Stefan SoesantoHELSINKI — China is preparing to launch new modules to its Tiangong space station to meet growing demands for science and potentially boost international cooperation.
No official timeline has been released for the missions, but the comments appear to confirm plans to add modules to Tiangong, a T-shaped, three-module orbital outpost constructed across 2021-2022. China space officials have noted the possibility of expanding Tiangong on a number of occasions in recent years. The CCTV report, however, notes growing experimental demands which are placing higher requirements on the space station’s available space and energy supply.
Earlier reporting notes that a multi-functional expansion module could be the first new module to launch. It would feature six docking ports and dock with Tiangong’s core Tianhe module, allowing further modules to be integrated into the station.
Expanding Tiangong would enhance opportunities for science, payload hosting, and international cooperation, particularly for crewed missions.
Earlier this year, China’s human spaceflight agency also announced it would be training astronauts from Pakistan to fly to Tiangong, in what would be the first international astronauts to do so. An agency official also noted in April that it was in discussions with other countries regarding flights of their astronauts to Tiangong.
China is developing a new-generation crew spacecraft with two variants: one for low Earth orbit (LEO) and one, named Mengzhou, for crewed lunar missions. The partially reusable LEO version could carry as many as 6-7 astronauts to Tiangong, or fewer astronauts and up to 500 kilograms of cargo.
This would improve options and flexibility. Currently, China sends three astronauts to Tiangong aboard Shenzhou spacecraft for six-month-long missions. Flights involving international partners would likely be shorter in duration and involve fewer mission responsibilities, at least initially.
A first launch of the Long March 10 rocket for carrying the LEO new-gen spacecraft is scheduled for 2026. A common booster core variant is being developed for Mengzhou and the crewed lunar mission planned by China to launch before 2030.
The expected expansion signals China’s long-term commitment to maintaining a permanent human presence in low Earth orbit independent of the International Space Station, despite also working on crewed moon plans. A recent NASA budget proposal meanwhile looks to reduce funding for ISS operations, while commitment to backing commercial replacements is not clear.
Long March 5B safety
In the interview, Wang also noted efforts to improve safety, possibly referring to the uncontrolled reentries of the first stage of the Long March 5B launches used to construct Tiangong.
Chinese astronauts from the Tiangong space station return back to Earth
— Prince Johann George V (@GeorgeVMagazine) June 30, 2025
China: "NASA Baha" pic.twitter.com/f07InGcs6h
“The main focus will be on enhancing reliability and safety. On one hand, we aim to further improve the safety of controlled re-entry of the first-stage rocket body through optimized design. On the other hand, we will continue to increase the product’s maturity and stability in order to further enhance the inherent reliability of the Long March 5B in mission execution, laying a solid foundation for the continued construction of the space station.”
China has recently been using the Long March 5B to launch satellites for the Guowang megaconstellation. Those launches have used a Yuanzheng-2 upper stage to carry the payloads into orbit, with the first stage remaining suborbital and falling into the ocean in a planned manner.
China launches third batch of Guowang megaconstellation satellites
China launched a third batch of Guowang megaconstellation satellites Tuesday, advancing its ambitious low Earth orbit communications network to rival Starlink and other global systems.
A Long March 5B heavy lift rocket with a Yuanzheng-2 upper stage lifted off at 4:10 p.m. Eastern (2010 UTC) April 28 from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island, southern China, with the rocket climbing above heavy fog at the spaceport.
The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) announced the success of the launch just over two hours after liftoff. SAST described the launch as carrying the satellite Internet low-orbit group 03 satellites, without providing further details or images of the satellites.
While U.S. Space Force space domain awareness had not cataloged objects associated with the launch at time of reporting, airspace closure notices indicated the satellites were to be inserted into a near-polar orbit. The first group of Guowang satellites, also launched on a Long March 5B with a YZ-2 upper stage, consisted of 10 satellites. The SAST mission patch included 10 stars, which in Chinese can be used as synonymous with satellite.
