128-508: Tiangong ( Chinese : 天宫 ; pinyin : Tiāngōng ; lit. 'Sky Palace'), officially the Tiangong space station ( Chinese : 天宫空间站 ; pinyin : Tiāngōng kōngjiānzhàn ), is a permanently crewed space station constructed by China and operated by China Manned Space Agency . Tiangong is a modular design, with modules docked together while in low Earth orbit , between 340 and 450 km (210 and 280 mi) above
256-469: A nucleus that has a vowel (which can be a monophthong , diphthong , or even a triphthong in certain varieties), preceded by an onset (a single consonant , or consonant + glide ; a zero onset is also possible), and followed (optionally) by a coda consonant; a syllable also carries a tone . There are some instances where a vowel is not used as a nucleus. An example of this is in Cantonese, where
384-457: A subject–verb–object word order , and like many other languages of East Asia, makes frequent use of the topic–comment construction to form sentences. Chinese also has an extensive system of classifiers and measure words , another trait shared with neighboring languages such as Japanese and Korean. Other notable grammatical features common to all the spoken varieties of Chinese include the use of serial verb construction , pronoun dropping , and
512-483: A 2006 study suggests maintaining elevated CO 2 concentrations can mitigate the effects of hypobaric conditions as low as 10 kPa to achieve normal plant growth. Martian soil contains a majority of the minerals needed for plant growth except reactive nitrogen, which is a product of mineralization of organic matter. Since the Martian surface is deficient in organic matter, reactive nitrogen is lacking. Reactive nitrogen
640-510: A Chinese character is the morpheme, as characters represent the smallest grammatical units with individual meanings in the Chinese language. Estimates of the total number of Chinese words and lexicalized phrases vary greatly. The Hanyu Da Zidian , a compendium of Chinese characters, includes 54,678 head entries for characters, including oracle bone versions. The Zhonghua Zihai (1994) contains 85,568 head entries for character definitions and
768-599: A Shanghai resident may speak both Standard Chinese and Shanghainese ; if they grew up elsewhere, they are also likely fluent in the dialect of their home region. In addition to Standard Chinese, a majority of Taiwanese people also speak Taiwanese Hokkien (also called 台語 ; 'Taiwanese' ), Hakka , or an Austronesian language . A speaker in Taiwan may mix pronunciations and vocabulary from Standard Chinese and other languages of Taiwan in everyday speech. In part due to traditional cultural ties with Guangdong , Cantonese
896-462: A central variety (i.e. prestige variety, such as Standard Mandarin), as the issue requires some careful handling when mutual intelligibility is inconsistent with language identity. The Chinese government's official Chinese designation for the major branches of Chinese is 方言 ; fāngyán ; 'regional speech', whereas the more closely related varieties within these are called 地点方言 ; 地點方言 ; dìdiǎn fāngyán ; 'local speech'. Because of
1024-615: A compromise between the pronunciations of different regions. The royal courts of the Ming and early Qing dynasties operated using a koiné language known as Guanhua , based on the Nanjing dialect of Mandarin. Standard Chinese is an official language of both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan), one of the four official languages of Singapore , and one of
1152-714: A corresponding increase in the number of homophones . As an example, the small Langenscheidt Pocket Chinese Dictionary lists six words that are commonly pronounced as shí in Standard Chinese: In modern spoken Mandarin, however, tremendous ambiguity would result if all of these words could be used as-is. The 20th century Yuen Ren Chao poem Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den exploits this, consisting of 92 characters all pronounced shi . As such, most of these words have been replaced in speech, if not in writing, with less ambiguous disyllabic compounds. Only
1280-452: A direct effect on plant germination, growth and reproduction. Ionizing radiation also has an effect on PSII function and may cause a loss of function and generation of radicals responsible for photo-oxidation. The intensity of these effects vary from species to species. The low-pressure environment of the surface of Mars has also been a cause for concern. Hypobaric conditions can affect net photosynthesis and evapotranspiration rates. However,
1408-455: A long-term mission, such as a four-man crew, three year Martian mission, this number can grow to as much as 24,000 lb (11,000 kg). Due to the cost of resupply and the impracticality of resupplying interplanetary missions, the prospect of growing food inflight is incredibly appealing. The existence of a space farm would aid the creation of a sustainable environment, as plants can be used to recycle wastewater, generate oxygen, continuously purify
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#17327807451291536-576: A millennium. The Four Commanderies of Han were established in northern Korea in the 1st century BCE but disintegrated in the following centuries. Chinese Buddhism spread over East Asia between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE, and with it the study of scriptures and literature in Literary Chinese. Later, strong central governments modeled on Chinese institutions were established in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, with Literary Chinese serving as
1664-560: A new core module. "Following our current design, we can continue to launch an extension module to dock with the forward section of the space station, and the extension module can carry a new hub for docking with the subsequent space vehicles," Wang told CCTV . In October 2023, CAST presented new plan on the 74th International Astronautical Congress to expand the Tiangong to 180 tons, six-module assembly, with at least 15 years of operational life. A multi-functional module with six docking ports
1792-450: A new source of these vitamins would be required. Supply of foodstuffs to others is likely to be a major part of early off-Earth settlements. Food production is a non-trivial task and is likely to be one of the most labor-intensive and vital tasks of early colonists. Among others, NASA is researching how to accomplish space farming. A variety of technical challenges will face colonists who attempt to do off-Earth agriculture. These include
1920-525: A panoramic camera, and other equipment. On 16 September 2021, the Shenzhou 12 crew entered the returning spacecraft and undocked from Tianhe . Before leaving the orbit, the crew performed various radial rendezvous (R-Bar) maneuvers to circumnavigate around the space station. They tested the guidance system and recorded lighting conditions while approaching the Tianhe from different angles. The crew landed in
2048-571: A refrigerator for scientific experiment. Beginning with the Shenzhou 14 , China officially started the final construction phase for the space station, with three astronauts tasked to oversee the arrival of two labotorary modules in 2022. On 5 June 2022, Shenzhou 14 crew arrived at the space station, docking at the Earth-facing nadir port. Shenzhou 14 crew will begin the assembly for both Wentian and Mengtian modules, arriving in second half of
