China is preparing to send fresh supplies and more propellant to its space station.
The Tianzhou 7 robot-sending spacecraft recently arrived at the coastal satellite launch center in Wenchang, China, according to Chinese state media. The spacecraft will go through final meetings and tests before launching on a Long March 7 rocket in early 2024.
Tianzhou 7 will supply materials to the 17 Shenzhou astronauts currently aboard the Tiangong Space Station, as well as spacesuits for extravehicular activities, spare parts and repairs, and the booster to resupply Tiangong.
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The spacecraft will also bring payloads and samples for experiments to the station. In addition, the shipment will be used to remove debris created at Tiangong when the spacecraft re-enters Earth’s atmosphere at the end of its mission.
Tianzhou 7 is just one of two delivery missions China plans to launch in 2024; Tianzhou 8 will be launched approximately 8 months after Tianzhou 7. Each shipment will dock at the aft port of Tiangong.
Like Tianzhou 6, which launched in May this year, the Tianzhou 7 and Tianzhou 8 spacecraft are improved versions of the earlier Tianzhou vehicles. The upgraded craft carry up 31,000 pounds (14,000 kilograms) to low Earth orbit, whereas Tianzhou 5 and earlier had a capacity of 29,800 pounds (13,500 kg).
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China will launch the Shenzhou 18 and Shenzhou 19 manned missions to Tiangong in 2024, along with the two planned shipping flights. The logos of the four missions were recently decided through the China Manned Space Flight Agency after a public competition.
China completed the three-module Tiangong space station in 2022. It aims to keep the outpost permanently crewed for at least a decade and is planning to expand Tiangong with new modules as well.
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Andrew is a freelance space journalist with a focus on reporting on China’s rapidly growing space sector. He began writing for Space.com in 2019 and writes for SpaceNews, IEEE Spectrum, National Geographic, Sky & Telescope, New Scientist and others. Andrew first caught the space bug when, as a youngster, he saw Voyager images of other worlds in our solar system for the first time. Away from space, Andrew enjoys trail running in the forests of Finland. You can follow him on Twitter @AJ_FI.
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