About Long March 10 Rocket:
- It is China’s new carrier rocket designed for manned moon landing missions.
- The rocket will be capable of ferrying a crew module along with a lunar lander to Earth-Moon transfer orbit.
- Features:
- It has a modular design, consisting of a service capsule, a return capsule and an escape tower, making it like a miniature space station on its own.
- The command module and living quarters form one half, while the energy and the power modules form the other half.
- The flexible approach allows for components to be reused.
- The crew capsule has been designed for operations in orbit around the Moon, as well as the Earth. The crew module has a capacity of between four and seven humans.
- The vehicle will use liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen and kerosene as propellants.
- It will have a length of 92 meters, and will be able to deliver a minimum of 27 tonnes to the Earth-Moon transfer orbit.
- There is also a configuration of the vehicle without a booster that can ferry Taikonauts (Chinese word for astronaut) to the Tiangong space station.
Key facts about Tiangong space station:
- Tiangong (Chinese for "Heavenly Palace") is a modular space station being constructed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
- It is the first space station built by China.
- Tiangong is currently in low Earth orbit (LEO), and it is expected to be operational until 2028.
- It is a three-module space station. The core module Tianhe launched in April 2021, followed by the Wentian and Mengtian experiment modules in 2022.
- The station is about the size of the International Space Station (ISS), and it can accommodate up to three astronauts.
- China is only the third country to have put both astronauts into space and to build a space station, after the Soviet Union (now Russia) and the US.