2176-542: A secure reconstruction of Proto-Sino-Tibetan, the higher-level structure of the family remains unclear. A top-level branching into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman languages is often assumed, but has not been convincingly demonstrated. The first written records appeared over 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty . As the language evolved over this period, the various local varieties became mutually unintelligible. In reaction, central governments have repeatedly sought to promulgate
2304-663: A service section, and a docking hub. The living quarters will contain a kitchen and toilet, fire control equipment, atmospheric processing and control equipment, computers, scientific apparatus, communications equipment to send and receive communications via ground control in Beijing , and other equipment. In 2018 a full-scale mockup of CCM was publicly presented at China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai. The video from CMSA revealed that two of these core modules have been built. Artist impressions have also depicted
2432-508: A similar way to the use of Latin and Ancient Greek roots in European languages. Many new compounds, or new meanings for old phrases, were created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to name Western concepts and artifacts. These coinages, written in shared Chinese characters, have then been borrowed freely between languages. They have even been accepted into Chinese, a language usually resistant to loanwords, because their foreign origin
2560-678: A single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered to be separate languages in a family . Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese , of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin with 66%, or around 800 million speakers, followed by Min (75 million, e.g. Southern Min ), Wu (74 million, e.g. Shanghainese ), and Yue (68 million, e.g. Cantonese ). These branches are unintelligible to each other, and many of their subgroups are unintelligible with
2688-543: A single multi-functional module with six docking ports instead. In October 2023, China announced revised plans to expand the station to six modules starting in 2027. The Tianhe Core Cabin Module (CCM) provides life support and living quarters for three crew members and provides guidance, navigation, and orientation control for the station. The module also provides the station's power, propulsion, and life support systems. The module consists of three sections: living quarters,
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#17327807451292816-631: A unified standard. The earliest examples of Old Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones dated to c. 1250 BCE , during the Late Shang . The next attested stage came from inscriptions on bronze artifacts dating to the Western Zhou period (1046–771 BCE), the Classic of Poetry and portions of the Book of Documents and I Ching . Scholars have attempted to reconstruct
2944-575: A variety of Yue from a small coastal area around Taishan, Guangdong . In parts of South China, the dialect of a major city may be only marginally intelligible to its neighbors. For example, Wuzhou and Taishan are located approximately 260 km (160 mi) and 190 km (120 mi) away from Guangzhou respectively, but the Yue variety spoken in Wuzhou is more similar to the Guangzhou dialect than
3072-602: Is Taishanese. Wuzhou is located directly upstream from Guangzhou on the Pearl River , whereas Taishan is to Guangzhou's southwest, with the two cities separated by several river valleys. In parts of Fujian , the speech of some neighbouring counties or villages is mutually unintelligible. Local varieties of Chinese are conventionally classified into seven dialect groups, largely based on the different evolution of Middle Chinese voiced initials: Proportions of first-language speakers The classification of Li Rong , which
3200-709: Is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in China , as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora . Approximately 1.35 billion people, or 17% of the global population, speak a variety of Chinese as their first language . Chinese languages form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be dialects of
3328-441: Is a required constituent of soil used for plant growth, and it is possible that nitrogen fixing species, such as bacteria, could aide in supplying reactive nitrogen. However, a 2014 study suggested that plants were able to germinate and survive a period of 50 days on a Martian and lunar soil by using simulant soils. This being said, only one of the four experimented species did well enough to achieve full flower formation, and more work
3456-490: Is called either 华语 ; 華語 ; Huáyǔ or 汉语 ; 漢語 ; Hànyǔ ). Standard Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. The governments of both China and Taiwan intend for speakers of all Chinese speech varieties to use it as a common language of communication. Therefore, it is used in government agencies, in the media, and as a language of instruction in schools. Diglossia is common among Chinese speakers. For example,
3584-651: Is fitted with conventional chemical propulsion and ion thrusters to adjust and maintain the station's orbit. Four Hall-effect thrusters are mounted on the hull of the Tianhe core module . The development of the Hall-effect thrusters is considered a sensitive topic in China, with scientists "working to improve the technology without attracting attention". Hall-effect thrusters are created with crewed mission safety in mind with an effort to prevent erosion and damage caused by
3712-603: Is often described as a 'monosyllabic' language. However, this is only partially correct. It is largely accurate when describing Old and Middle Chinese; in Classical Chinese, around 90% of words consist of a single character that corresponds one-to-one with a morpheme , the smallest unit of meaning in a language. In modern varieties, it usually remains the case that morphemes are monosyllabic—in contrast, English has many multi-syllable morphemes, both bound and free , such as 'seven', 'elephant', 'para-' and '-able'. Some of
3840-445: Is only about an eighth as many as English. All varieties of spoken Chinese use tones to distinguish words. A few dialects of north China may have as few as three tones, while some dialects in south China have up to 6 or 12 tones, depending on how one counts. One exception from this is Shanghainese which has reduced the set of tones to a two-toned pitch accent system much like modern Japanese. A very common example used to illustrate
3968-540: Is primarily used to transfer extravehicular experiments and other hardware outside the station during astronaut EVAs. A dual-arm connector is installed on the Chinarm , providing it the capability to link with the Wentian robotic arm, extending its reach and weight-carrying limits. The Mengtian module carries a payload release mechanism, installed to assist in cargo transfer. The robotic arm can retrieve experiments from
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4096-508: Is provided by two steerable solar power arrays on each module, which use gallium arsenide photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity. Energy is stored to power the station when it passes into the Earth's shadow. Resupply spacecraft will replenish fuel for the station's propulsion engines for station keeping, to counter the effects of atmospheric drag. The solar arrays are designed to last up to 15 years. The Tiangong space station
