China anticipating a 2018 launch of its space station's experimental core module!

New Delhi: In 2016, China announced its plans to launch the experimental core module of its space station in 2018, which will join the ranks of the International Space Station (ISS) 250 miles above the Earth.

The ISS will functionally retire by 2024 and China may be the only space station in service once that happens.

China will be launching the experimental space station module with a Long March-5 heavyload carrier rocket, and the 20 tonne combination space station will be sent into orbit around 2022.

After the announcement, further details regarding the space station's experimental module launch were awaited. Looks like the wait is over!

The 'launch of the core module of the space station, named 'Tianhe-1' will be followed by a series of launches for other components of the space station, including two space labs, which will dock with the core module while in space, in the next four years or so, he said.

Assembly of the core module has already been completed and tests are currently underway, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) director Bao Weimin told sate-run Xinhua news agency.

Earlier reports said the new Chinese space station will initially be much smaller than the ISS, which weighs 420 tonnes, but could be expanded for future scientific research and international cooperation.

Bao said the Chinese outpost will function in orbit for "dozens of years," and that it had been specially designed to be able to handle space debris.

"For the big pieces (of space debris), we could conduct evasive maneuvers, and for those measuring less than 10 cm in size, we just take the hit," Bao said, adding that all key parts of the space station will be serviceable and replaceable.

He said the next five years will see some exciting advances in China's space programme.

In particular, the Long March-5 launch missions have been scheduled this year, including one that will take the Chang'e-5 lunar probe to the Moon in November and return with lunar samples.

Long March-5 is a large, two-stage rocket with a payload capacity of 25 tonnes to low-Earth orbit and 14 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit, the largest of China's carrier rockets.

Its carrying capacity is about 2.5 times that of the current main model Long March carrier rockets.

The rocket will also be used in China's planned Mars probes, and possibly future missions to Jupiter and other planets within the solar system, Bao said.

(With PTI inputs)