S1 Ep:6 Space Titan
CNSA
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| CNSA logo |
Introduction
China National Space Administration (CNSA), the national space agency of China, is liable for its space exploration and discoveries. Its headquarters are in Haidian District, Beijing.
CNSA is a space agency that comes to origin in 1993 when the Ministry of Aerospace Industry was split into two, CNSA and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
It comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Currently, it is administered by Zhang Kejian. It has four primary spaceports: the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, Xichang Satellite Launch Center, and Wenchang Satellite Launch Center.
While estimating that China spent 7 times more than India in 2020, it close to USD11 billion.
There are four departments under CNSA, as given below:
- Department of General Planning
- Department of System Engineering
- Department of Science, Technology and Quality Control
- Department of Foreign Affairs
While the whole world terms the people who go to space as Aeronauts, Chinese people have coined their own term for Aeronauts being Taikonauts. As of 2020, CNSA has sent only eleven Chinese people. So in the next block, we will know about Is China building its own space station?
Space station
The Chinese large modular space station is a scheduled space station set in Low Earth orbit somewhere in the range of 340 and 450 km over the surface. The scheduled Chinese Space Station will be harsh one-fifth the mass of the International Space Station and about the size of the decommissioned Russian Mir space station. Therefore, the Chinese station must have a mass somewhere between 80 and 100 tons (180,000 and 220,000 lb). Tasks will be controlled by the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center in China. The arranged dispatch date of the center module, the Tianhe ("Joining of the Heavens"), is 2021. In 2017, the Chinese dispatched the Tianzhou-1 ("Heavenly Vessel") payload spaceship, which depends on the Tiangong 1 and 2 space labs.
Coordination Committee for International Cooperation
CNSA has established the Coordination Committee for International Cooperation (CCIC) to further expand and deepen exchanges and cooperation within the space field and fulfill international obligations effectively. CCIC is liable for making proposals for CNSA's international cooperation program and annual plans, discussing major inter-governmental treaties and agreements on international space cooperation, and providing suggestions on policies, strategies, and the related issues of international cooperation. In addition, a secretariat is established under the committee for concrete affairs.
CNSA director Ma Xingrui is the chairman of CCIC, and Hu Yafeng holds the post of executive vice-chairman of CCIC. Member units of CCIC include relevant authorities under the State Council, aerospace and electronic industry enterprises, research project institutes, and institutions of upper learning.
By increasing exchanges and mutual visits, CCIC has further enhanced mutual trust and friendship, deepened bilateral and multilateral cooperation, and promoted major international cooperation projects. As a result, China has signed a variety of international space cooperation agreements, expanded the introduction of technology and, therefore,, the cooperation of projects, and promoted exports of China's astronautical products.
China to Mars?
China's national space agency Sunday released stunning, high-resolution images of Mars captured by its Tianwen-1 probe, which is currently orbiting Mars. Launched on July 23 of last year, Tianwen-1 has covered a distance of 475 million km over a period of 224 days. China's Tianwen-1 probe, including an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, successfully entered the Mars orbit on February 24 after an almost seven-month voyage from Earth.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) on March 4 released a new set of images of the surface of Mars, including two panchromatic views and one color image captured by the probe. Martian landforms like small craters, mountain ridges, and dunes are clearly visible within the images. It is estimated that the diameter of the most important impact crater within the images is around 620 meters, state-run Xinhua press agency reported quoting the CNSA, consistent with a PTI report.
China launched Tianwen-1 on July 23, 2020, and entered the parking orbit around Mars on February 24 this year.
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| China to mars SRC: Steve Jurvetson |
Currently, it is about 212 million km away from Earth, according to CNSA.
The lander carrying the rover is predicted to land on Mars in May or June of this year.
Chinese space engineers and scientists have chosen a relatively flat region within the southern part of Utopia Planitia, an oversized plain, as a possible landing zone.
The rovers will be released after landing to conduct scientific exploration, the state-run Xinhua press agency reported.
Conclusion
China has not made any significant progress or achievements in the space exploration category in recent years. While we can't deny that China has developed and advanced by leaps and bounds in technology, the same is not the case for space exploration. Recently, China made a partnership with Russia to make a station on the moon. China, as it is, might not be able to do much for now, but in the upcoming decades or centuries, we might have another space giant who might not be much behind NASA and all. Hope you got your answer related to "Is China building its own space station?"
In the next episode, we will talk about the European agency.
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