China launched its third and last module of its house station on Monday, transferring nearer to finishing its formidable challenge in low Earth orbit to rival the International Space Station (ISS).

The lab module was encapsulated in a Long March 5B rocket, which lifted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site at 3:27 a.m. ET on Monday, in accordance with native media studies.

The 23-ton Mengtian module (which interprets to “Dreaming of the Heavens”) will rendezvous with its sister modules Wentian and Tianhe in low Earth orbit to kind the T-shaped construction of China’s three-module house station named Tiangong (that means “Heavenly Palace”). The first module of the house station, Tianhe, launched to orbit in April 2021, whereas Wentian adopted greater than a yr later in July 2022.

Mengtian will dock with the ahead port of Tianhe, the core of the house station, and a robotic arm will later relocate it to the port facet of the Tianhe module, in accordance with Everyday Astronaut. In June, China despatched a crew of three astronauts to the house station to supervise the docking of the 2 modules. The crew is anticipated to return to Earth in December, after which level the Shenzhou-15 crew will take over.

The Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) will use the Mengtian lab to conduct varied microgravity experiments associated to fluid physics, combustion science, and house know-how, according to China’s state-run information company Xinhua. Unlike Tianhe, Mengtian doesn’t embrace residing quarters for astronauts.

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The Tiangong house station is China’s reply to the ISS, although it’s about a quarter of its size. China is hoping to have its house station absolutely constructed by the tip of the yr, and maintain a continuing move of astronaut crews aboard Tiangong to conduct varied experiments.

China’s house company is making headway with its house program, with future missions deliberate for the Moon and Mars. However, CNSA hasn’t been cautious in the place particles from its rockets land after they reenter Earth’s ambiance. This previous August, particles from the Long March 5B fell throughout areas in northern Borneo, and former incidents have taken place in 2020 and 2021 by which particles from the 100-foot-long (30-meter) core stage crashed alongside the western coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean.

This time round, the core stage from the Long March 5B that lofted the Mengtian module to orbit is anticipated to make an uncontrolled reentry by way of Earth’s ambiance upon its return. It’s not but clear the place items of it’d land, however the sort of free-fall may be hazardous to populous areas under.

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