 Model ofTiangong-1 with docked Shenzhou crewed spacecraft. | |
| Station statistics | |
|---|---|
| COSPAR ID | 2011-053A |
| SATCATno. | 37820 |
| Launch | 29 September 2011, 13:16:03.507UTC[1][2] |
| Carrier rocket | Long March 2F/G |
| Launch pad | Jiuquan,LA-4/SLS-1 |
| Reentry | 2 April 2018, 00:16 UTC[3][4] 2 April 2018 00:15 UTC (China Manned Space Engineering Office)[5] |
| Mission status | Deorbited[4] |
| Mass | 8,506 kg (18,753 lb)[6] |
| Length | 10.4 m (34 ft) |
| Diameter | 3.35 m (11.0 ft) |
| Pressurisedvolume | 15 m3 (530 cu ft)[7] |
| Days occupied | 20 days, 18.5 hours (Hatch open to hatch closed)[8] |
| Configuration | |
.png) Plan diagram ofTiangong-1 withsolar panels extended | |
| Tiangong-1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 天宫一号 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 天宮一號 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Celestial Palace 1 or Heavenly Palace 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Target Vehicle | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 目标飞行器 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 目標飛行器 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Target Vehicle | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tiangong-1 (Chinese:天宫一号;pinyin:Tiāngōng yīhào;lit. 'Heavenly Palace 1" or "Celestial Palace 1') was China's first prototypespace station.[9] It orbitedEarth from September 2011 to April 2018, serving as both a crewed laboratory and an experimentaltestbed to demonstrateorbital rendezvous and docking capabilities during its two years of active operational life.[10][11]
Launched uncrewed aboard aLong March 2Flaunch vehicle on 29 September 2011,[1][12] it was the first operational component of theTiangong program, which launcheda larger, modular station into orbit in 2021.[10][13] Tiangong-1 was initially projected to be deorbited in 2013,[14] to be replaced over the following decade by the largerTiangong-2 andTiangong-3 space stations,[15] but it orbited until 2 April 2018.[3][4][5][16][17]
Tiangong-1 was visited by a series ofShenzhou spacecraft during its two-year operational lifetime. The first of these, the uncrewedShenzhou 8, successfully docked with the module in November 2011,[18][19] while the crewedShenzhou 9 mission docked in June 2012.[20][21][22] A third and final mission to Tiangong-1, the crewedShenzhou 10, docked in June 2013.[23][24][25] The crewed missions to Tiangong-1 were notable for including China's firstfemale astronauts,Liu Yang andWang Yaping.[24][26]
On 21 March 2016, after a lifespan extended by two years, theChina Manned Space Engineering Office announced that Tiangong-1 had officially ended its service.[27][28] They went on to state that thetelemetry link with Tiangong-1 had been lost.[29] A couple of months later, amateur satellite trackers watching Tiangong-1 found that China's space agency had lost control of the station.[29] In September 2016, after conceding they had lost control over the station, officials speculated that the station wouldre-enter and burn up in the atmosphere late in 2017.[30][31] According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, Tiangong-1 startedreentry over thesouthern Pacific Ocean, northwest ofTahiti, on 2 April 2018 at 00:16UTC.[4][5][16][17]
TheChina National Space Administration (CNSA) designed Tiangong-1 as an 8,500 kg (18,700 lb) "space-laboratory module", capable of supporting the docking of crewed and autonomous spacecraft. In 2008, theChina Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) released a brief description of Tiangong-1, along with its larger successor modules, Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3. A model of the space station was revealed in theChinese Lunar New Year celebration program on CCTV on 25 January 2009.[32]
On 29 September 2008, Zhang Jianqi (張建啟), vice-director of the CMSEO, declared in an interview withChina Central Television (CCTV)[33] that Tiangong-1 would be launched in 2010 or 2011.Xinhua News Agency later stated that Tiangong-1 would be launched in late 2010, and declared that the renovation of ground equipment was in progress.[34] However, the launch did not ultimately take place until 2011.
