China’s new battle into Space
China’s space station means lift-off on a new battle for the galaxy … and just like on Earth, Beijing has America worried
By CGTN – April 29, 2021
Joe Biden’s prediction of a technological war with Beijing will be played out in outer space. And as the creation of a new space station and other successful missions demonstrate, China is intent on winning the strategic battle.
On Thursday, China sent the core module of its first-ever space station, the Tianhe – or ‘Harmony of the Heavens’ – up into orbit. It’s long been under development, and marks a huge breakthrough in the country’s space program.
The space-based construction effort requires 10 additional launches from 2021 through 2022: two more module launches, four crewed missions and four cargo vessel flights, as reported by China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Three types of Long March carrier rockets will jointly launch the remaining 10 missions. When completed, China’s orbiting outpost will form a T-shape with Tianhe at the center and two other modules, Wentian and Mengtian, on each side.
The only current space station in orbit is the ISS which is a collaboration between Russia, the US, Canada, Europe and Japan. China has been blocked from participating in it.
China is pioneering a space program that is not only advancing very quickly, but successfully. This will almost certainly put NASA to the test, and it is a competition which, as we saw previously, is likely to massively broaden our perspective and understanding of the universe around us.
China has made no secret of its space ambitions. It has poured significant funding into its space efforts, and in 2019 became the first country to send an uncrewed rover to the far side of the Moon.
President Xi Jinping has also thrown his support behind the country’s space endeavours and the Chinese state media regularly cast the “space dream” as one step in the path to “national rejuvenation.”
This national rejuvenation in developing space capabilities are manifold. Satellites facilitate military and civilian communications. Human spaceflight garners international prestige, while also providing opportunities for cutting-edge research.
Experiments conducted in space have resulted in numerous breakthroughs that have been used to address medical, environmental, and technological challenges back on Earth.
The ISS is due to be retired after 2024, which could potentially leave Tianhe as the only space station in Earth’s orbit.
China welcomes collaboration on the CSS from scientists all over the world but also could use this to gain diplomatic leverage, since countries interested in continuing research in space could be compelled to look to the Chinese space program in the absence of other alternatives.
But US law prohibits NASA scientists from collaborating directly with China.
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
Joel Huan
The Mystery of Ephraim 