Since astronaut Yang Liwei returned safely to Earth, China has been gradually drawing out kudos for its space efforts through a variety of channels, such as placing Yang on an international tour that even saw him briefly visit the USA, albeit under apparently difficult circumstances.

His appearance at the International Astronautical Federation congress this year in Vancouver, Canada, was quite successful, and Yang is soon to make his debut as a television host for a series on space exploration, due to screen in China, and possibly elsewhere.

China seems to be realising, somewhat belatedly, that Shenzhou's public relations efforts require almost as much impetus as the rocket that launches it into space. In an over-exposed, media-saturated world, few events attract publicity without active promotion.

It is possible that later Shenzhou missions will attract more publicity, and more openness to the international media. Without better planning, Shenzhou will simply fade into obscurity to anyone who isn't connected to aerospace or defence.

It will take a long, sustained effort on both media relations, and the Shenzhou program itself, in order to truly make an impression. The launch of Shenzhou 5 was a highly significant event, in that it represented only the third debut of an indigenous human spaceflight program in more than four decades.

But the level of coverage it received internationally was far less than it deserved. The international media itself must take some of the blame for this, but even conscientious reporters could not contend with a bureaucracy that refused to provide a live telecast of the launch.

China has since explained that Shenzhou 6 will carry two astronauts into orbit for five days, a logical extension in overall mission development. This will give a roughly tenfold increase in the number of man-hours from China's first manned mission. It will allow more time for experiments, and for monitoring the health of the astronauts themselves over an extended flight.

China has stated that it is developing better spacesuits for the mission, which can be removed in flight. Thus, we can anticipate that the crew of Shenzhou 6 will probably spend extended periods in a shirtsleeve environment.

The crew will be more comfortable, but they will also be able to move around their spacecraft more easily. Working on experiments and other tasks will also be easier if their hands and limbs are not encumbered. Much of this work will probably take place in the Orbital Module, a cylindrical chamber at the top of the Shenzhou spacecraft.

This would seem to offer roughly as much internal v!olume as Shenzhou's bell-shaped descent module. Yang Liwei did not enter the Orbital Module of his spacecraft when he was in orbit, but Chinese authorities have already confirmed that the crew of Shenzhou 6 will enter theirs.

Shenzhou 6 will probably carry experiment stations and sample containers in the Orbital Module. There will probably be seeds and plants aboard the spacecraft, and the crew may find themselves working as gardeners to observe plant germination over the course of several days. Some of these will probably be returned to Earth at the end of the mission, to complement China's vigorous program of experiments with "space seeds".

Elsewhere, Shenzhou 6 will probably carry containers with anything from crystal growth packages to cosmic ray counters. A list of experiments of what will probably be a busy scientific mission will probably appear at some point in the future.

The astronauts, and samples of their on-orbit activities, will return to Earth at the end of five days. However, as with prior Shenzhou missions, the Orbital Module will probably remain aloft for another six months, carrying out activities remotely as an unmanned satellite. China has confirmed that previous Shenzhou missions have carried out earth observation. One camera system carried aboard Shenzhou apparently has a resolution of one metre, making it useful for military observations.

So far, China has been reluctant to release Earth observation imagery taken from Shenzhou, apart from some beautiful photography taken by Yang Liwei himself with hand-held cameras. But one image that could have been taken by Shenzhou was indirectly released to the world in December.

Shenzhou or regular China EO sat image

A photograph published in the Chinese media shows the Shenzhou 6 orbital module undergoing construction. The sight of the orbital module itself reveals nothing we haven't seen in previous assembly photos of Shenzhou, but there's a curious poster hanging in the assembly shop, beside the module. Only a small portion of this poster is visible in the image, but it clearly depicts an orbital view of Asia, with the Korean peninsula and parts of China being visible. This would seem to be only a fraction of a larger panorama that probably shows the whole of China from space.

Beneath this image, a heavily digitised image of what appears to be the edge of a cyclone is portrayed on another poster. What are !we really looking at? In the second case, it is probably an image from a Chinese geosynchronous weather satellite. The first image, portraying China itself, could also be from a weather satellite, but this could also be a view from a wide-angle camera carried on a Shenzhou orbital module.

Several images would be synthesised to form this continent-wide picture. A white panel featuring some sort of caption in Chinese can be seen in the corner of this image, but the resolution of the Web-based picture is too poor to allow it to be read.

Is this an unplanned sneak peak through Shenzhou's cameras? Possibly, possibly not. China could simply be decorating its assembly facilities with nice pictures. But it would seem unusual to place such images directly beside the Orbital Module, especially when images like this were not visible in the first set of Shenzhou assembly pictures. The images have only appeared after camera-equipped Orbital Modules have flown. China may issue a statement, or official images, in the future. Until then, Shenzhou observers have another mystery to pursue.

Dr Morris Jones is a Sydney-based journalist and academic. Email morrisjonesNOSPAMhotmail.com. Replace NOSPAM with @ to send email.

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