The Chinese Space Station will usher in a second expansion of capacity. The "T" shape will change into a "Ten" shape.

Today is the fifth anniversary of the launch of the Tianhe core module of the Chinese Space Station into orbit.It was launched on April 29, 2021 using the Long March 5B Yao-2 carrier rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Site. Currently, the space station has deployed and implemented 267 scientific and application projects in orbit. In the future, not only astronauts from Hong Kong and Macao will be stationed, but also a Pakistani astronaut will perform short-term missions as a payload expert. Cooperation projects with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs are also continuing to be implemented.

At this pace, the most important "space" of the space station will soon be insufficient.

According to relevant experts, the space station will receive a survey space telescope in the future.The Long March 5-B will also be upgraded for subsequent space station missions, developing a new fairing with a larger diameter, and adding another level to the original Long March 5-B to adapt to the Chinese space station project. The space station has thus entered a new "capacity expansion" cycle.

The current space station assembly is a "T"-shaped assembly that operates stably. The future "expansion" plan will add a new expansion module to the forward docking port of the current core module, thus forming a "Ten" shape.

According to the mission plan, this new expansion module is larger than the core module of Tianhe. It will provide multiple new parking ports and add an exit hatch for astronauts to meet the current needs of frequent cargo spaceships, manned spacecraft and astronaut exits.

In addition, this module will also provide a interface for the arrival of new experimental modules.