East and West China Dialogue丨International partners visit China's space station, the future can be expected!

　　On February 24, "Chasing Dreams in the Universe and Asking in the Sky—Exhibition of Thirty Years of Achievements in China's Manned Spaceflight Engineering" opened in Beijing.

2022 is the 30th anniversary of the establishment and implementation of China's manned spaceflight project. In this year, China's space station was fully completed, and the "space home" traveled to the sky.

The completed China Space Station serves as a national space laboratory, which will help to open a new space exploration path for the Chinese people and even all mankind.

　　What is the significance of the completion of the Chinese space station in the world?

How to become the "space home" of all mankind?

China News Agency's "East-West Questions·China Dialogue" invited Yang Yuguang, vice chairman of the International Astronautical Federation's Space Transport Committee, and Anu Ojha, director of the British National Space Academy and director of the British National Space Center, to have a dialogue.

　　Yang Yuguang believes that the Chinese space station is a "national business card" and a very important platform for international cooperation.

In the future, there is a high probability that foreign astronauts will visit the Chinese space station on the Shenzhou spacecraft, and spaceflight should become a field of common progress for mankind.

Video: [Dongxiq·chinadialogue] Aerospace expert Yang Yuguang: China's space station is a "national business card" and an important platform for international cooperation

　　Anu Oja said that aerospace workers around the world believe that the completion of the Chinese space station is an impressive feat. As an international scientific platform, the Chinese space station has great potential. bridge.

　　Excerpts from the conversation are as follows:

China News Agency reporter: Since the launch of the Tianhe core module in April 2021, China has completed 11 space launches to complete the space station as scheduled.

How do you view this achievement?

What do foreign astronauts and scientists think about the completion of the Chinese space station?

Anu Oja:

Five years ago, I learned about the development plan of China's space station through the introduction of the China Manned Space Engineering Office in Beijing, and the timetable lasted until 2022.

Now China has completed all the plans as scheduled.

　　As far as I know, space workers around the world think this is an impressive feat, including European astronauts, Roscosmos and NASA astronauts, and everyone is paying attention to China's achievement Technological achievements and how China is progressing.

Data map: At 7:33 on November 30, 2022, Beijing time, the Shenzhou 15 astronauts entered the space station with a crew of 3 astronauts, and realized China's manned spaceflight with the Shenzhou 14 astronauts waiting here. The first "space meeting" in history.

Photo by Wang Jiangbo

China News Agency reporter: The construction of China's space station has learned lessons from the development of space technology in the world. What do you think is the significance of its completion?

Yang Yuguang:

The total weight of the "T" shape of the three modules of the Chinese space station is more than 60 tons, which is much smaller than the 400-ton International Space Station, but its performance and functions have reached the standards of the fourth-generation human space station.

Whether it is power supply capability or communication capability, it has reached the international advanced level, and it is even better than the International Space Station in some aspects.

For example, the Chinese space station uses advanced technologies such as triple-junction gallium arsenide batteries, and its power supply capacity is not inferior to that of the international space station.

　　China's space station is generally in line with the characteristics of China as a developing country. It is moderate in scale and has very advanced performance and functions. It is not only of great significance to China's manned spaceflight, but also has high value in leading the development of China's high-tech field.

China News Agency reporter: What role can the Chinese space station play in international cooperation in space exploration, and what potential partners are there?

Anu Oja:

The Chinese space station has great potential as an international scientific platform.

In 2016, China signed an agreement with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs to work together to create opportunities for countries that have not yet participated in orbital research.

The International Space Station is jointly participated by 16 countries, and since 2001, a large number of scientific researches have been conducted with researchers from more than 100 countries.

This shows that international platforms can indeed have a scientific impact.

　　It is hoped that in the next few years, countries developing emerging space economies or countries that prioritize space development will be able to participate.

With many promising talents, they now have the opportunity to work with experienced Chinese and other international researchers to learn how to conduct experiments in the space environment, resulting in new scientific discoveries to share with the international community.

Data map: Chinese space station model.

Photo by Li Zhihua

China News Agency reporter: What conditions do foreign astronauts need to meet to station in the Chinese space station in the future?

What kinds of cooperation can Chinese and foreign astronauts carry out?

What is the significance of their working and living together in orbit?

Yang Yuguang:

Foreign astronauts participating in scientific research activities on the Chinese space station should be very familiar with scientific experiment projects, be able to operate correctly on-orbit, and deal with abnormal situations. Even they themselves are experiment designers or participants in the manufacture of experimental equipment. This is the most important thing. condition.

