China on Thursday evening successfully launched its first space laboratory module, a key first step in its objective of becoming only the third country, after Russia and the United States, to assemble its own space station by 2020.
The unmanned module, launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China, will dock with a spacecraft, Shenzhou-8 after orbiting the earth for about a month, officials said. The 8.5-tonne Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace, laboratory module has a 15 cubic metre space where two or three astronauts can work and live, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The launch of the module, analysts said, reflected China’s rising ambitions as a major space power, with the country seen as only trailing the U.S. and Russia in its capabilities. Both the U.S. and Russia launched their space stations more than three decades ago.
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A commentary in the State-run
The launch was timed to coincide with a national holiday, which will be celebrated this weekend on October 1. The recent successes of the space programme have been frequently framed by the Communist Party’s official media as underscoring the country’s status among an elite group of global powers, as well as the technological advancements achieved under its rule.
According to Zhang Shancong, deputy chief designer of Tiangong-1, the module would be used to take hyperspectral images of China’s farmlands to detect heavy metal pollution, residue of pesticides and plant diseases, Xinhua reported.
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The module was carried by a Long March-2FT1 rocket, a modified version of a rocket that earlier had a failed launch.
The launch of the module is a milestone for China’s rapidly growing home-grown space industry, which has, in recent months, made waves by spreading its interests overseas. China has, in recent years, offered its Long March rockets to launch more than 20 satellites for a number of countries, according to reports in the official media.
Most recently, China launched Pakistan’s first communications satellite, last month, seen as marking a deepening in technological ties between the two countries.
The PAKSAT-1R, sent into orbit from western Sichuan on a Long March-3B carrier rocket, was developed and launched with the help of the government-supported China Great Wall Industry Corporation (GWIC), which has reached out to developing countries, offering both technological expertise and financial assistance to help their space programmes.
China has also joined an elite group of nations in launching its own global navigation system, called Compass or Beidou, which will function similar to the American Global Positioning System (GPS), and will be used by both the Chinese military and to develop the telecommunications industry.
China’s increasing investments in its space and satellite programme, which serve both military and civilian purposes, has stirred debate over the country’s possible strategic motivations.
Responding to concerns voiced by some countries that the Tianggong-1 launch “would possibly lead to a new wave of space race,” a Xinhua commentary published on Thursday responded, “China is neither the first country to seek explorations in outer space, nor the country with the most advanced technology, [so] it seems incomprehensible that China should cause concern to others.”