4224-557: Is provided. Normal growth is classified as opposite root and shoot growth direction. This being said, many plants grown in a space flight environment have been significantly smaller than those grown on Earth's surface and grew at a slower rate. In addition to the varying effects of gravity, plants grown on the surface of Mars will be exposed to much higher levels of radiation than on Earth unless protected. Exposure to high levels of radiation can damage plant DNA, which occurs as highly reactive hydroxyl radicals target DNA. DNA degradation has
4352-475: Is specifically designed for conveying payloads from inside the station to the exterior. Both LCMs provide a pressurised environment for researchers to conduct science experiments in freefall or microgravity which could not be conducted on Earth for more than a few minutes. Experiments can also be placed on the outside of the modules for exposure to the space environment , cosmic rays , vacuum, and solar winds . Overall, Wentian prioritises life science , while
4480-668: Is specifically meant. However, when one of the above words forms part of a compound, the disambiguating syllable is generally dropped and the resulting word is still disyllabic. For example, 石 ; shí alone, and not 石头 ; 石頭 ; shítou , appears in compounds as meaning 'stone' such as 石膏 ; shígāo ; 'plaster', 石灰 ; shíhuī ; 'lime', 石窟 ; shíkū ; 'grotto', 石英 ; 'quartz', and 石油 ; shíyóu ; 'petroleum'. Although many single-syllable morphemes ( 字 ; zì ) can stand alone as individual words, they more often than not form multi-syllable compounds known as 词 ; 詞 ; cí , which more closely resembles
4608-489: Is the largest reference work based purely on character and its literary variants. The CC-CEDICT project (2010) contains 97,404 contemporary entries including idioms, technology terms, and names of political figures, businesses, and products. The 2009 version of the Webster's Digital Chinese Dictionary (WDCD), based on CC-CEDICT, contains over 84,000 entries. The most comprehensive pure linguistic Chinese-language dictionary,
4736-501: Is used as an everyday language in Hong Kong and Macau . The designation of various Chinese branches remains controversial. Some linguists and most ordinary Chinese people consider all the spoken varieties as one single language, as speakers share a common national identity and a common written form. Others instead argue that it is inappropriate to refer to major branches of Chinese such as Mandarin, Wu, and so on as "dialects" because
4864-500: Is used in education, media, formal speech, and everyday life—though Mandarin is increasingly taught in schools due to the mainland's growing influence. Historically, the Chinese language has spread to its neighbors through a variety of means. Northern Vietnam was incorporated into the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) in 111 BCE, marking the beginning of a period of Chinese control that ran almost continuously for
4992-552: Is used in the Language Atlas of China (1987), distinguishes three further groups: Some varieties remain unclassified, including the Danzhou dialect on Hainan , Waxianghua spoken in western Hunan , and Shaozhou Tuhua spoken in northern Guangdong . Standard Chinese is the standard language of China (where it is called 普通话 ; pǔtōnghuà ) and Taiwan, and one of the four official languages of Singapore (where it
5120-428: Is very complex, with a large number of consonants and vowels, but they are probably not all distinguished in any single dialect. Most linguists now believe it represents a diasystem encompassing 6th-century northern and southern standards for reading the classics. The complex relationship between spoken and written Chinese is an example of diglossia : as spoken, Chinese varieties have evolved at different rates, while
5248-753: The Qieyun rime dictionary (601 CE), and a late period in the 10th century, reflected by rhyme tables such as the Yunjing constructed by ancient Chinese philologists as a guide to the Qieyun system. These works define phonological categories but with little hint of what sounds they represent. Linguists have identified these sounds by comparing the categories with pronunciations in modern varieties of Chinese , borrowed Chinese words in Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean, and transcription evidence. The resulting system
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5376-576: The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), the combined 15-meter Chinarm will have greater range and weight-carrying capacity. During spacewalks, various preparations were performed on the robotic arm for manipulation and construction of future modules. On 26 December 2021, Shenzhou 13 crew Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu conducted the second spacewalk to install a panoramic camera, which will be used for space station monitoring and robotic arm observation. They also practiced various movements with
5504-654: The International Space Station (ISS) in 2011, although China, Russia and Europe mutually vowed intentions to maintain a cooperative and multilateral approach in space. Between 2007 and 2011, the space agencies of Russia, Europe, and China carried out the ground-based preparations in the Mars500 project, which complement the ISS -based preparations for a human mission to Mars . Tiangong has involved cooperation with France, Sweden, and Russia. Cooperation in
5632-458: The International Space Station , are modular space stations, assembled in orbit from pieces launched separately. Modular design can greatly improve reliability, reduce costs, shorten development cycles, and meet diversified task requirements. The initial target configuration for the end of 2022 consisted of three modules. Previous plans suggested expanding to six modules by duplicating the initial three, but as of 2023, planning has shifted to adding
5760-533: The Korean , Japanese and Vietnamese languages, and today comprise over half of their vocabularies. This massive influx led to changes in the phonological structure of the languages, contributing to the development of moraic structure in Japanese and the disruption of vowel harmony in Korean. Borrowed Chinese morphemes have been used extensively in all these languages to coin compound words for new concepts, in
5888-710: The May Fourth Movement beginning in 1919. After the fall of the Northern Song dynasty and subsequent reign of the Jurchen Jin and Mongol Yuan dynasties in northern China, a common speech (now called Old Mandarin ) developed based on the dialects of the North China Plain around the capital. The 1324 Zhongyuan Yinyun was a dictionary that codified the rhyming conventions of new sanqu verse form in this language. Together with
6016-742: The Mengtian focus on microgravity experiments. The axial port of the LCMs is fitted with rendezvous equipment for docking at the axial port of the CCM. A mechanical arm called the indexing robotic arm, externally resembling the Lyappa arm used on the Mir space station, moves Wentian LCM to the starboard side, and the Mengtian LCM module to a port-side port of the CCM. The Indexing robot arms differentiate from
