Tiangong 2: China launches second space station

CHINA has launched its second space station in a sign of the growing sophistication of its military-backed program that intends to send a mission to Mars.

China has launched its second space station in a sign of the growing sophistication of its military-backed program. Picture: Chinatopix via AP

CHINA has launched its second space station in a sign of the growing sophistication of its military-backed program that intends to send a mission to Mars in the coming years.

The Tiangong 2 was carried into space on Thursday night atop a Long March 7 rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northern China.

Plans call for the launch next month of the Shenzhou 11 spaceship with two astronauts to dock with the station and remain on board for a month.

The station, whose name means “Heavenly Palace,” is considered a stepping stone to a mission to Mars by the end of the decade.

China's Tiangong 2 space lab is launched on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert. Picture: AFP

The Tiangong 2 module will be used for “testing systems and processes for midterm space stays and refuelling,” and will house experiments in medicine and various space-related technologies. China’s first space station, Tiangong 1, was launched in September 2011 and officially went out of service earlier this year after having docked with three visiting spacecraft.

China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, becoming only the third country after Russia and the US to do so, and has since staged a space walk and landed its Yutu rover on the moon.

The spacecraft of Shenzhou X is seen on top of the Long March 2F launch vehicle on June 3, 2013. Picture: ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

Administrators suggest a manned landing on the moon may also be in the program’s future.

China was prevented from participating in the International Space Station, mainly due to US concerns over the security risks of involving the increasingly assertive Chinese military in the multinational effort.

A source of enormous national pride, China’s space program plans a total of 20 missions this year at a time when the US and other countries’ programs are seeking new roles.

China is also developing the Long March 5 heavier-lift rocket needed to launch other components of the Tiangong 2 and other massive payloads.

China plans to land a rover on Mars by 2020, attempting to recreate the success of the US Viking 1 mission that landed a rover on the planet four decades ago.

In this image taken from China's CCTV via APTN, a video image show the docking of the Shenzhou 8 craft that was launched Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011 with the already orbiting Tiangong 1 module in the early morning of Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011. The two unmanned Chinese spacecraft docked successfully and were orbiting the Earth together Thursday in a step that moves China closer to manning its own space station in about a decade. (AP Photo/CCTV via APTN) CHINA OUT, NO SALES, NO ARCHIVES, EDITORIAL USE ONLY