|
Author
|
Topic: Tiangong-2: mission comments and questions
|
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 09-15-2016 09:42 AM
   
This thread is intended for comments and questions about China's Tiangong-2 space lab and the updates posted under the topic: China's Tiangong-2 (TG-2) orbital space lab. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 09-15-2016 09:44 AM
China's Tiangong-2 space lab launched on Thursday (Sept. 15) at 10:04 a.m. EDT (1404 GMT or 22:04 Beijing time) on a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. |
issman1
Member Posts: 1042
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005
|
posted 09-15-2016 04:35 PM
Any likelihood the Tiangong-2 is outfitted with an International Docking Adapter? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 09-15-2016 04:45 PM
It is not; it has an adapter based on the same architecture used on space station Mir and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 09-17-2016 10:37 AM
From journalist Andrew Jones on Twitter: Inside Tiangong-2, which has circularised its 380 km altitude orbit (via @cnspaceflight).  
|
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-18-2016 05:44 PM
Additional (better) views inside Tiangong-2: 
|
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-24-2016 09:12 AM
Banxing-2, a small satellite that was launched with Tiangong-2 in September, was deployed on Sunday (Oct. 23) and sent back its first images of the space lab and Shenzhou 11 complex. The first 300 photos of the Tiangong-2 space lab and Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft after the docking have been sent back to the earth on Monday, according to CCTV News.The photos were taken by an accompanying satellite, which was nicknamed the "Selfie Stick," launched from Tiangong-2 at 7:31 a.m. on last Sunday. The accompanying satellite will orbit close to the Tiangong-2 and Shenzhou-11 to monitor the spacecraft at the end of October.  |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-25-2016 08:52 AM
Photo from Banxing-2 of Tiangong-2 and Shenzhou 11:  |
MrSpace86
Member Posts: 1618
From: Gardner, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2003
|
posted 10-25-2016 12:11 PM
I have long thought/said this: it really looks like Russian hardware. Sure, it's bigger and such, but the overall design looks like the Mir core module (or even Zvezda) and their spacecraft looks like the Soyuz's fraternal twin. Not starting a political debate, but it's mind boggling how Russia is totally okay with all this. At least they have a way up there though. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-25-2016 02:33 PM
China based the design of the Tiangong space lab, as well as the Shenzhou and Tianzhou spacecraft, on Russian hardware and systems that it bought from Russia in the mid-1990s. China advanced the technology, but the vehicles are built upon a Russian foundation, with Russia's full knowledge.The Tiangong, Shenzhou and Tianzhou are purely Chinese programs, but Russia and China are not competitors when it comes to their space efforts. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-31-2016 10:06 AM
More photos from Banxing-2 of Tiangong-2 and Shenzhou 11:  
|
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 06-21-2018 10:40 AM
China has lowered the orbit of its Tiangong-2 space lab, likely in preparation for deorbiting the orbital facility, reports SpaceNews. Orbital information published by the U.S. Strategic Command's Joint Force Space Component Command, through the Joint Space Operations Center, indicates that Tiangong-2 has moved from an altitude of around 380 by 386 kilometers down to 292 by 297 kilometers.No announcement regarding the status of the Tiangong-2 space lab has been made. The China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSE), which manages China's human spaceflight and space station related missions, did not respond to a SpaceNews request for comment. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told SpaceNews that, "it seems likely that the lowering of Tiangong-2's orbit is the first step in safely disposing of it." |
denali414
Member Posts: 593
From: Raleigh, NC
Registered: Aug 2017
|
posted 07-17-2019 07:25 PM
China's Tiangong-2 space lab is planned to be controlled to leave orbit and re-enter the atmosphere on July 19 (Beijing time)... For those living near the south Pacific... get those metal detectors ready.  |
advertisement