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DRAGON SPACE
Two Crews For Tiangong
by Morris Jones
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Mar 05, 2010


Two crews will live aboard Tiangong 1. The first will be on Shenzhou 9, and has previously been expected to consist of three astronauts, if earlier statements are correct. It was assumed that Shenzhou 10 would also fly three astronauts, but now that's not entirely clear.

We've recently had another short "up periscope" moment in monitoring China's human spaceflight program. This latest scan, produced from some Chinese media statements, suggests that the Tiangong space laboratory will be launched in 2011, and three Shenzhou missions will be sent to it in the future.

The launch of Tiangong next year is a disappointment to those who were hoping for some action in 2010, but it's not surprising. China had always specified a broad timeframe for the launch. Tiangong is a new spacecraft, and the first vehicle is also expected to support a crew. China would want to make sure that it was fully debugged.

In addition to supporting a crew, Tiangong must also demonstrate rendezvous and docking, which has never been performed before by any Chinese spacecraft. China stated that technical issues had prompted the delay in the launch, and this is entirely believable.

We can still expect Shenzhou 8 to launch to Tiangong 1 in an unmanned mission to test rendezvous and docking. This mission will carry experiments on board, just like the early unmanned Shenzhou test flights. Some of these experiments are international, with Europe being well-represented.

The revelation that there will be three missions launched to Tiangong is interesting. It suggests two more flights to after Shenzhou 8, and we can assume that both of them will be manned.

Two crews will live aboard Tiangong 1. The first will be on Shenzhou 9, and has previously been expected to consist of three astronauts, if earlier statements are correct. It was assumed that Shenzhou 10 would also fly three astronauts, but now that's not entirely clear.

Statements from Qi Faren, a "rocket designer" who is regularly quoted in the Chinese media, have suggested "two or three" astronauts for these missions. Will China experiment with different crew numbers on different missions? Has the crew complement for Shenzhou 9 been reduced to two?

Speculation on these matters can always march ahead of known facts, but it's worth considering why this could be done. Tiangong is a small vehicle, not much larger than a Shenzhou spacecraft itself. It carries little internal volume, which means crew accommodations would be somewhat cramped. A larger concern is the impact on logistics.

Tiangong cannot carry large amounts of food and other consumables. There is also no prospect for cargo spacecraft to replenish Tiangong. Any new consumables carried to the laboratory will need to be stored aboard the Shenzhou spacecraft that visit them.

Two crews of two astronauts staying for periods of roughly two weeks could be manageable, but this would still stretch the resources of the Shenzhou-Tiangong missions.

A third crew member on one or both missions could complicate living arrangements, including the use of food and hygiene facilities. It would also cause the consumables to be depleted at a much higher rate.

Some of the resources on board Tiangong, such as water, are expected to be partially recycled. This could be sustainable for a two-person crew, but it's possible that the on-board systems would have trouble dealing with the waste products of three people.

Holding the crews back to two astronauts would not only reduce the demands on resources. It would permit longer stays at the laboratory, which could influence the usefulness of certain experiments and tasks.

We will probably need to wait months before we know anything for sure. Even the timing of the launches is unspecified and unclear. The New York Times published a story on March 3, claiming that the "China National Space Administration said it planned three docking missions with the lab next year", insinuating all these flights would take place in 2011.

This claim is not in synchrony with other media sources. China Central Television published a story on its Web site on the same day, claiming that Tiangong will "dock with three Shenzhou ships to be put into space within two years." Agence-France Presse quoted Qi as saying that Shenzhou 9 and 10 would dock "in successive years." Who knows what will really happen?

Dr Morris Jones is the author of The New Moon Race, available from Rosenberg Publishing (www.rosenbergpub.com.au).

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Related Links
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The Chinese Space Program - News, Policy and Technology
China News from SinoDaily.com






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