6144-595: The National Language Unification Commission finally settled on the Beijing dialect in 1932. The People's Republic founded in 1949 retained this standard but renamed it 普通话 ; 普通話 ; pǔtōnghuà ; 'common speech'. The national language is now used in education, the media, and formal situations in both mainland China and Taiwan. In Hong Kong and Macau , Cantonese is the dominant spoken language due to cultural influence from Guangdong immigrants and colonial-era policies, and
6272-546: The first , second , third , fourth , fifth and future probes of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program are called Chang'e – after the Moon goddess. The name "Tiangong" means "heavenly palace". Across China, the launch of Tiangong-1 was reported to have inspired a variety of feelings, including love poetry. The rendezvous of the space vehicles has been compared to the reunion of the cowherd and
6400-478: The oracle bone inscriptions created during the Shang dynasty c. 1250 BCE . The phonetic categories of Old Chinese can be reconstructed from the rhymes of ancient poetry. During the Northern and Southern period , Middle Chinese went through several sound changes and split into several varieties following prolonged geographic and political separation. The Qieyun , a rime dictionary , recorded
6528-596: The phonology of Old Chinese by comparing later varieties of Chinese with the rhyming practice of the Classic of Poetry and the phonetic elements found in the majority of Chinese characters. Although many of the finer details remain unclear, most scholars agree that Old Chinese differs from Middle Chinese in lacking retroflex and palatal obstruents but having initial consonant clusters of some sort, and in having voiceless nasals and liquids. Most recent reconstructions also describe an atonal language with consonant clusters at
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#17327807451296656-649: The 12-volume Hanyu Da Cidian , records more than 23,000 head Chinese characters and gives over 370,000 definitions. The 1999 revised Cihai , a multi-volume encyclopedic dictionary reference work, gives 122,836 vocabulary entry definitions under 19,485 Chinese characters, including proper names, phrases, and common zoological, geographical, sociological, scientific, and technical terms. The 2016 edition of Xiandai Hanyu Cidian , an authoritative one-volume dictionary on modern standard Chinese language as used in mainland China, has 13,000 head characters and defines 70,000 words. Space farming Space farming refers to
6784-712: The Chinese Space Station, proposed by the Chinese Radio Amateurs Club (CRAC), Aerospace System Engineering Research Institute of Shanghai (ASES) and Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). The payload will provide resources for radio amateurs worldwide to contact onboard astronauts or communicate with each other, aim to inspire students to take interests and careers in science, technology, engineering, and math, and encourage more people to get interested in amateur radio . The first phase of
6912-574: The Chinese system with both current and future docking mechanisms on the ISS, which are also based on APAS. It has a circular transfer passage that has a diameter of 800 mm (31 in). The androgynous variant has a mass of 310 kg and the non-androgynous variant has a mass of 200 kg. The Chinese Docking Mechanism was used for the first time on Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong 1 space stations and will be used on future Chinese space stations and with future CMSA cargo resupply vehicles. Electrical power
7040-548: The Gobi Desert of Inner Mongolia on the same day. Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft, which arrived at the launch facility a month earlier, was immediately rolled out onto the launch pad for the next supply mission. On 20 September 2021, Tianzhou 3 autonomous freighter was launched from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in preparation for the arrival of Shenzhou 13 crew. The Shenzhou 13 was
7168-584: The Heavens"), launched on 31 October 2022. The names used in the space program, previously all chosen from the revolutionary history of the People's Republic, have been replaced with mystical-religious ones. Thus, the space capsule Divine Vessel ( 神舟 ; Shénzhōu ), spaceplane Divine Dragon ( 神龙 ; Shénlóng ), land-based high-power laser Divine Light ( 神光 ; Shénguāng ), and supercomputer Divine Might ( 神威 ; Shénwēi ). These poetic names continue as
7296-629: The Italian Space Agency signed an initial cooperative agreement, covering areas of collaboration within space transportation, telecommunications, Earth observation, and so on. On 22 February 2017, the CMSA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) signed an agreement to cooperate on long-term human spaceflight activities. The agreement holds importance due to Italy's leading position in the field of human spaceflight with regards to
7424-565: The Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet . English words of Chinese origin include tea from Hokkien 茶 ( tê ), dim sum from Cantonese 點心 ( dim2 sam1 ), and kumquat from Cantonese 金橘 ( gam1 gwat1 ). The sinologist Jerry Norman has estimated that there are hundreds of mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese. These varieties form a dialect continuum , in which differences in speech generally become more pronounced as distances increase, though
7552-535: The Lyappa arm as they are used when docking is needed in the same plane, while the Lyappa arm controls the pitch of the spacecraft to re-dock it at a different plane. The Chinarm on the Tianhe module can be used as a backup for docking relocation. Real-time communications, including live audio and video links, are provided by the Tianlian II series of data relay satellites. A constellation of three satellites
7680-491: The Wenchang space center, and docked with the station 13 hours later. The assembly of the Mengtian marks the final step in the 1.5-year construction process. According to China Academy of Space Technology , the rendezvous and docking process for Mengtian was conducted expeditiously, as then L-shaped Tiangong station consumed large amount of energy to stay oriented in its asymmetrical arrangement. On 3 November 2022, Mengtian
7808-577: The Wentian and Mengtian laboratory modules, respectively. Over 1,000 experiments are tentatively approved by CMSA, and scheduled to be conducted on the space station. Agriculture in microgravity was explored with cultivation of rice and Arabidopsis thaliana as sustainable food sources for long-term spaceflight. The programmed experiment equipment racks for the three modules as of June 2016 were: The space station features space lectures and popular science experiments to educate, motivate and inspire
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#17327807451297936-485: The accelerated ion particles. A magnetic field and specially designed ceramic shield were created to repel damaging particles and maintain the integrity of the thrusters. According to a report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences , the ion drive used on Tiangong ran continuously for 8,240 hours without a glitch during the testing phase, indicating its suitability for Tiangong's designated 15-year lifespan. These are
8064-421: The air, and recycle feces on the space station or spaceship. Just 10 m of crops produces 25% of the daily requirements of 1 person, or about 180-210 grams of oxygen. Essentially, the space farm turns the spaceship into an artificial ecosystem with a hydrological cycle and nutrient recycling. In addition to maintaining a shelf-life and reducing total mass, the ability to grow food in space would help reduce
