China successfully launches space lab Tiangong 2
SEP 16, 2016
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.0210107
Nature : On 15 September at 10:04pm local time, China launched Tiangong 2 into low-Earth orbit. The space lab is to replace Tiangong 1, China’s first prototype space station, which has been in orbit since 2011. In November China plans a second launch to send two astronauts up to Tiangong 2 for a one-month stay, and in April 2017 another craft will bring fuel and more supplies. Onboard Tiangong 2 are 14 experiments, including POLAR, an international mission to study high-energy photons from gamma-ray bursts. Over the past year, China has also launched DAMPE, its first dark-matter detector, and QUESS, the world’s first quantum communications satellite.
© 2016 American Institute of Physics
