft with an aerodynamic design featuring a large wingspan and a high lift-to-drag ratio,” Fang Yuanpeng, chief designer of Haolong, explained in the video unveiling the new craft. “With a blunt-nosed fuselage and large, swept-back delta wings, it combines the characteristics of both spacecraft and aircraft, allowing it to be launched into orbit by a carrier rocket and land on an airport runway like a plane.”

As well as new modules for the space station, the space agency is planning to create a new space telescope that can dock with Tiangong for maintenance and further work.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. China Evergrande shares slide 6% in early trade
  2. Indonesia’s new carbon tax signals higher power costs amid calls for clarity
  3. Hangxiety: Why Might You Feel Anxious After Drinking Alcohol?
  4. 380-Million-Year-Old Fanged Fish Found In One Of The World’s Oldest Lakes

Source Link: China Unveils New Prototype Space Shuttle To Restock Tiangong Space Station

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Black Hole Moon: Rogue Planets With Weird Signatures Could Be A Sign Of Advanced Alien Life
  • World’s Largest Ephemeral Lake Set To Turn Iconic Peachy Pink After Extreme Flooding
  • Stunning New JWST Observations Give Further Evidence That Dark Matter Is A Real Substance
  • How Big Is This Spider? Study Explains Why You Might Overestimate Their Size
  • Orcas Sometimes Give Humans Presents Of Food And We Don’t Know Why
  • New Approach For Interstellar Navigation Was Tested On A Spacecraft 9 Billion Kilometers Away
  • For Only The Second Recorded Time, Two Novae Are Visible With The Naked Eye At Once
  • Long-Lost Ancient Egyptian City Ruled By Cobra Goddess Discovered In Nile Delta
  • Much Maligned Norwegian Lemming Is One Of The Newest Mammal Species On Earth
  • Where Are The Real Geographical Centers Of All The Continents?
  • New Species Of South African Rain Frog Discovered, And It’s Absolutely Fuming About It
  • Love Cheese But Hate Nightmares? Bad News, It Looks Like The Two Really Are Related
  • Project Hail Mary Trailer First Look: What Would Happen If The Sun Got Darker?
  • Newly Discovered Cell Structure Might Hold Key To Understanding Devastating Genetic Disorders
  • What Is Kakeya’s Needle Problem, And Why Do We Want To Solve It?
  • “I Wasn’t Prepared For The Sheer Number Of Them”: Cave Of Mummified Never-Before-Seen Eyeless Invertebrates Amazes Scientists
  • Asteroid Day At 10: How The World Is More Prepared Than Ever To Face Celestial Threats
  • What Happened When A New Zealand Man Fell Butt-First Onto A Powerful Air Hose
  • Ancient DNA Confirms Women’s Unexpected Status In One Of The Oldest Known Neolithic Settlements
  • Earth’s Weather Satellites Catch Cloud Changes… On Venus
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version