Lesson 2 of 5 · Tianhe: a place to start
Tianhe: a place to start
5 minute lesson · 3 checks along the way
Your goal for this lessonExplain why a station core needs control, habitation and interfaces.
In this lesson 3 sections · 3 checks
Using archive links & definitions
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Read & understand
Launch a useful foundation
Tianhe launched in April 2021. The core supplied central station functions and living space while making connections to visiting vehicles and later laboratory modules possible. It was the beginning of on-orbit construction, not a finished research complex emerging from one launch.
Check 1 of 3
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Read & understand
A room is also a service network
A station volume becomes useful when it can support air, power, temperature control, communications and work. These services interact. In a fictional laboratory, adding an instrument that produces waste heat requires more than finding an empty rack: the cooling and power plans must also accommodate it.
Chang Zheng 5B launches the Tianhe core module from Wenchang on April 29, 2021. The payload is inside the fairing. Display image resized and compressed.
Look closely
Does a launch photograph establish a finished station?
See what to notice
It records one launch; assembly, commissioning and operation occur afterward.
Check 2 of 3
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Read & understand
Plan the connections before adding rooms
Docking interfaces connect vehicles physically, but the joined system also needs data, commands and agreed operating procedures. A new module must fit the station’s functional plan as well as its geometry. Ask what each addition consumes, produces and depends on before calling the assembly complete.
Check 3 of 3
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Put it together
Your lesson progress
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