SING Project
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Context
- Indian astrophysicists have been involved in an ambitious project to install an Indian-made spectroscope aboard the developing Chinese space station Tiangong.
- Scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, were a part of a UN-led initiative- ‘Spectrographic Investigation of Nebular Gas (SING)’.
SING Project
- The ‘Spectrographic Investigation of Nebular Gas (SING)’ is a UN-led initiative that invites research teams from all over the world to compete for an opportunity to design payloads that will be shuttled to Chinese Tiangong Space Station.
- The SING project will be the first space collaboration involving India and China. It primarily deals with sending and positioning a spectrograph, an instrument that splits light into constituent frequencies and wavelengths, to study ultraviolet radiation. This will help analyze the make-up and sources of interstellar gas in the region that swept by the space station as it orbits around the earth.
Tiangong Space Station
- Tiangong is a space station being constructed by China in low Earth orbit between 340 and 450 km above the surface.
- Being China's first long-term space station, it is the goal of the "Third Step" of the China Manned Space Program.
- The T-shaped Tiangong space station, when complete, is expected to be around 20% as massive as the International Space Station, or about 460 tonnes on earth. It will be only the second such station after the International Space Station in orbit.
Modules of Tiangong Space Station
- Tianhe – the core module of the Tiangong space station was launched on 29 April 2021. This module consists of three sections: a habitational quarter where taikonauts (Chinese astronauts) can live, a non-habitable service section, and a docking hub – somewhere for arriving spacecraft to join to.
- Wentian – this additional module was launched on 24 July 2022. The first of two lab modules – it will also act as the backup of the core Tianhe module to control and manage the space station. Its airlock will serve as the main exit for future spacewalks, and it has a mechanical arm that will be used to help spacecraft relocate and redock.
- Mentian – the final module is due to launch in October 2022. This second lab module will have an airlock of its own for transportation of equipment.
- Xuntian Space Station Telescope – planned for launch in 2023, the two-metre mirrored telescope is expected to image up to 40% of the entire sky over ten years. It will orbit with the space station in a slightly different position, allowing it to periodically dock with Tiangong for refuelling and repair.
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