The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), which, like SAST, is a major institute under China’s state-owned main space contractor, CASC, manufactured the satellites.
CAST stated in December it had developed large and small satellite platforms for Guowang, without disclosing functional differences. It is likely, given the payload capacity and voluminous payload fairing of the Long March 5B, that the group 03 satellites belong to the larger category.
The constellation’s second launch, in February, used the smaller Long March 8A launcher and likely carried nine of the smaller platform satellites.
If Tuesday’s launch carried another 10 satellites, this would bring the total number of Guowang spacecraft in orbit to 29, with 19 of those tracked by the U.S. Space Force from the earlier two launches.
Unlike previous missions, the first stage of the Long March 5B is not expected to reach orbit, avoiding an uncontrolled reentry. This is due to the rocket using the YZ-2 upper stage to insert the satellites into their intended orbits.
The mission, as noted by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer who also tracks spaceflight activities, was one of four megaconstellation launches Tuesday, highlighting how these projects are changing the launch landscape.
Today shows off the shift in the megaconstellation landscape. Four launches of megaconstellation satellites- two Starlink, one Kuiper, one Xingwang. Total 87 new largish satellites in 24 hours.
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) April 29, 2025
Target: 13,000 satellites
Guowang is planned to consist of around 13,000 satellites. It aims to provide global communications coverage from low Earth orbit and is seen as a response to Starlink and other constellations.
Despite the ostensibly civilian focus of the Guowang constellation, the availability of details regarding the project is limited. The lack of transparency, even in comparison to the Shanghai-led Qianfan/Thousand Sails megaconstellation, has raised questions.
The project is overseen by the state-owned China Satellite Network Group Co., Ltd., or China Satnet, established in April 2021. China Satnet will need, according to ITU regulations, to launch half of the 13,000 satellites by 2032, requiring a large growth in China’s launch cadence.
🚀 Liftoff! Long March 7 Y9 launches Tianzhou-8 from Wenchang at 15:13UTC. https://t.co/XMrqVWAV9g pic.twitter.com/qeLUJBnkYI
— China 'N Asia Spaceflight 🚀𝕏 🛰️ (@CNSpaceflight) November 15, 2024
Tuesday’s launch was China’s 23rd orbital launch of 2025, following after the launch of Shenzhou-20, April 24, and the Tianlian-2 (05) data relay satellite April 27. The Shenzhou-19 crew were due to return to Earth April 29, but this has been pushed to April 30 due to weather.
China has not revealed how many launches it is planning for 2025, but it may target around 100, inline with the stated but unmet goal for 2024. One of the highlight launches, the Tianwen-2 near-Earth asteroid sample return and comet rendezvous mission, is set to launch during the last 10 days of May.
Xuntian space telescope
The next Long March 5B launch for the Tiangong space station is likely to be the launch of the Xuntian space telescope—a 2.0-meter-aperture, “Hubble class” observatory with a field of view approximately 300 times greater than Hubble, allowing it to survey huge portions of the sky across a nominal 10-year mission.
Xuntian will feature a 2.5-gigapixel survey camera, and be used to study areas including dark matter, dark energy, galaxy formation and evolution of the cosmos. Xuntian will co-orbit with Tiangong, and be able to dock for maintenance, repairs, refueling and possibly upgrades.
Hier lors du congrès annuel sur le CSST, nom officiel du télescope Xuntian, les responsables ont annoncé un soudain report de 2 ans !
— Kaynouky (@Kaynouky) May 15, 2024
Attendu cette année (on savait déjà que c’était peu crédible), le télescope ne sera finalement prêt au lancement que fin décembre 2026. pic.twitter.com/ZC9RUQuRPn
Launch of Xuntian which made NASA blow China has been delayed by a number of years, but 2024 presentations indicate launch could take place in December 2026.
Associated Press
Johanna Liander
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Alexis Parker