Chinese space authorities have unveiled additional details about their plans for the creation of China's own orbiting space lab, according to an article published by CRIENGLISH.com.
The latest step in the plan will be the launch of the second space lab called the Tiangong-2, which is scheduled for the third quarter of this year, the report said.
After that, sometime before the year ends, two astronauts will be carried by the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft, which will dock with the space lab.
The plan is for the astronauts to stay inside the new lab for 30 days, double the previous Chinese record for the longest manned space mission.
Nie Haisheng, chief of China's astronaut brigade, said that staying in space for a longer period of time has several challenges.
"Firstly, we have to ensure the health and survival of our astronauts in orbit over the long-term," Nie said. "Secondly, we have to improve our monitoring and controls in our spacecraft. As we continue to build the space station, there will be a lot of equipment to move up there. This means they will have to spend more time in orbit inside the space station, as they will have to spend a lot of time setting up and maintaining the equipment."
Nie, who was in command of the Shenzhou-10 mission that completed the manned docking to the Tiangong-1 space lab in 2013, said that the Chinese astronaut corps is also training to conduct more spacewalks.
"During the Shenzhou-7 mission, we conducted a spacewalk and accumulated some experience," Nie said. "But in the future, our astronauts are going to have to complete a lot of tasks during the spacewalks, as they will have to deal with issues such as equipment transfers, installation, repairs, maintenance and disassembling different components. We also have plans to carry out some scientific experiments outside the space capsule."
The report said that the planned launch of the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft, which is due to dock with Tiangong-2 in the first half of next year, is included in the new blueprint for the Chinese Space Station.
Wu Ping of the China Manned Space Engineering Office said that Tianzhou-1's role will be critical to the construction of the space station.
"After we finish the testing of our new CZ-7 carrier rocket, we're going to use it to transport the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft into orbit to dock with Tiangong-2," Wu said. "The flight will be a test of the key technology needed for the construction of the space station. It will also test our capacity to transport cargo and replenish propellants in orbit."
The report said the space lab would require a form of propellant to keep it in orbit and prevent it from slowly drifting into the atmosphere.
The full-scale construction of the Chinese space station is set to begin in the next four years, the report said.