By mid-2011, the construction of Tiangong-1 was complete, and its systems and thermal properties were undergoing testing. Testing was also conducted on theLong March 2F launch vehicle on which Tiangong-1 would be launched. Technicians undertook particularly extensive safety tests on the launch vehicle[12] due to the recent launch failure of aLong March 2C launch vehicle.[35]
Tiangong-1 had a pressurised habitable volume of approximately 15 m3 (530 cu ft), and usedpassive APAS-type docking connectors.[36] Structurally, Tiangong-1 was divided into two primary sections: a resource module, which mounted itssolar panels and propulsion systems, and a larger, habitable experimental module.[37]
Tiangong-1's experimental module was equipped with exercise gear and two sleep stations.[7] The interior walls of the spacecraft had a two-colour paint scheme – one colour representative of the ground, and the other representative of the sky. This was intended to help the astronauts maintain their orientation in zero gravity.[7] High-resolution interior cameras allowed crewed missions to be closely monitored from the ground, and the two sleep stations had individual lighting controls.[38]Toilet facilities and cooking equipment for the crewed missions were provided by the dockedShenzhou (spacecraft), rather than being integrated into the Tiangong module itself.[38] Similarly, one member of the module's three-person crew slept in the Shenzhou spacecraft, preventing overcrowding.[38]
Tiangong-1 was originally intended to be launched in August 2011, and was delivered to theJiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 23 July 2011, successfully passing a launch rehearsal test on 17 August 2011.[39] However, following the failed launch of aLong March 2C launch vehicle in August 2011, the launch was postponed. Following an investigation into the August 2011 launch failure,[12][40] Tiangong-1's launch was rescheduled for late September 2011,[41] partly to coincide with theChinese National Day on 1 October 2011.[42]
On 20 September 2011, the spacecraft was again rolled out to Pad 1 of theSouth Launch Site atJiuquan Satellite Launch Center in preparation for the rescheduled launch attempt.[43] The launch occurred at 13:16 UTC on 29 September 2011, successfully placing Tiangong-1 intolow Earth orbit.[39] Chinese television broadcast the launch animation accompanied by an instrumental version of the American patriotic songAmerica the Beautiful, a choice of music for which it later offered no explanation.[44]
On 30 September 2011, Tiangong-1 completed the second of twoorbital maneuvers, reaching anapogee altitude of 355 km (221 mi).[45] This was the precursor to a week-long program of orbital testing, conducted from theBeijing Aerospace Command and Control Center, to prepare the module for future orbital docking operations.[45] On 10 October 2011, Tiangong-1 released its first orbital photo, showing a view of its outer hull and satellite relay antenna.[46]
The uncrewedShenzhou 8 mission successfully docked with Tiangong-1 on 2 November 2011UTC, marking China's first orbital docking.[18] Shenzhou 8 undocked from Tiangong-1 on 14 November 2011, before successfully completing a second rendezvous and docking, thus testing the reusability of the docking system.[19][47][48] Shenzhou 8 deorbited on 17 November 2011, and landed intact inSiziwang Banner inInner Mongolia.[49] After the mission, the CNSA reported that Tiangong-1's systems were in optimal condition.[50]
In December 2011, the Tiangong-1 module began automated internal checks for toxic gas, to ensure that its interior would be safe for astronauts to enter.[51] In January 2012, reports emerged in British publicationSpaceflight alleging that the AmericanBoeing X-37B roboticspaceplane was shadowing Tiangong-1 for surveillance purposes.[52] However, formerUnited States Air Force orbital analyst Brian Weeden later refuted this claim, emphasizing that the X-37B occupied a 100 degree right ascension offset orbit from Tiangong-1, and would not be able to closely observe the module as they would only pass each other twice an orbit at a closing speed of 7 km/s.[53]
In March 2012, it was reported that China had finished the initial crew selection for theShenzhou 9 mission. Niu Hongguang, the deputy chief commander of theChina Manned Space Engineering Office, stated that Shenzhou 9 would dock with Tiangong-1 before August 2012.[54] The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft was delivered toJiuquan Satellite Launch Center for launch preparations on 9 April 2012,[55] while itsLong March 2F launch vehicle arrived a month later on 9 May 2012.[56]
Shenzhou 9 launched successfully on 16 June 2012, carrying with it China's first female astronaut,Liu Yang.[20][22][26][57] The spacecraft docked with Tiangong-1 on 18 June 2012 at 06:07 UTC (14:07 Beijing time).[21] After about three hours, when the air pressures inside the two vessels were equalized, mission commanderJing Haipeng entered Tiangong-1.[58] The first docking was entirely computer-controlled, without input from the three astronauts;[21] a second, crew-guided docking was successfully conducted on 24 June 2012 at 20:42 UTC (12:42 Beijing time).[59] Shenzhou 9 landed safely in Inner Mongolia on 29 June 2012.[60] In August 2012, Shenzhou 9's crew travelled toHong Kong to discuss their mission with university students.[61]
