Dear Global Impact Readers,
Space, they say, is the final frontier. But how far does that frontier go and what’s out there?
China, has in recent years, accelerated all things space as part of its busy science programme we recapped a few weeks ago, from landing a rover on Mars to nearing completion of its Tiangong space station.
In this issue, the SCMP’s Stephen Chen, the news editor for science with our China desk, is back to look at China’s exploits and gaze into what the future holds for its ambitious space programme.
Andrew Mullen
Deputy Editor, Political Economy ‘Mom is going to war’ Astronaut Liu Yang rejected her children's request to wave goodbye at the launch pad.
"Mom is going to war," said the first Chinese woman in space in a farewell letter penned just before the Shenzhou 14 mission earlier this month that sent her into space for a second time.
"As a soldier on duty, I have to forget about family when facing threats. I am afraid I will cry when I see you," she added.
Colonel Liu and her two male crew members will spend six months in orbit completing the construction of the Tiangong space station, the most sophisticated infrastructure built by one nation in space.
The work intensity will exceed previous missions, although they will need to keep an eye out for some surprise visitors, such as unfriendly satellites, which can pose a threat to their lives.
China has, up until recently, been an underdog in the space race after its request to join 15 other nations in the ageing International Space Station programme was rejected.
Its efforts have been hampered slightly due to international sanctions, with China’s space industry forced to build almost everything itself.
For the same reason, few nations have launched satellites using Chinese rockets, even though they are technically advanced, relatively low in cost and highly reliable.
This has not stopped China, in recent years, conducting more space launches than any other country after its scientists and engineers developed a new generation of rockets despite having suffered initial setbacks.
They also built the world's first quantum satellite, though some people thought the technology would not work.
The most precise atomic clocks in space, the fastest laser communication experiments, the nimblest imaging satellite and the most powerful space laser device are also recent achievements by China’s scientists.
They also landed the first spacecraft on the far side of the moon.
In China’s first visit to Mars, a graveyard for many previous missions by other countries, they were also able to put a rover on the surface without first-hand knowledge of the red planet.
But Chinese space authorities have bigger ambitions.
They have teamed up with Russia to build an international research station on the Moon, while a sample return mission from Mars is scheduled in 2031, two years before Nasa.
In a save-the-Earth experiment, a Chinese spacecraft will also slam into a large asteroid to change its course.
And a solar power station in space will beam energy wirelessly to almost anywhere on the surface of the planet.
To achieve these goals, Chinese researchers are developing some revolutionary technologies.
By 2035, they plan to build a fleet of hypersonic space planes that can transport thousands of passengers to lower Earth orbit every year at a cost significantly lower than rockets.
Several space nuclear reactors under development can produce over one megawatt of power for interstellar journeys or settlements.
A planetary defence system consisting of a huge radar network will monitor space debris and detect asteroid threats with unprecedented accuracy and timeliness.
China's rise as a space power, though, has not always been well received.
Some researchers have urged the military to destroy the world's largest internet satellite network if it poses a threat to China's national security.
New Chinese satellites are fortified by an extra shield against new space weapons such as high power microwaves that can disrupt communication or burn sensors and chips.
Just before Liu took off, a jamming device was found near the launch site in the Gobi desert, although it was unclear whether the discovery was a sabotage attempt or an accident.
“Don't be afraid of failures,” Liu told her children in the letter. “Just do it again, and again.” |
China's Shenzhou 14 mission begins mission to finish the Tiangong space station
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