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The Chinese have launched Tiangong-2 space lab.
SPACE NEWS WEBCASTS: China Launches Tiangong-2 Space Lab
SPACE NEWS WEBCASTS: China Launches Tiangong-2 Space Lab
Like its predecessor Tiangong-1, Tiangong-2 is an orbiting space lab – but this latest model has made several improvements in the series. Among the advances: astronauts can remain on the station up to 30 days; New systems allow in orbit refueling of propellant; and 14 new experiments in a wide range of sciences.
"Some of the scientific research will include:
"The space lab is also equipped with a cold atom space clock, that has an estimated precision of 10 to the power of minus 16 seconds. This essentially means accuracy of the clock is within a one-second error every 30 million years. This exactitude will help measure previously undetectable fluctuations for experiments conducted in zero-gravity.
- Composite material fabrication
- Advanced-plant cultivation
- Gamma ray burst polarization
- Fluid physics
- Space-to-earth quantum communications
"'The clock is of the world’s leading technology to enhance time-keeping in space by one to two orders of magnitudes,' says Wu Ping."