China will double the size of its space station to replace NASA’s ISS

(CNN) — China plans to expand its space station from three to six modules in the coming years as the expansion of the NASA-run International Space Station (ISS) will provide astronauts from other countries with an alternative base for near-Earth travel. Life.

The Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST), China’s main space contracting agency, announced on Wednesday at the 74th International Space Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan that the Chinese space station will have a useful life of more than 15 years.

This will be more than the previously reported 10 years.

A space station built by ChinaTiangong, or also known as Sky Palace in Chinese, has been fully operational since the end of 2022, hosting three astronauts at an orbital altitude of up to 450 kilometers.

At 180 metric tons after expanding into six modules, Tiangong is still about 40% ISS completion, which can accommodate a crew of seven astronauts. But the ISS, which has been in orbit for more than two decades, is expected to be decommissioned after 2030, while China hopes to become “a major space power”.

Last year, when Tiangong was fully operational, Chinese state media said China would not be left “behind” and “many countries” had requested to send their astronauts to the Chinese station.

But in a blow to Chinese ambitions for space diplomacy, the European Space Agency (ESA) said it did not have the budget or “political” green light to participate in Tiangong this year, suspending a multi-year plan for the arrival of European astronauts.

“Abandoning cooperation with China in manned space is clearly short-sighted, revealing that the US-led pitched conflict has ushered in a new space race,” Chinese nationalist tabloid Global Times wrote at the time.

Tiangong has become a symbol of China’s growing influence and confidence in its space efforts, and has rivaled the United States in this area after being isolated from the ISS. US law prohibits any direct or indirect cooperation with NASA.

Moscow’s partners in the BRICS group of Brazil, India, China and South Africa, as an ISS participant, have similar plans for space diplomacy.

Russian space agency Roscosmos announced plans last year to build a six-module space station that could house up to four astronauts.