8192-426: The availability of inputs to the space agriculture process: inorganic material needed for plant growth , soil media, insolation , relative availability of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen, and so forth. The supply of food to space stations and other long duration missions is expensive . One astronaut on the International Space Station requires approximately "1.8 kilograms of food and packaging per day". For
8320-468: The cargo airlock, then install them onto the external adapters fitted on the module exterior. It can also be used to launch microsatellites . Two Indexing robotic arms, developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology , are fitted on top of docking ports for the two laboratory modules to help relocate them during construction. In 2011, it was announced that the future space station
8448-482: The cargo spacecraft manually. In March 2022, Shenzhou 13 crew began the preparation to undock from the space station. The crew landed in China on 16 April 2022, after staying 182 days in the low-Earth orbit. Soon afterward, China launched Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft in preparation for the next crewed mission in May. The automated freighter docked with the space station on 9 May 2022, and carried vital maintenance equipment and
8576-696: The construction of the space station in 2022. Tiangong modules are self-contained and pre-assembled, in contrast to the US Orbital Segment of the ISS, which required spacewalking to interconnect cables, piping, and structural elements manually. The assembly method of the station can be compared with the Soviet-Russian Mir space station and the Russian orbital segment of the International Space Station, making China
8704-402: The creation and exploitation of the International Space Station (Node 2, Node 3, Columbus, Cupola, Leonardo, Raffaello, Donatello, PMM, etc.) and it signified Italy's increased anticipation in China's developing space station programme. The European Space Agency (ESA) started human spaceflight training with CMSA in 2017, with the ultimate goal of sending ESA astronauts to Tiangong. To prepare for
8832-408: The crew rotation operation, China commenced its permanent space presence. According to CMSA, the Tiangong space station is expected to be expanded from three to six modules, with improved versions of the Tianhe , Wentian , and Mengtian modules. According to Wang Xiang, commander of the space station system at the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), the potential next phase would be adding
8960-436: The cultivation of crops for food and other materials in space or on off-Earth celestial objects – equivalent to agriculture on Moon . Farming on celestial bodies, such as the Moon or Mars , shares many similarities with farming on a space station or space colony . However, farming on celestial bodies may lack the complexity of microgravity , depending on the size of the body. Each environment would have differences in
9088-515: The development of a docking mechanism used for space stations. Deputy Chief Designer, Huang Weifen, stated that near the end of 2009, China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) began to train astronauts on how to dock spacecraft. In accordance to the plan, by the end of 2022, the fully assembled Tiangong space station had three 22 metric-ton modules in a basic T-shape. Because of the modular design, the Tiangong space station can be further expanded into six modules possibly enabling more astronaut participation in
9216-399: The different spoken dialects varies, but in general, there has been a tendency to a reduction in sounds from Middle Chinese. The Mandarin dialects in particular have experienced a dramatic decrease in sounds and so have far more polysyllabic words than most other spoken varieties. The total number of syllables in some varieties is therefore only about a thousand, including tonal variation, which
9344-484: The difficulties involved in determining the difference between language and dialect, other terms have been proposed. These include topolect , lect , vernacular , regional , and variety . Syllables in the Chinese languages have some unique characteristics. They are tightly related to the morphology and also to the characters of the writing system, and phonologically they are structured according to fixed rules. The structure of each syllable consists of
9472-471: The effect of reduced gravity, lighting, and pressure, as well as increased radiation. Though greenhouses may solve many of the problems presented by space, their construction would come with their own set of technical challenges. Plants grown inflight experience a microgravity environment , and plants grown on the surface of Mars experience approximately 1/3 the gravity that Earth plants do. However, plants experience normal growth given that directional light
9600-576: The end of the syllable, developing into tone distinctions in Middle Chinese. Several derivational affixes have also been identified, but the language lacks inflection , and indicated grammatical relationships using word order and grammatical particles . Middle Chinese was the language used during Northern and Southern dynasties and the Sui , Tang , and Song dynasties (6th–10th centuries CE). It can be divided into an early period, reflected by
9728-574: The field of crewed space flight between the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA, formerly known as CMSEO) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) was examined in 2011, and participation in the development of China crewed space stations and cooperation with China in the fields such as visiting astronauts, and scientific research was discussed. In November 2011, the China National Space Administration and
9856-413: The first one, 十 , normally appears in monosyllabic form in spoken Mandarin; the rest are normally used in the polysyllabic forms of respectively. In each, the homophone was disambiguated by the addition of another morpheme, typically either a near-synonym or some sort of generic word (e.g. 'head', 'thing'), the purpose of which is to indicate which of the possible meanings of the other, homophonic syllable
9984-403: The first six-month mission on the Tiangong station, whereas previous Shenzhou 12 was only three months in length. The Shenzhou 13 docked with the space station on 15 October 2021. Missions for the Shenzhou 13 crew included orbit experiments, spacewalks, and for the station's future expansion. On 7 November 2021, Shenzhou 13 crew Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping conducted the first spacewalks to test
10112-491: The form of a word), to indicate a word's function within a sentence. In other words, Chinese has very few grammatical inflections —it possesses no tenses , no voices , no grammatical number , and only a few articles . They make heavy use of grammatical particles to indicate aspect and mood . In Mandarin, this involves the use of particles such as 了 ; le ; ' PFV ', 还 ; 還 ; hái ; 'still', and 已经 ; 已經 ; yǐjīng ; 'already'. Chinese has
10240-624: The future missions, selected ESA astronauts lived together with their Chinese counterparts and engaged in training sessions such as splashes-down survival, language learning, and spacecraft operations. However, in January 2023, ESA announced that the agency will not send its astronauts to China's space station due to political and financial reasons. Chinese language Chinese ( simplified Chinese : 汉语 ; traditional Chinese : 漢語 ; pinyin : Hànyǔ ; lit. ' Han language' or 中文 ; Zhōngwén ; 'Chinese writing')
