China got the world's attention today by announcing the China Space Station (CSS), a new orbital station for the 2020s, will be open for international cooperation and experiments from researchers across the globe. Alongside this announcement, China also released an oft-overlooked handbook that details the CSS’s architecture and operation.

Some of the contents has trickled out, but the nearly 30-page document contains among the best available info about what CSS will look like and how it'll work. In it, the Chinese space agency says the station “will become the main scientific and technological laboratory in low-Earth orbit.”

Here’s a glimpse inside the construction and operation of the CSS, which may be constructed by 2022.

China First

For starters, the CSS will be smaller than the International Space Station. The document puts the total mass of CSS at about 66 tons, “and may reach approximately 100 tons when docked with several manned spaceships and cargo vehicles.” It will have room for three astronauts, with the ability to surge to six residents. By comparison, the ISS has a mass of 460 tons and is considered fully staffed at six people.

The Chinese space station will sit at a nearly identical altitude to ISS, about 250 miles up. That's not surprising given the advantages of low-Earth orbit, which include easier resupply deliveries from the planet and the protection of the Earth’s magnetic field against cosmic radiation.

However, China's station will be at a different inclination. Inclination means the angle where a space object resides as measured against the equator, and is one of the factors that determine the shape of any satellite’s orbit. The inclination also says something about the way a space station will be run. As one National Research Council document puts it:

“In practice, the orbital inclination of a space station cannot be smaller than the latitude of the most-northern launch facility used to support assembly of or logistics for the space station. For a given launch site, the amount of useful payload that can be delivered to a space station decreases as the orbital inclination increases. Maximum launch vehicle capacity is achieved when the orbital inclination of the space station is the same as the latitude of the launch site.”

The rocket carrying Shenzhou-11 spaceship blasts off in Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on October 17, 2016 in Jiuquan, China. Getty Images

ISS sits at a 51.6-degree inclination, the lowest inclination that the Russians can reach with their Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. The easier the insertion, the more cargo the spacecraft can carry into orbit.

The CSS will have an orbital inclination of about 41 degrees. This matches the latitude of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the Chinese spaceport that will deliver crew and cargo aboard the Long March CZ-2F launch system. Another Chinese spaceport at Wenchang will also launch rockets to the CSS. Even though it’s not at an ideal latitude, the Wenchang spaceport is on the coast and can process payloads delivered by seagoing ships. In other words, the CSS will be optimized for launches from Chinese spaceports, while its inclination would make life difficult for American and European launch providers.

A Big T in Space

Here's another difference from the ISS. The American method for building the International Space Station involved spacewalks to connect cables and piping. That won't happen with the CSS. Using a method used by the Russian space program, the CSS modules will be fully assembled when they get to orbit.

The CSS’s three main module components are horizontally symmetrical, but the station will be T-shaped. The core module of CSS will be named Tianhe, or “Harmony of the Heavens.” This is where visiting Shenzhou and Tianzhou spacecraft will berth. (Sorry Boeing and SpaceX—your crew delivery vehicles likely won’t find a home here.) From inside the Command Module, CSS residents will operate two robotic arms to grapple spacecraft and payloads. “With the front end of the CM pointing in the flight direction, the CM is used to control and manage the Space Station’s assembly and to provide living quarters and work areas for the astronauts,” the document says.

The core module of CSS will be named Tianhe, or “Harmony of the Heavens.”

Forming the rest of the T-shape are two Experiment Modules, used to support space science research. They also seem to have room for crew quarters when the station is complete. “The EM I has the ability to manage and control the Space Station and act as a backup for some of the key platform functions of the CM,” the document says. “It is the astronauts' main living quarters and emergency shelter and can support onboard and outboard space experiments.” The crew can access space via an airlock, with those robotic arms available to help with outboard experiments and any other extravehicular activities.

Science Mission

The handbook lists a slew of research priorities, all of which are familiar avenues of space-based research. These include studying the effects of living in space, microfluidics, material science, astronomy, and microgravity physics. One interesting test chamber is dedicated to “combustion science” that will test new space engines.

As for that international cooperation China proclaimed this week, the document makes it clear that China will be approving any experiments that come on board:

“International Partners can only propose experiment schemes such as experimental samples, experimental units or experimental designs independently or in cooperation with the China Manned Space Agency and conduct experiments by using the experimental facilities or exposed payloads already developed by China or by adding extra relevant facilities."

The Chinese are proposing to have a companion to the CSS floating nearby. This “Optical Module System” will be launched into orbit on its own and travel along the same orbit as CSS. It will “support multi-color photometry, seamless spectrum survey and Earth observation with multi-function optical capabilities.,” the handbook says. “If necessary, it can dock with the CSS for refueling, equipment maintenance, payload equipment upgrade and other maintenance activities.”

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