China’s ‘Heavenly Palace’ Space Station to Be Launched in 2022

China’s space station, the Tiangong, which means ‘heavenly palace’, is going to be launched in 2022 and expected to raise to the same expectations as the International Space Station in addition to welcoming foreign astronauts.

The Tiangong will be larger than the Russian Mir and will consist of a core module and two laboratory cabins, the latter boasting pressurized environments which will allow the astronauts to conduct free-fall and microgravity experiments.

Both the core module and the laboratories will be large enough to comfortably accommodate up to six astronauts.

The station will be equipped with a synoptic survey telescope, which is used to describe observations that offer a larger view of a subject at a particular time. The synoptic telescope supposedly has a resolution as high as the Hubble Space Telescope.

In addition, LandSpace, a company based in Beijing, announced they will be launching the largest privately owned rocket developed in the country – the Suzaku No. 2, in 2020 as well.

It seems like China taking the lead at a very fast pace. Watch out, Space Force.