A Long March-2F carrier rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft for the first Chinese crewed mission to its new space station, sits behind the characters for China at a satellite launch centre in the Gobi Desert on June 16. Photo: AFP
China eyes ‘ultra-large spacecraft’ spanning miles in US$2.3m crewed mission push
- Science and technology ministry’s funding arm proposes five-year project on building ‘ultra-large spacecraft’ to aid exploration and stay in long-term orbit
- Researchers will be tasked with minimising the weight of the spacecraft to reduce the number of launches and construction costs
A Long March-2F carrier rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft for the first Chinese crewed mission to its new space station, sits behind the characters for China at a satellite launch centre in the Gobi Desert on June 16. Photo: AFP
