Young Chinese The Tiangong Space Station is nearly complete and is expected to host more than 1,000 science experiments over the next decade.

The third and final section of the station, named Mengtian, will be launched on Monday aboard a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Space Center in southern China.

It will be the second active space station after the International Space Station (ISS). The construction of the new station is a huge achievement and justified cause for China’s pride, providing, among other things, new opportunities for Chinese scientists.

Among the experiments that will be carried out in Tiangong, where three Chinese astronauts are currently located – two men and one woman – the impact of microgravity on living tissues and the health of astronauts, the behavior and prevention of fires in space, the quantum properties of gases, etc.

Researchers from other countries will also have access to the space station. China has already selected nine international experiments to be carried out at the station in cooperation with scientists from Japan, Russia, India and Mexico, according to the journal Nature.

The station consists of three sections: the main “Tianhe” (launched in April 2021) and two scientific “arms”, “Mengtian” and “Wentian” (which have been in orbit since July this year). Several Chinese missions with supplies and astronauts have already arrived at the station.

At the Chinese station, among other things, there will be more than 20 mini-laboratories equipped with centrifuges, refrigerators with temperatures up to minus 80 degrees Celsius, a high-temperature furnace, several lasers and optical atomic clocks.

All this will be used to conduct experiments similar to those carried out on the ISS. In three facilities adjacent to the outer part of Tiangong, the impact of cosmic radiation on plants and microorganisms will be studied.

China does not participate in the ISS, where its astronauts do not have access. The US government has banned the US space agency (NASA) from bilateral cooperation with China.

Source: RES-IPE