China revealed its intention on Wednesday to launch a cutting-edge telescope, known as Xuntian, designed to explore the depths of the cosmos. This announcement coincided with preparations for the forthcoming mission, which will send a new three-member crew to the nation’s orbiting space station.
The Xuntian telescope is slated for installation on China’s Tiangong space station, where it will share an orbit with the station itself. Lin Xiqiang, spokesperson and deputy director general of the Chinese Manned Space Agency, made this declaration. No specific timeline has been provided for the installation. State broadcaster CCTV noted that the telescope would facilitate celestial surveys and sky mapping.
China has a rich history of studying celestial bodies, spanning thousands of years. In the modern era, China has strived to become a prominent player in space exploration and scientific research.
This announcement came on the eve of the launch of three astronauts—Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin—who will be replacing a crew that has been stationed on the space station for the past six months. The launch is scheduled for late morning on Thursday, with Tang Hongbo being a seasoned astronaut who previously led a three-month space mission in 2021.
China has made substantial progress in advancing its space capabilities and has disclosed its intentions to send a manned mission to the moon by the end of the decade, along with other space-related ambitions. While the program is in competition with the United States, it also seeks to garner support from countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, South America, and elsewhere.
China developed its own space station after being excluded from the International Space Station, primarily due to U.S. concerns regarding control by the People’s Liberation Army, the military arm of the ruling Communist Party. In 2003, China achieved a significant milestone by becoming the third country, after the former Soviet Union and the United States, to independently send a person into space.
The United States currently maintains an advantage over China in terms of spending, supply chains, and capabilities, though China has made noteworthy progress in some areas. This includes collecting lunar samples for the first time in decades and successfully landing a rover on the less-explored far side of the moon.
Concurrently, the United States aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface by the end of 2025, supported by private sector entities like SpaceX and Blue Origin. Both China and the U.S. have also independently landed rovers on Mars, with China planning to emulate the U.S. by landing a spacecraft on an asteroid.
The incoming space station crew will also be tasked with maintaining its solar panels, which have been impacted by debris within the solar system. A significant portion of this debris was generated by China’s destruction of one of its satellites using a missile in 2007, which was seen as a display of strength in its competition with the U.S. and its allies.