10368-546: The future. The construction of the Chinese Space Station officially began in April 2021. The planned 11 missions include three module launches, four crewed missions, and four autonomous cargo flights. On 29 April 2021, the first component of the station, Tianhe core module, was launched to the orbit aboard the Long March 5B rocket from Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site . On 29 May 2021, Tianzhou 2 autonomous cargo spacecraft
10496-565: The government of the People's Republic of China, with Singapore officially adopting them in 1976. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and among Chinese-speaking communities overseas . Linguists classify all varieties of Chinese as part of the Sino-Tibetan language family , together with Burmese , Tibetan and many other languages spoken in the Himalayas and the Southeast Asian Massif . Although
10624-475: The help of Chinarm controlled by the monitoring astronaut Wang Yaping inside the station. During the construction phase of the station in 2021, according to documents filed by China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and reported by Reuters, the station had two "close encounters" with SpaceX 's Starlink satellites on 1 July and 21 October, with
10752-586: The language of administration and scholarship, a position it would retain until the late 19th century in Korea and (to a lesser extent) Japan, and the early 20th century in Vietnam. Scholars from different lands could communicate, albeit only in writing, using Literary Chinese. Although they used Chinese solely for written communication, each country had its own tradition of reading texts aloud using what are known as Sino-Xenic pronunciations . Chinese words with these pronunciations were also extensively imported into
10880-528: The late 19th century. Today Japanese is written with a composite script using both Chinese characters called kanji , and kana. Korean is written exclusively with hangul in North Korea, although knowledge of the supplementary Chinese characters called hanja is still required, and hanja are increasingly rarely used in South Korea. As a result of its historical colonization by France, Vietnamese now uses
11008-455: The more conservative modern varieties, usually found in the south, have largely monosyllabic words , especially with basic vocabulary. However, most nouns, adjectives, and verbs in modern Mandarin are disyllabic. A significant cause of this is phonetic erosion : sound changes over time have steadily reduced the number of possible syllables in the language's inventory. In modern Mandarin, there are only around 1,200 possible syllables, including
11136-425: The mutual unintelligibility between them is too great. However, calling major Chinese branches "languages" would also be wrong under the same criterion, since a branch such as Wu, itself contains many mutually unintelligible varieties, and could not be properly called a single language. There are also viewpoints pointing out that linguists often ignore mutual intelligibility when varieties share intelligibility with
11264-583: The nasal sonorant consonants /m/ and /ŋ/ can stand alone as their own syllable. In Mandarin much more than in other spoken varieties, most syllables tend to be open syllables, meaning they have no coda (assuming that a final glide is not analyzed as a coda), but syllables that do have codas are restricted to nasals /m/ , /n/ , /ŋ/ , the retroflex approximant /ɻ/ , and voiceless stops /p/ , /t/ , /k/ , or /ʔ/ . Some varieties allow most of these codas, whereas others, such as Standard Chinese, are limited to only /n/ , /ŋ/ , and /ɻ/ . The number of sounds in
11392-490: The national sense of cohesion and pride." On 31 October 2013, CMSA announced the new names for the whole space station program: According to CMSA, which operates the space station, the purpose and mission of Tiangong is to develop and gain experience in spacecraft rendezvous technology, permanent human operations in orbit, long-term autonomous spaceflight of the space station, regenerative life support technology and autonomous cargo and fuel supply technology. It will also serve
11520-401: The new Wentian airlock, installing and adjusting various external equipment as well as testing emergency return procedures. On 17 September 2022, astronauts Chen Dong and Cai Xuzhe performed the second spacewalk, installing external pumps and verified emergency rescue capability. On 30 September 2022, all crew members worked in coordination, moving the Wentian module from the forward port to
11648-426: The next-generation EVA suit and robotic Chinarm , making Wang Yaping China's first female spacewalker. One of the missions in the 6.5-hour extravehicular activity was to install a dual-arm connector to the 10-meter-long robotic arm. The connector can provide the capability for Chinarm to extend in length with another 5-meter-long segment mounted on the Wentian module that will arrive in 2022. According to Gao Shen of
11776-538: The other varieties within the same branch (e.g. Southern Min). There are, however, transitional areas where varieties from different branches share enough features for some limited intelligibility, including New Xiang with Southwestern Mandarin , Xuanzhou Wu Chinese with Lower Yangtze Mandarin , Jin with Central Plains Mandarin and certain divergent dialects of Hakka with Gan . All varieties of Chinese are tonal at least to some degree, and are largely analytic . The earliest attested written Chinese consists of
11904-522: The payload is capable of providing the following functions utilising the VHF/UHF amateur radio band: The space station is a third-generation modular space station . First-generation space stations, such as early Salyut , Almaz , and Skylab , were single-piece stations and not designed for resupply. Second generation Salyut 6 and 7, and Tiangong 1 and 2 stations, are designed for mid-mission resupply. Third-generation stations, such as Mir and
12032-548: The platform for the next-generation orbit transportation vehicles, scientific and practical applications at large-scale in orbit, and technology for future deep space exploration . CMSA also encourages commercial activities led by the private sector and hopes their involvement could bring cost-effective aerospace innovations. Space tourism at the space station is also considered. The space station will have 23 experimental racks in an enclosed, pressurised environment. There will also be platforms for exposed experiments; 22 and 30 on
12160-404: The rate of change varies immensely. Generally, mountainous South China exhibits more linguistic diversity than the North China Plain . Until the late 20th century, Chinese emigrants to Southeast Asia and North America came from southeast coastal areas, where Min, Hakka, and Yue dialects were spoken. Specifically, most Chinese immigrants to North America until the mid-20th century spoke Taishanese ,
12288-552: The related subject dropping . Although the grammars of the spoken varieties share many traits, they do possess differences. The entire Chinese character corpus since antiquity comprises well over 50,000 characters, of which only roughly 10,000 are in use and only about 3,000 are frequently used in Chinese media and newspapers. However, Chinese characters should not be confused with Chinese words. Because most Chinese words are made up of two or more characters, there are many more Chinese words than characters. A more accurate equivalent for
