China space station: What is the Tiangong?

China launched a 23-tonne research lab module to its newly built space station
Tiangong on Sunday 24 July. The lab Wentian, or "Quest for the Heavens", is expected to carry
out biological and life science research. This is China's latest step to become a leading space
power.
What is the Tiangong space station?

Tiangong space station, or "Heavenly Palace", is China's new permanent space station.
The country has previously launched two temporary trial space stations, named as Tiangong-
1 and Tiangong-2. The new lab Wentian is the second of three key modules to Tiangong. The
�irst key module Tianhe - which contains living quarters for crew members - was sent into orbit
in April 2021. The other key module, Mengtian science lab, is due to be launched by the end of
2022.

China has big ambitions for Tiangong. The station will have its own power, propulsion,
life support systems and living quarters. It is also designed to provide refuelling power to
China's new space telescope, called Xuntian, which will �ly close to the space station next year.
China is only the third country in history to have put both astronauts into space and to build a
space station, after the Soviet Union (now Russia) and the US.
China hopes Tiangong will replace the International Space Station (ISS), which is due
to be decommissioned in 2031. Chinese astronauts are currently excluded from the ISS because
US law bans its space agency, Nasa, from sharing its data with China.
China's plans to reach the Moon and Mars

China's ambitions do not end there. A few years from now it wants to take samples from
asteroids near the Earth. By 2030, it aims to have put its �irst astronauts on the Moon, and to
have sent probes to collect samples from Mars and Jupiter.

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What are other countries doing?
As China expands its role in space, several other countries are also aiming to get to the
Moon. Nasa plans to return to the Moon with astronauts from the US and other countries from
2025 onwards and has already rolled its new giant SLS rocket at the Kennedy Space Center,
Japan, South Korea, Russia, India, the United Arab Emirates are also working on their own lunar
missions.
India has launched its second major Moon mission already and wants to have its own
space station by 2030. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency, which is working with Nasa on
Moon missions, is also planning a network of lunar satellites to make it easier for astronauts to
communicate with Earth.

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