China will consider using the Tiangong Space Station for in orbit assembly and construction of large space telescopes
2023-04-03
In addition to the Sky Survey Space Telescope, there may be more spacecraft flying in common orbit with the Tiangong Space Station in the future to receive in orbit services, and the Tiangong Space Station will gradually play an important role as a "space home port". Consider using the Tiangong Space Station for in orbit assembly and construction of complex facilities such as large space antenna type space telescopes. At present, these large facilities are mainly deployed in orbit after launch, with two main problems: firstly, as the size increases, the deployment mechanism becomes increasingly complex, greatly increasing the risk of deployment in orbit.
The second is that in the future, the size requirements for related facilities will become increasingly large, and the method of deploying in orbit after launch will lose its technical feasibility. The use of the Tiangong Space Station for in orbit construction of related facilities can effectively solve these two problems; On the one hand, in response to the issue of deployment risks, as the space station has astronaut in orbit maintenance functions, in case of faults during the construction process, in orbit maintenance and remediation can be carried out to reduce mission risks; On the other hand, the microgravity environment on the space station is conducive to the on orbit manufacturing of super large facilities, which can effectively solve the problem of the size limitation of facilities during the launch process.
Source: "Characteristics and Prospects of China's Space Station Construction System Scheme" by Wang Xiang, Zhang Qiao, and Wang Wei
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