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China Space

China Launches Second Space Lab (space.com) 88

Posted by msmash from the it's-on dept.
Reader hackingbear writes: China's next space laboratory, Tiangong-2 launched from the country's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center today at 10:04 a.m. EDT (1404 GMT) on a Long March 2F carrier rocket. Like its predecessor Tiangong-1, Tiangong-2 is an orbiting space lab -- but this latest model has made several improvements in the series. Among the advances: astronauts can remain on the station up to 30 days; New systems allow in orbit refueling of propellant; and 14 new experiments in a wide range of sciences including composite material fabrication, advanced-plant cultivation, gamma ray burst polarization, fluid physics, space-to-earth quantum communications. The space lab is also equipped with a cold atom space clock, that has an estimated precision of 10 to the power of minus 16 seconds, or a one-second error every 30 million years, enhancing accuracy of time-keeping in space by one to two orders of magnitudes. This exactitude will help measure previously undetectable fluctuations for experiments conducted in zero-gravity.The Tiangong 2, while is an experimental space station, is still operational. The astronauts that would come on board next month are to spend a full month up there -- a longer period of time than possible on Tiangong 1.
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China Launches Second Space Lab More

China Launches Second Space Lab

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  • piracy? (Score:3)

    by networkBoy ( 774728 ) on Thursday September 15, 2016 @01:11PM (#52894637) Journal

    I've often wondered what prevents (aside from stupendous cost) someone from launching up to one of these and taking it over while it's not occupied?

    At what point will this actually become an issue?
    -nb

    • Re:piracy? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Fire_Wraith ( 1460385 ) on Thursday September 15, 2016 @01:13PM (#52894653)
      It would probably be considered an act of piracy in international legal terms.

      Of course, it might just be worth it for that alone, to go down in history as the first Space Pirate. :)
      • I want to see this in a move.

      • It would probably be considered an act of piracy in international legal terms.

        Pirates were, customarily, hung by the neck until dead. Can't do that in zero-gravity...

        Throwing one out of an airlock is rather cruel — and unusual too. Wasting your own crew's sole means of evacuation on transferring the captured pirates to Earth is not only wasteful, but may well condemn the said crew to death.

        Keeping the detained pirates up there — and feeding them food at $17,000-20,000 per kilogram [quora.com]? Talk about

    • I've often wondered what prevents (aside from stupendous cost) someone from launching up to one of these and taking it over while it's not occupied?

      It will have to be Russia or India. The US doesn't have its own ride.

      • As far as I know, India has not yet put any people into space. They are at the same level as SpaceX and Boeing. They have launched unmaned vehicles.

        My guess is SpaceX will put a human into space long before India does.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tomhath ( 637240 )
      What are they going to do, kick the door in? Break a window? It's not like stealing a 1963 Volkswagen. Unless you've already taken control of it from the ground I doubt there would be any way for a person to get inside and do anything.

    • If you could put a person into space, you could just as easily put your own station into space.

      I think you are entirely unaware of how few manned space programs there are right now.

      Heck, it took a ton of effort just to get spacecraft from different countries to be able to dock with each other during Soyuz-Apollo and Space Shuttle-Mir missions. Nobody in Russia, US, or India would even have the equipment to link up to a Chinese station.

      • I'm quite aware, thank you.
        I just enjoy the thought experiment. Every time one launches, all the way back to Skylab, I've had the same thought.
        -nb

    • Sandra Bullock did this once. She didn't seem to have any problems getting into the station and launching the return module.

    • chance are good that China has weapons on theirs and they would simply blow it up upon somebody trying to enter.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Etcetera ( 14711 )

        Actually, there are weapons on the ISS too, if inadvertently.

        The Soyuz capsule has a 9mm on-board for use in self defense if it lands in the middle of, say, a lake surrounded by somewhere with wild animals.

        • Soyuz is not iss. And the shuttle, as well as Apollo, had AR7 onboard. The difference is that Chinese space station likely does not have survival weapons.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Can you access the docking port without assistance from the ground? Can the ground control remotely lock it or otherwise make the station uninhabitable? Might need some hacking but I bet they could sabotage it pretty well remotely.

    • I've often wondered what prevents (aside from stupendous cost) someone from launching up to one of these and taking it over while it's not occupied?

      I'm just guessing, but what prevents someone from launching up to one of these and taking it over while it's not occupied is probably the stupendous cost.

  • I can't wait (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I just can't wait until we catch up with China and have the ability to launch astronauts into space!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Why? At this point it's just a spectacle. There's no purpose to putting people into LEO. It's been done. It achieves little to nothing.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 )

        Yes, but currently we rely on Russia to be our Astro-Uber. It's embarrassing and gives Putin more ways to mess with us.

