On CNSA –China National Space Administration The Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft will be launched next month! From Wenchang Spacecraft launch Center, Hainan province, China, People’s Republic of China.. the November Date of year 2024.. Towards the Tiangong-China Space Station..
According to the plan at the beginning of 2024, China’s manned space program plans to carry out four launch missions this year, including two manned launch missions and two cargo launch missions. At present, the launch missions of the “Tianzhou-7” cargo spacecraft and the “Shenzhou-18” manned spacecraft have been carried out in the first half of the year, and the “Shenzhou-19” and “Tianzhou-8” launch missions will be carried out next.
According to the original plan, the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft will be launched before the Shenzhou-19 manned spacecraft. Due to the impact of the super typhoon Makar, the ground facilities of the Wenchang launch site were affected to a certain extent, and the launch was postponed to after the Shenzhou-19 mission. It is expected that in early to mid-November, at the 201 station of the Wenchang launch site, the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft will be launched to the Chinese space station by the Long March-7 Yao-9 carrier rocket. The spacecraft will adopt the rapid rendezvous and docking mode to go up and is planned to dock at the rear port of the Tianhe core module.
In this mission, Tianzhou-8 will carry lunar soil bricks to the Chinese space station for the first time. Lunar soil bricks are made by firing simulated lunar soil on the ground. They are much harder than ordinary concrete and may be used to build lunar structures in the future. In order to verify whether the lunar soil bricks can withstand the test of extreme environments, they will undergo exposure tests in the space station.
The Tianzhou series cargo spacecraft is the first type of professional cargo spacecraft developed by China. It is developed based on the technical foundation of the Tiangong series space laboratory and the Shenzhou series manned spacecraft. It has a high starting point and is a disposable spacecraft. The Tianzhou-8 is an improved version of the Tianzhou series cargo spacecraft and the third spacecraft in the second batch of products after the mass production of the Tianzhou series cargo spacecraft.
The spacecraft adopts a dual-cabin tandem configuration, with the propulsion cabin and the cargo cabin from bottom to top in the launch state. The spacecraft is 10.6 meters long, with a maximum diameter of the main body (cargo cabin) of 3.35 meters, a wingspan of 14.9 meters when the solar wing is unfolded, a cargo cabin loading space of 22.5 cubic meters, a loading capacity of 6.7 tons, a total cargo loading capacity of 7.4 tons, a spacecraft dry mass of 6.5 tons, and a cargo-to-load ratio of 0.53. The “Tianzhou” spacecraft is the world’s most powerful cargo spacecraft in service, with the highest cargo-to-load ratio and the most comprehensive on-orbit support capability.
At present, the Tianzhou series of spacecraft have the ability to quickly rendezvous and dock with multiple options, and can choose to go uphill in 6 hours, 3 hours, 2 hours and other options, which has been an early application for speeding up the uphill mission of the Shenzhou series of spacecraft.
Since the implementation of the Chinese space station mission, the launch frequency of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft has been adjusted from twice a year to three times every two years, and the launch density will be further reduced. When the Tianzhou-8 is launched, the interval between the launch of the Tianzhou-7 will reach 10 months, which will set a record for the longest launch interval of the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft.
Images and visuals are from their Respectives CMS China Manned SpaceCNSA-China National Space Administration