12416-509: The relationship was first proposed in the early 19th century and is now broadly accepted, reconstruction of Sino-Tibetan is much less developed than that of families such as Indo-European or Austroasiatic . Difficulties have included the great diversity of the languages, the lack of inflection in many of them, and the effects of language contact. In addition, many of the smaller languages are spoken in mountainous areas that are difficult to reach and are often also sensitive border zones. Without
12544-474: The same day. Wentian is the second module for the Tiangong space station, and the first laboratory cabin module (LCM). The module is equipped with an airlock cabin, which will become the primary entry-exit point for future EVAs. The module also feature backup avionics, propulsion, and life support systems, improving Tiangong space station's operational redundancy . On 2 September 2022, the crew member Chen Dong and Liu Yang performed their first spacewalk from
12672-461: The scientific payload, the LCM is equipped with multiple internal science racks and 22 payload adapters on the exterior for various types of experiments. Aside from scientific equipment, the module features three additional living quarters designed for short-term stay, which will be used during crew rotation. Wentian was launched and docked with the Tianhe on 24 July 2022. The second LCM, Mengtian ,
12800-509: The second nation to develop and use automatic rendezvous and docking for modular space station construction. The technologies in the construction are derived from decades of Chinese crewed spaceflight experiences, including those gained from Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 prototypes, as well as the purchase of aerospace technology from Russia in the early 1990s. A representative of the Chinese crewed space program stated that around 2000, China and Russia were engaged in technological exchanges regarding
12928-463: The six official languages of the United Nations . Standard Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin and was first officially adopted in the 1930s. The language is written primarily using a logography of Chinese characters , largely shared by readers who may otherwise speak mutually unintelligible varieties. Since the 1950s, the use of simplified characters has been promoted by
13056-561: The slightly later Menggu Ziyun , this dictionary describes a language with many of the features characteristic of modern Mandarin dialects. Up to the early 20th century, most Chinese people only spoke their local variety. Thus, as a practical measure, officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties carried out the administration of the empire using a common language based on Mandarin varieties , known as 官话 ; 官話 ; Guānhuà ; 'language of officials'. For most of this period, this language
13184-443: The space station. It also contained gifts for China's first crew handover ceremony in orbit. The completed station had extra capacity for expanded crew activities and living space for six, allowing crew rotation. On 29 November 2022, the Shenzhou 15 crew Fei Junlong , Deng Qingming , and Zhang Lu was launched to the space station. The crew spent one week together for handover and verification for sustainable six-man operations. With
13312-399: The space stations with extravehicular activity (EVA) equipment, such as foot restraints and the standing platform for Chinarm . Shenzhou 12 commander Nie Haisheng stayed inside the station and tested the robotic arm movements. Liu Boming and Nie Haisheng completed the second spacewalk on 20 August 2021 and installed various devices outside of the station, including a thermal control system,
13440-462: The starboard lateral docking port, which is its planned permanent location on 30 September 2022 at 04:44 UTC. The relocation process was largely automated with the assistance of the Indexing robotic arm. In October 2022, CMSA prepared to launch the third and final module, Mengtian , to complete the construction for the Tiangong space station. On 31 October 2022, Mengtian module was launched from
13568-482: The station conducting evasive adjustment maneuvers. On 5 January 2022, Shenzhou 13 team used the 10-meter long Chinarm to relocate the Tianzhou 2 supply ship by 20 degrees before returning it to the original location. This maneuver was conducted to practice the procedures, equipment, and backup operation system needed for future module assembly. On 13 January, the crew tested the emergency docking system by controlling
13696-427: The station is based on the experience gained from its precursors, Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 . The first module, the Tianhe ("Harmony of the Heavens") core module, was launched on 29 April 2021. This was followed by multiple crewed and uncrewed missions and the addition of two laboratory cabin modules . The first, Wentian ("Quest for the Heavens"), launched on 24 July 2022; the second, Mengtian ("Dreaming of
13824-596: The surface. It is China's first long-term space station, part of the Tiangong program and the core of the "Third Step" of the China Manned Space Program ; it has a pressurised volume of 340 m (12,000 cu ft), slightly over one third the size of the International Space Station . The space station aims to provide opportunities for space-based experiments and a platform for building capacity for scientific and technological innovation. The construction of
13952-623: The tonal distinctions, compared with about 5,000 in Vietnamese (still a largely monosyllabic language), and over 8,000 in English. Most modern varieties tend to form new words through polysyllabic compounds . In some cases, monosyllabic words have become disyllabic formed from different characters without the use of compounding, as in 窟窿 ; kūlong from 孔 ; kǒng ; this is especially common in Jin varieties. This phonological collapse has led to
14080-547: The traditional Western notion of a word. A Chinese cí can consist of more than one character–morpheme, usually two, but there can be three or more. Examples of Chinese words of more than two syllables include 汉堡包 ; 漢堡包 ; hànbǎobāo ; 'hamburger', 守门员 ; 守門員 ; shǒuményuán ; 'goalkeeper', and 电子邮件 ; 電子郵件 ; diànzǐyóujiàn ; 'e-mail'. All varieties of modern Chinese are analytic languages : they depend on syntax (word order and sentence structure), rather than inflectional morphology (changes in
14208-469: The two core modules docked together to enlarge the overall station. The first of two Laboratory Cabin Modules (LCM), Wentian , provides additional avionics, propulsion, and life support systems as backup functions for the CCM. The Wentian is also fitted with an independent airlock cabin to serve as the main entry-exit point for extravehicular activities (EVA), replacing the Tianhe docking hub. For
14336-512: The use of tones in Chinese is the application of the four tones of Standard Chinese, along with the neutral tone, to the syllable ma . The tones are exemplified by the following five Chinese words: In contrast, Standard Cantonese has six tones. Historically, finals that end in a stop consonant were considered to be " checked tones " and thus counted separately for a total of nine tones. However, they are considered to be duplicates in modern linguistics and are no longer counted as such: Chinese