The crewedShenzhou 10 spacecraft, the final Shenzhou mission to rendezvous with Tiangong-1 before its deorbit, was launched on 11 June 2013.[23][24][62] The launch of Shenzhou 10 was originally planned for earlier in the year, but was delayed to allow the mission to incorporate more complex scientific experiments.[63] The mission's crew included China's second female astronaut,Wang Yaping.[24] Shenzhou 10 docked successfully with Tiangong-1 on 13 June 2013.[25]
On 15 June 2013, the Shenzhou 10 crew completed China's first orbital maintenance operation, replacing Tiangong-1's interior cladding.[64] Additional maintenance work was conducted on the space station's seal rings.[64] On 20 June 2013, Wang Yaping delivered a remote video lecture from orbit to students across China, demonstrating physics inmicrogravity with her colleagues.[65] On 24 June 2013,CPC general secretaryXi Jinping contacted the astronauts via remote video link to congratulate them.[66] After a series of successful docking tests, Shenzhou 10 undocked and returned safely to Earth on 26 June 2013.[67] With a duration of 15 days, Shenzhou 10 was China's longest crewed space mission,[68] untilShenzhou 11's 30-day mission toTiangong-2 in 2016.[69]
The Tiangong-1 was launched in September 2011, with an intended service span of two years. After the last crew departed the module in June 2013, it was put intosleep mode. It was intended that it would remain in orbit for some time, allowing China to collect data on the longevity of key components before being commanded to gradually re-enter the atmosphere. ThePermanent mission of China to theUnited Nations (Vienna) informed theUnited Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space that communication with Tiangong-1 had ceased functioning on 16 March 2016.[70] One week later on 21 March 2016, theChina Manned Space Engineering Office announced that they had officially disabled data service and ended the mission. According to the office, the space laboratory was under continued and close monitoring until it finally burned up in the Earth's atmosphere during anuncontrolled re-entry.[27][28]
The orbit of Tiangong-1decayed gradually, and the space laboratory was predicted to be destroyed upon re-entry intoEarth's atmosphere.[73][74][75]
At the request of China and theUnited Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), theInter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), led by theEuropean Space Agency (ESA), conducted an international campaign to monitor the re-entry of Tiangong-1. ESA's Space Debris Office inDarmstadt,Germany hosted and administered the campaign, with participation from other space agencies and organizations including theChina National Space Administration (CNSA), theIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), theJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), theKorea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), andRoscosmos ofRussia.[76] The IADC predicted that Tiangong-1 would break up during re-entry, but that parts of the station would survive and fall to the Earth's surface, potentially falling across an area thousands of kilometres long and tens of kilometres wide. However, because most of the re-entry area was ocean or uninhabited land, the IADC stated that the odds of a person being hit by falling debris to be "10 million times smaller than the yearly chance of beinghit by lightning".[72] The IADC's final prediction before re-entry was that Tiangong-1 would re-enter at around 01:00 UTC on 2 April 2018, plus or minus 2 hours, falling somewhere on Earth between 42.8° North and 42.8° South latitudes,[77][78] with the most likely re-entry sites being at the north and south extremes of that range. This is because an inclined orbit has the smallest north-south speed at the extremelatitudes, and the greatest north-south speed near theequator.[72]
Independently, the non-profitAerospace Corporation'sCenter for Orbital and Re-entry Debris Studies (CORDS) predicted that Tiangong-1 would most likely re-enter the atmosphere around 00:30 UTC on 2 April 2018, plus or minus 1.7 hours. CORDS scientists also predicted that it would re-enter somewhere between the 42.7° North and 42.7° South latitudes, a range that covered two-thirds of the Earth's surface, with a high likelihood of an ocean landing of whatever did not burn up during re-entry.[79] They predicted that if any parts of the station survived re-entry, the small amount of debris would impact the ground over an area a few hundred square kilometers in size.[80] The final prediction of likely areas for debris impact covered southernSouth America,Africa, theMiddle East, andcentral Asia.[80][81] However, even in those high-probability areas, they still estimated the odds of a specific person being hit by debris to be "about one million times smaller than the odds of winning thePowerball jackpot".[82]
Tiangong-1 reentered the Earth's atmosphere at approximately 00:16 UTC on 2 April 2018 over theSouth Pacific Ocean at24°30′S151°06′W / 24.5°S 151.1°W /-24.5; -151.1.[4][80] According to Chinese state news agencyXinhua, the station mostly burnt up upon re-entry.[83] A fisherman from the nearby island ofMaupiti was able to witness the event.[84] It was the largest spacecraft to re-enter the atmosphere sinceFobos-Grunt in January 2012.[72] This was about 3,600 km (1,900 nmi) fromPoint Nemo, a location often used as aspacecraft cemetery to crash defunct satellites.[85] As the spacecraft made an uncontrolled reentry, this was an unintended coincidence.
