China plans to build a "multi-kilometer" long spacecraft

It is no secret that China has become a major contender to win in spaceflight. Over the past 20 years, the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) has achieved a number of historic successes. These include sending astronauts into space, deploying three space stations (under the Tiangong program), developing heavy launch vehicles (such as Long March 5), and sending robotic explorers to the far side of the moon and Mars.

Give it a five-year span of four years

Looking ahead to the next decade and beyond, China plans to take even bolder steps to develop its space program. Among the many proposals the country's leaders are considering for their latest five-year plan, one includes building an "ultra-large spacecraft kilometers long." Having such a vehicle in low-Earth orbit (LEO) would be a game changer for China, allowing for long-duration missions and the use of space resources.

This ambitious proposal was one of ten presented by the National Natural Science Foundation of China at a meeting in Beijing earlier this month. Each of these projects has received $2.3 million in funding for further research and development. Reportedly, one of the main goals of the project will be to find ways to reduce the mass of spacecraft while ensuring that they are structurally reliable enough to launch into orbit.

What are the prospects?

To date, given the specifications given in the document, one can be very skeptical about such a proposal. In comparison, the International Space Station (ISS) is the largest man-made structure ever assembled in orbit. However, it took dozens of launches and many years to build, at a considerable cost to all involved.

The ISS measures 109 meters from edge to edge, while the proposed Chinese platform requires a structure at least 20 times larger in size. Based on the crudest estimates, it's safe to say that a "kilometer-long" spacecraft would cost up to $3 trillion. However, as part of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), this proposal appears to be aimed only at exploring the principle possibility of assembling a super-large spacecraft in orbit.

Source: scmp

Illustration: Stefan Keller