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Why? You rely on China to be your Manufacturing-Uber. You aren't embarrassed by that! As long as it allows more taking and taking by the billionaire leisure class, it's OK, right?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Maritz ( 1829006 )
        Where's 'this' point? At what point did it become pointless? Be specific.
  • Try "accuracy" next time. That's like listening to an asshat who uses "betterment" in conversation.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by kbonin ( 58917 )

      I think 'it "embiggens" their experiments' is more appropriate. And less grammer snobberastic.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tomhath ( 637240 )

      There's nothing wrong with the word exactitude.

      I'd use precise rather than accurate though. It can measure time intervals very precisely, but if it was set to the wrong time in the first place it isn't accurate.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mah! ( 121197 )
      Meanwhile, I wonder about the editor "manishs", and what their native language may be. Closing the story with "The Tiangong 2, while is an experimental space station, is still operational."

      "while is an experimental" and "is still operational" is supposed to mean what?

      And the sentence "The astronauts that would come on board next month are to spend a full month up there" ...

      Verb modality? Use of commas?

  • The space lab is also equipped with a cold atom space clock, that has an estimated precision of 10 to the power of minus 16 seconds, or a one-second error every 30 million years

    Einstein proved that time is relative. So accuracy is also relative.

    • Clocks in satellites already need to be re-synched periodically. The velocity of a satellite orbiting the earth is enough to make clocks go noticeably out of sync with earth.

    • Accuracy and precision are not the same thing...

      • Accuracy and precision are not the same thing...

        Please give us a simple but scientific definition of each.

        I teach high school science, and I currently use the darts analogy but next year I want to find definitions that are either more accurate or more precise...

        • I see what you did there!

          In case your post was a rare instance of internet sincerity, how about the old school thermometer analogy? The amount of markings on the tube represent precision (direct relationship here). The stability of the fluid (thick tube with a lot of sloshing vs thin tube with minimal sloshing) represents the accuracy. Or measuring the height of a hyper dog vs a calm dog. If you use the same tape measure you'll have the same precision but the accuracy will be very different.

          In summary accur

  • China plans to complete space station in 2022 and will have a mass of 64,000 kg. This is about half of the mass of Mir launched 30 years ago by USSR. Still a lot to catch up. The ISS launched in 1998 has a mass of 440,000 kg.

    • Re:Smaller than Mir (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Richard_at_work ( 517087 ) on Thursday September 15, 2016 @01:53PM (#52894969)

      Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Slashdot, where size is the only metric that some give a shit about when it comes to a non-US space program.

      How about we stand in silent appreciation of the feat that China is accomplishing, like the geeks we should all be would do, k?

      Perhaps China doesnt need a large station to achieve its goals - the Chinese don't seem to be bothered about taking it slow and steady with regard to their program, after all.

    • What if its made of graphene? ;-)

  • We banned them (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Thursday September 15, 2016 @01:53PM (#52894967) Journal

    In many ways it's too bad USA banned them from the current station (ISS) due to possible military-related secrets.

    ISS requires a lot of maintenance such that there's not much time left for science. If China participated, then there would be more time-slots for science instead of fixing toilets, etc.

    By now the ISS's technology should be old enough to not be secret: it's decades old. Plus, Russia already has access to it and they trade secrets with China anyhow.

    Why did US put sensitive tech in ISS to begin with? We F'd up.

    • wrong. If China participated, we would have given them LOADS of IP, and they would contribute little to nothing UNLESS IT BENEFITED THEIR MILITARY.
      As to accomplishing more science, that happens within another 1.5 years, if not sooner. SpaceX continues to work on their V2, so, that is a non-issue. IOW, they will likely be close to schedule
      In the end, the real question is, can Bigelow put a BA-330 habitat on the ISS, which would allow for say 10-12 ppl to live there. That would make a HUGE difference.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 )

        If China participated, we would have given them LOADS of IP

        Example? Space stations have been around since the 1970's (Skylab). It didn't need to contain anything secret. And if it did, why did we allow Russia on-board?

        It just doesn't seem logical: You don't need cutting edge to make a station, and IF we by chance DID put cutting edge in for some unknown/silly reason, why let Russia in?

        that happens within another 1.5 years, if not sooner.

        China asked permission roughly a decade ago IIRC.

        • We DID share a lot of tech with Russia. Ours was high tech, while, like their ak-47, low tech but works easily and cheaply.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      That was just an excuse. The decision was made for political reasons. In the end it might have created a new space race.

  • A lot of anti-spaceX posters here have to be pretty proud of China's accomplishment.
    There are plenty of them that would rather see CHina succeed than to see Musk, Bigelow, or even bezo succeed.
  • Seriously, if we wanted to, we could put somebody up there within 3-6 months. The issue has been that CONgress has NOT properly funded things. However, in an emergency, SpaceX could easily launch a V1 with extra O2 on-board to get to the ISS, and within several months, a V2 could be ready.
    Likewise, CST-100 could be ready in under 6 months or less. It would take money, but there is little issue about our ability to do so.

  • Is their swimming pool big enough to hold two?

  • I hope they purchased some kind of extended warranty because I doubt that it will keep running past 10 years---let alone 1 billion years.

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