| Altitude of Tiangong-1 (km)[71] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date (CST) | Average | Perigee | Apogee | Orbital inclination | Source | ||
| 20 March 2017 | 348.3 | 334.8 | 361.8 | 42.8 | [86] | ||
| 14 January 2018 | 281.3 | 265.1 | 297.4 | 42.77 | [87] | ||
| 14 March 2018 | 240.8 | 233.4 | 248.2 | 42.68 | [88] | ||
| 15 March 2018 | 239.5 | 232.5 | 246.5 | 42.67 | [89] | ||
| 16 March 2018 | 237.8 | 231.0 | 244.7 | 42.66 | [90] | ||
| 17 March 2018 | 235.9 | 229.3 | 242.6 | 42.66 | [91] | ||
| 18 March 2018 | 233.8 | 227.3 | 240.4 | 42.65 | [92] | ||
| 19 March 2018 | 231.8 | 225.4 | 238.2 | 42.65 | [93] | ||
| 20 March 2018 | 229.3 | 222.9 | 235.8 | 42.65 | [94] | ||
| 21 March 2018 | 227.0 | 220.3 | 233.6 | 42.64 | [95] | ||
| 22 March 2018 | 224.8 | 217.8 | 231.8 | 42.64 | [96] | ||
| 23 March 2018 | 222.4 | 215.1 | 229.6 | 42.64 | [97] | ||
| 24 March 2018 | 219.4 | 211.6 | 227.2 | 42.65 | [98] | ||
| 25 March 2018 | 216.2 | 208.1 | 224.3 | 42.65 | [99] | ||
| 26 March 2018 | 212.0 | 203.9 | 220.0 | 42.65 | [100] | ||
| 27 March 2018 | 207.7 | 199.2 | 216.3 | 42.66 | [101] | ||
| 28 March 2018 | 202.3 | 193.9 | 210.8 | 42.67 | [102] | ||
| 29 March 2018 | 196.4 | 188.5 | 204.3 | 42.67 | [103] | ||
| 30 March 2018 | 189.5 | 181.8 | 197.2 | 42.68 | [104] | ||
| 31 March 2018 | 179.0 | 171.8 | 186.2 | 42.69 | [105] | ||
| 1 April 2018 | 167.6 | 161.0 | 174.3 | 42.70 | [106] | ||
| 2 April 2018 | 132.75 | 130.9 | 134.6 | 42.70 | [107] | ||
Tiangong-1 was designed as a test bed for key technologies later used on another test station calledTiangong-2, which was launched on 15 September 2016.[108] Both experimental space stations were short-lived and meant to test technologies and systems for theTiangong space station, which is planned to be assembled from 2021 to 2022.[109]
The design ofTianzhou, an automated cargo spacecraft intended to resupply the Tiangong space station, is based on Tiangong-1.[15][110]
U.S. Strategic Command's (USSTRATCOM) Joint Force Space Component Command (JFSCC), through the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC), confirmed Tiangong-1 reentered the Earth's atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean at approximately 17:16 (PST) 1 April 2018.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.China is ready to carry out a multiphase construction program that leads to a large space station around 2020. As a prelude to building that facility, China is set to loft the Tiangong-1 module this year as a platform to help master key rendezvous and docking technologies.
And once it gets down to plus or minus six hours, you can start ruling out continents.
The map below shows the relative probabilities of debris landing within a given region. Yellow indicates locations that have a higher probability while green indicates areas of lower probability. Blue areas have zero probability of debris reentry since Tiangong-1 does not fly over these areas (north of 42.7° N latitude or south of 42.7° S latitude). These zero probability areas constitute about a third of the total Earth's surface area.
China's Tiangong-1 space station has crashed in the Pacific Ocean, according to the country's space agency. The spacecraft re-entered the earth's atmosphere at 0015 UTC on Monday over the South Pacific and mostly burnt up on re-entry, state news agency Xinhua said.
Media related toTiangong-1 at Wikimedia Commons| Components |
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Notes: † Never inhabited due to launch or on-orbit failure, ‡ Part of theAlmaz military program, ° Never inhabited, lacks docking mechanism. | |||||||||