In addition, Chinese and foreign astronauts must participate in necessary training programs such as overweight endurance training and field survival training.

　　At present, the operating equipment of the space station is marked in Chinese, so foreign astronauts may be required to learn Chinese, which is also an international practice.

In the future, we look forward to seeing foreign astronauts visit the Chinese space station as soon as possible.

China News Agency reporter: When Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti flew over China on the International Space Station, she lamented the beauty of the universe in ancient Chinese characters on social media, which aroused heated discussions.

How interested are foreign astronauts in learning Chinese?

Anu Oja:

I discussed with astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti that she and astronaut Mathias Maurer participated in the Chinese-organized sea rescue training, and the training was very effective, and they all said Fluent in Chinese.

　　I think astronauts would be very interested if they had the opportunity to participate in international missions to the Chinese space station, and language learning is possible with the support of language training.

Video: [Dongxiq·chinadialogue] How interested are foreign astronauts in learning Chinese?

British aerospace experts responded to

China News Agency reporter: Dr. Anu Oujia had a face-to-face communication with astronaut Wang Yaping before. What do you think of the working ability of Chinese and foreign astronauts?

Anu Oja:

The first time I met Wang Yaping was after she completed her first flight mission.

During that mission, she taught space lessons to more than 60 million Chinese students, which reflects the influence of astronauts on the next generation as a vehicle for participating in science.

Now, she has completed her second spaceflight, which lasted as long as six months, becoming the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk.

When she returned from the spacewalk, I noticed that the astronauts in the cabin greeted her warmly.

　　This also happened to Russian, American, European and Japanese astronauts who completed spacewalks.

In extremely challenging circumstances, their responses transcended all cultural differences.

There will be political differences between different countries, but practice has shown that countries with different positions can come together.

I believe science can be a powerful tool for space diplomacy, helping to build a bridge to a better understanding of all of humanity.

Reporter from China News Agency: In the future, China's space station can also be expanded into other configurations. Do you think there is a possibility of cooperation between Chinese and foreign cabin sections in addition to carrying experimental loads?

What difficulties do foreign cabins need to overcome when visiting the Chinese space station?

Yang Yuguang:

I think this is a higher level of international cooperation.

Joint experiments are currently underway.

There is also a high probability that foreign astronauts will visit the Chinese space station on the Shenzhou spacecraft in the future.

The visit of foreign spacecraft such as cargo spacecraft and manned spacecraft is the third level of cooperation.

As the highest level of cooperation, cabin-level cooperation needs to be established on the technical basis of the third-level cooperation.

　　When a foreign spacecraft visits the Chinese space station, the most important thing is that the rendezvous and docking systems of the two spacecraft are compatible and equipped with corresponding measuring equipment. The actual process is relatively complicated and requires a certain period.

It is feasible from a technical point of view that the cabin sections of the future space station will be manufactured abroad.

Data map: On November 6, 2022, Zhuhai, Guangdong, the astronaut sleeping area inside the "China Space Station" model (1:1) of the 14th China Air Show.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Jimin

China News Agency reporter: Space is the common home of mankind, but China has been restricted from participating in the International Space Station project for a long time, and some countries are still exaggerating the "China space threat theory" internationally. What do you think of this?

Anu Oja:

We are in a century of profound change.

Different countries see the performance of other countries through different lenses, but I believe countries can find common ground.

Scientific collaboration for the benefit of all humanity is a very powerful unifying factor, it is not easy but I believe it is not impossible.

　　China's space station is open to international cooperation, which will help to replace the commercial market to solve the problem of space experiment capacity.

10 years later, we may have some small free-flying commercial space stations, but now humans already have a larger Chinese space station with larger-scale laboratories and laboratory racks, which will serve the global scientific community in the next ten years Offers great opportunity.

China News Agency reporter: What is the significance of the opportunities for international space cooperation brought by the China Space Station to spaceflight countries?

What enlightenment does it have for human beings to explore deeper space?

Yang Yuguang:

International cooperation is an essential element for becoming a space power. The China Space Station is not only a national space laboratory, a "national business card", but also a very important platform for international cooperation.

It provides other spacefaring countries with more opportunities to cooperate with China. It should be emphasized that China has also created more opportunities for more developing countries and emerging spaceflight countries to participate in spaceflight and world space technology activities.

　　The ultimate role of space technology should be to benefit all mankind, not just a small number of countries.

It is very important for the balanced development of all mankind to involve more developing countries, especially those countries that did not have spaceflight capabilities in the past.

　　Many Chinese and foreign aerospace friends have said that there is no national border when looking at a continent from space.

Aerospace should become a field of common progress of mankind.