China is ready to launch its second space lab Tiangong-2 next week. According to a release from the office of the China’s manned space program, the Tiangong-2 will be blasted off into space in between September 15 and 20, 2016. The lab will be used to conduct experiments on aerospace medicine, space sciences, on-orbit maintenance and space station technologies. It will also test life support systems and refuel technology for its 60-ton modular space station.
The latest venture will also enable China to increase its military prowess since the launch of the Space Shuttle has allowed the US to increase its military strength many times and China would like to repeat the success of US.
The testing of the assembling of the lab and rocket after they were separately delivered was completed by the technicians, and both have been transferred to the launch pad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on Friday. This process took about 90 minutes to complete and signaled the entry of the launching stage. The testing process will continue, and the rocket fuel will be injected just before the launch.
The latest space lab will enable two astronauts to live in space for a month. It is capable of docking with manned and cargo spaceships. The previous lab was named Tiangong-1 and was launched in September 2011. It had undertaken a series of experiments and also had docked with Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9, and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft.
The spacecraft will be parked in an orbit 393 Kilometers above the earth. It also features another payload named POLAR which is a gamma-ray detector and is a joint venture between China, Switzerland, and Poland. It will study the gamma-ray bursts, which is the most violent event in the universe. Among the experiments to be conducted aboard the spacecraft include fluid mechanics in microgravity, evaluate the topography of the oceans with very high precision, Space Biology, etc.
