China’s space ambition doesn’t stop with a robot on Mars. The country has unveiled a huge project to build a vessel of exceptional length: one kilometer!
This spacecraft is presented by the Natural Science Foundation of China as ” major strategic aerospace equipment for the future exploitation of space resources, exploration of the mysteries of the universe and long-term life in orbit “. A particularly ambitious program which would therefore take place in an infrastructure one kilometer long. As a reminder, the International Space Station (ISS) is 110 meters long …
Not a scientific problem
The agency attached to the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology has posted a study project that describes how the spacecraft could be built. Scientists will need to research ways to design new lightweight materials to limit the volume of building materials to be sent into space. Their mission is also to develop new assembly techniques for this type of massive space structure.
If the agency gets the green light from the authorities, a feasibility study will be able to be launched. It will last five years and will have a budget of 15 million yuan, just under 2 million euros. A ridiculous amount compared to the cost of building the ISS: $ 100 billion! But this is a first step.
According to Mason Peck, the former chief technology officer of NASA, this apparently completely crazy project is not that much. Its success will depend more on questions of engineering than of basic science. In other words, technically nothing prevents the manufacture of such a structure, it is simply (so to speak …) adapt the scale to the size of the space.
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