HELSINKI — China’s human spaceflight agency is in search of to foster a industrial, low-cost transportation system to deliver cargo to and from its Tiangong space station.
The China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) announced May 16 that it’s in search of to scale back the price and enhance the flexibleness of sending supplies to Tiangong through exploring the event of business space models.
This system echoes NASA’s own Business Resupply Services (CRS) program, which awarded contracts in late 2008 to Orbital Sciences Corp. and SpaceX, and saw the primary cargo flights to the International Space Station in 2012.
That program played a task in the event of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon cargo spacecraft, in addition to the Antares and the Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares launcher and Cygnus spacecraft.
Requirements stated within the CMSEO call include being able to sending not lower than 1,800 kilograms to low Earth orbit, with a pressurized volume of at the very least seven cubic meters.
The spacecraft needs to be able to remaining docked in orbit for at the very least three months, while offering a price of not more than 120 million yuan (US$17.2 million) per 1,000 kilograms delivered. The spacecraft also must be able to controlled reentry and give you the chance to get rid of greater than 2,000 kilograms of waste on reentry.
Proposals include plans for the launch segment and applications will should be submitted by a deadline of July 15. The decision for proposals is open to entities established at the very least three years prior, with requisite personnel and facilities.
China accomplished the essential structure of its three-module Tiangong space station in late 2022. China currently uses 14-ton Tianzhou spacecraft launched by Long March 7 rockets to resupply its space station. One Tianzhou is anticipated to launch every eight months to maintain the outpost stocked with supplies for crew, science equipment and experiments, and propellant for maintaining Tiangong’s orbit.
Such a move to foster synergies and innovation from China’s nascent industrial space sector could provide impetus to and benefits for the country’s wider space ambitions.
Tomas Hrozensky, a senior research fellow on the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), told via email that the CMSEO proposal is a transparent indication that China is in search of to duplicate the approach which yielded NASA a serious success.
“Arguably within the U.S. case, the increasing adoption of market-inspired practices by public actors previously couple of many years, specifically the clear shift to buying services as an alternative of contracting the private sector to develop solutions based on more traditional cost-plus contracts, has grown in breadth and depth, indicating positive outcomes for the general public sector,” Hrozensky wrote.
“By more actively embracing industrial participation, China appears to substantiate the increasingly recognized advantages of such an approach in stimulating technological innovation of their space industry, and thru this also enhancing their space capabilities at large.”
Hrozensky also noted that industrial entities bring fresh perspectives, flexibility, and a relentless drive for efficiency that may result in unexpected and rapid advance, citing the innovation boom witnessed within the U.S. following NASA’s CRS program.
The paradigm shift toward a industrial and competitive space environment within the Chinese context can be very interesting because it may be hinting at some limitations of the state-run space programme, Hrozensky added.
CMSA made an earlier, similar call for in January 2021, with the stated aim of constructing a “flexible, efficient, diverse, and low-cost cargo transportation system.” Essential requirements for cargo delivery include a payload capability of 1-4 tons, possibility for removing and deorbiting station waste to stop space debris, and transportation costs to be inline with international levels. Those earlier requirements have now been further constrained.
The decision notably signaled that China was open to industrial space station projects. Firms comparable to AZSpace have since emerged stating plans to develop reusable cargo capabilities, while industrial launch firms from then on stated Tiangong to be a possible source of contracts.
AZSpace goals to launch its B300 reusable cargo spacecraft in June, in line with a recent statement. The spacecraft will probably be able to carrying 300 kilograms of payload to orbit and back. While well below the standards for the brand new call, the spacecraft could show that such capabilities could be developed within the industrial sector to satisfy the necessities of the scheme.
China goals to maintain its space station permanently occupied for at the very least a decade. CMSEO can be expanding Tiangong with a multi-functional module, and searching at opening it to numerous industrial purposes including tourism.
NASA meanwhile recently proposed extending existing contracts to move cargo to and from the ISS through the anticipated end of the station in 2030.