14464-557: The vitamin gap in astronaut's diets and provide fresh food with improved taste and texture. Currently, much of the food supplied to astronauts is heat treated or freeze dried . Both of these methods, for the most part, retain the properties of the food pre-treatment. However, vitamin degradation during storage can occur. A 2009 study noted significant decreases in vitamins A , C and K , as well as folic acid and thiamin can occur in as little as one year of storage. A mission to Mars could require food storage for as long as five years; thus,
14592-465: The weaver girl . Wang Wenbao, director of the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), told a news conference in 2011: "Considering past achievements and the bright future, we feel the manned space programme should have a more vivid symbol, and that the future space station should carry a resounding and encouraging name. We now feel that the public should be involved in the names and symbols, as this major project will enhance national prestige and strengthen
14720-452: The words in newspapers, and 60% of the words in science magazines. Vietnam, Korea, and Japan each developed writing systems for their own languages, initially based on Chinese characters , but later replaced with the hangul alphabet for Korean and supplemented with kana syllabaries for Japanese, while Vietnamese continued to be written with the complex chữ Nôm script. However, these were limited to popular literature until
14848-427: The world's first Hall thrusters to be used on a human-rated mission. The Tiangong station features five robotic arms. The longest one is the 10-meter-long, ISS Canadian-style SSRMS robotic arm, nicknamed Chinarm , mounted on the Tianhe core module. The Wentian module features a smaller, 5 m (16 ft) long SSRMS robotic arm that is 5 times more accurate in positioning than the Chinarm . The Wentian arm
14976-517: The written language used throughout China changed comparatively little, crystallizing into a prestige form known as Classical or Literary Chinese . Literature written distinctly in the Classical form began to emerge during the Spring and Autumn period . Its use in writing remained nearly universal until the late 19th century, culminating with the widespread adoption of written vernacular Chinese with
15104-458: The year. The crew installed carbon dioxide reduction system for the space station, tested Feitian spacesuits, and debugged Tianhe core module. On 19 July 2022, Tianzhou 3 was undocked from the station, making way for the arrival of the Wentian module. On 24 July 2022, the Wentian laboratory module was launched from the Wenchang space center and rendezvoused with the Tianhe core module on
15232-544: The younger Chinese generation and world audience in science and technology. Each lecture is concluded with a question-and-answer session with school children's questions from classrooms across China. The first and second Tiangong space lesson was conducted in December 2021 and March 2022, as a part of the Shenzhou 13 mission. This tradition continued with the Shenzhou 14 . The CSSARC is the Amateur Radio payload for
15360-453: Was a koiné based on dialects spoken in the Nanjing area, though not identical to any single dialect. By the middle of the 19th century, the Beijing dialect had become dominant and was essential for any business with the imperial court. In the 1930s, a standard national language ( 国语 ; 國語 ; Guóyǔ ), was adopted. After much dispute between proponents of northern and southern dialects and an abortive attempt at an artificial pronunciation,
15488-485: Was hidden by their written form. Often different compounds for the same concept were in circulation for some time before a winner emerged, and sometimes the final choice differed between countries. The proportion of vocabulary of Chinese origin thus tends to be greater in technical, abstract, or formal language. For example, in Japan, Sino-Japanese words account for about 35% of the words in entertainment magazines, over half
15616-565: Was launched into geostationary orbits , providing communication and data support for the station. Tiangong is fitted with the Chinese Docking Mechanism used by Shenzhou spacecraft and previous Tiangong prototypes . The Chinese docking mechanism is based on the Russian APAS-89/APAS-95 system. Despite NASA describing it as a "clone" to APAS, there have been contradictory claims on the compatibility of
15744-507: Was launched on 31 October 2022. The Mengtian module is equipped with expanded in-orbit experiment capacity. The module is divided into multiple sections, including the pressurised crew working compartment, the unpressurised cargo section, the cargo airlock/on-orbit release mechanism, as well as the control module section featuring external experiment adapters, a communication antenna, and two solar arrays. In total, it carries 13 experimental racks and 37 external payload adapters. The cargo airlock
15872-535: Was launched to the Tianhe core module in preparation for the Shenzhou 12 crew, who will be responsible for testing Tianhe' s various systems and preparing for future operations. On 17 June 2021, Shenzhou 12 team docked with the space station, marking them the first visitors to the Tiangong station. The first crew mission began the examination of the core module and verification of key technologies. On 4 July 2021, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo began their first spacewalk in upgraded Chinese Feitian spacesuits , outfitting
16000-409: Was maneuvered to a special position, utilizing the Earth's gravity to help stabilize the docking process. At 07:12UTC, The Shenzhou 14 crew entered the Mengtian module. On 10 November 2022, Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft undocked from the Tiangong, and Tianzhou 5 was prepared to launch on the same day. Tianzhou 5 was launched on 12 November 2022, carrying supplies, experiments, and microsatellites to
16128-465: Was planned as the foundation for the expansion. New sections included 3D printers , robots, improved robotic arms, and space debris observation, detection, and warning systems. The Xuntian space telescope module is planned to launch in 2026. China's incentive to build its own space station was amplified after US Congress prohibited NASA from any direct engagement & cooperation with CNSA thus effectively prohibiting any Chinese participation in
16256-452: Was planned to be assembled from 2020 to 2022. By 2013, the space station's core module was planned to be launched earlier, in 2018, followed by the first laboratory module in 2020, and a second in 2022. By 2018, it was reported that this had slipped to 2020–2023. In February 2020, a total of 11 launches were planned for the whole construction phase, beginning in 2021. In 2021, it was reported China National Space Administration planned to complete
16384-413: Was relocated autonomously from the forward docking port to port-side lateral docking port via Indexing robotic arm, and successfully berthed at its planned permanent location with Tianhe module at 01:32UTC (9:32 BJT ), forming a T-shape. Subsequently, CMSA announced the construction of the Tiangong space station is officially complete. Designer of Mengtian module, Li Guangxing, explained the space station
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