China reveals new team of astronauts for space station launch
The three-person crew were sent in October last year and have been in space for 175 days, said Lin.
Chen Dong, who previously served on the Shenzhou 11 and Shenzhou 14 missions, is the group leader, while his two crewmates will be making their first trips to space. Chen Zhongrui was an air force pilot and Wang Jie, an engineer with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
'I feel incomparable pride and accomplishment to go to space for my country again,' Chen Dong told reporters on Wednesday. 'Each journey to space is unparalleled, I'm looking forward to gaining more experience and more breakthroughs through this flight.'
Advertisement
Chen Dong led construction of the space station during the Shenzhou 14 mission.
While in space, the astronauts will carry out experiments in space medicine, and space technology; perform extravehicular trips; and make improvements to the space station.
China built its own space station after it was excluded from the International Space Station owing to U.S. national security concerns over the control of the country's space program by the People's Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party.
Advertisement
China's space program has grown rapidly in recent years. The space agency has landed an explorer on Mars and a rover on the far side of the moon. It aims to put a person on the moon before 2030.
The returning astronauts are expected to land on April 29.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Researchers may be underestimating the intensity of Utah's future big earthquakes, study finds
The 1896 Sears mansion in Salt Lake City's Liberty Wells neighborhood sustained major damage in the Magna Earthquake and was later demolished. (Brian Maffly/University of Utah) As Utah prepares for an overdue, big earthquake, University of Utah seismologists found that current seismic hazard models may be underestimating the intensity of shaking the Salt Lake Valley could experience in future earthquakes. That's because sediments in some areas under the valley are thicker than expected, researchers said in a news release — and thicker sediments can lead to stronger shaking during an earthquake. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'In a basin, seismic shaking is amplified. It's very important to understand the thickness and rigidity of sediment to better assess potential shaking. The sediment is thicker than previously thought — especially in the heavily populated area south of Salt Lake City,' study leader Fan-Chi Lin, an associate professor of geology and geophysics at the U. said in the release. The state is still rebuilding infrastructure shaken up by the 5.7 magnitude Magna earthquake that happened in 2020. However, often referred to as 'the big one,' a future earthquake of 6.75 or greater magnitude is highly probable at the Wasatch Front in the next 50 years, according to Envision Utah. With about 80% of the state's population living in the area, experts estimate that could be an exceptionally devastating event. 'Our findings reinforce the idea that a hazard exists in the valley and that shaking could be stronger than expected. Many houses in Salt Lake are unreinforced masonry and could be vulnerable in a big quake,' Lin said. 'Buildings should be reinforced, and people should be prepared.' After installing an extensive network of seismic data sensors along the valley after the spring of 2020 and analyzing seismic waves from distant earthquakes, Lin's team created a revised and refined three-dimensional seismic velocity model to map the Wasatch Front's geologic structure and identify earthquake hazard sites. That model allowed the researchers to find thicker sediment deposits than previously estimated, and can provide answers when preparing for 'the big one.' 'If we know the subsurface structure very well, then we can predict how strong the ground motion will be when the big earthquake happens,' Lin said. 'And that will allow us to collaborate with the engineers to determine which buildings are potentially hazardous when the big earthquake hits.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Volcanic Eruptions Can Create Ice in The Sky, And We Finally Know How
Satellites soaring high above Earth have revealed exactly how wispy clouds are created by the giant plumes of ash belched upwards in a volcanic eruption. Volcanoes play a vital role in the cycles governing Earth's climate. When active volcanoes erupt, they release gases like carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, which can have a warming or cooling effect. Volcanic ash and dust are also released high in the atmosphere, injecting aerosols where clouds typically form. For some time, scientists have wondered how these aerosols affect cloud formation. In a new study, researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) concluded that volcanic ash particles can trigger the formation of wispy cirrus clouds high in the atmosphere by providing a nucleus that ice particles can glom onto – a process known as "ice nucleation." "Our research helps close a significant knowledge gap about whether and how volcanic eruptions influence cloud formation," says LLNL atmospheric scientist Lin Lin. "We show that volcanic ash particles can trigger ice cloud formation by acting as sites for ice nucleation. Clouds play a vital role in regulating Earth's climate and energy balance. In addition to covering about 70 percent of the surface at any given time, reflecting sunlight and absorbing heat, they're also an integral aspect of the planet's water cycle. As such, a better understanding of cloud formation and the impact of aerosols is needed. The research of Lin and and her team is based on 10 years of data from NASA's CloudSat and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite (CALIPSO) missions. CloudSat examines the interior of clouds to determine how tropical cyclones and climate changes (related to clouds) occur. CALIPSO monitors the roles clouds and aerosols play in regulating Earth's weather, climate, and air quality. From their observations, Lin and colleagues noted consistent changes in the properties of cirrus clouds following three volcanic eruptions. Where ash-rich eruptions occurred, the researchers noted that these high-altitude clouds (largely composed of ice) became more frequent. While these clouds hosted significantly fewer ice crystals compared to cirrus clouds at other times, the crystals did have were were larger. None of this occurred with ash-poor eruptions. "At the beginning of the study, we did expect clouds affected by volcanic eruptions to look different from natural clouds, but not in the way we ultimately found," says Lin. "We anticipated that volcanic aerosols would lead to an increase in the number of ice crystals in clouds. But to our surprise, the data showed the opposite." Initially, the group expected ice to form uniformly in a process whereby water spontaneously condenses from very cold water droplets. Instead, they observed water collecting on the ash aerosols before they were cold enough to freeze spontaneously, forming larger clumps of ice. "The results completely overturned our original expectations," Lin adds. "Letting go of our initial idea and developing a new explanation based on unexpected findings was both the hardest and most rewarding part of the process." Since then, the team has transitioned to studying Arctic clouds and their role in global atmospheric models. Meanwhile, they are waiting for another major eruption, which will allow them to validate their results. This research was published in Science Advances. Infamous 'Gateway to Hell' Fire Could Finally Stop Raging After 50 Years Our Atmosphere's Growing Thirst Is a Hidden Cause of Worsening Droughts A Massive Cloud of Saharan Dust Is About to Hit The United States
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Yahoo
China launches Tianwen-2 to chase Moon-origin asteroid, explore hybrid comet
China has launched its most ambitious deep space mission yet. On Wednesday, the Tianwen-2 probe lifted off atop a Long March 3B rocket at 1:31 pm Eastern (17:31 UTC) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province. The mission aims to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid and later survey a comet in the main asteroid belt, marking the country's first asteroid sampling effort. Tianwen-2 is now en route to asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3), a small rocky body orbiting close to Earth. The probe is expected to reach the asteroid in mid-2026 and return samples to Earth in 2027. After the sample return, it will continue its journey toward comet 311P/PANSTARRS, with arrival expected around 2035. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) confirmed the successful launch just over an hour after liftoff. Xinhua reported that 'the spacecraft unfolded its solar panels smoothly,' and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) officially declared the mission a success. Discovered in 2016 by researchers in Hawaii, Kamoʻoalewa is believed to be a fragment of the Moon. Scientists hope to analyze its structure, mineral content, and origin. It is roughly 40 to 100 meters in diameter. Depending on surface conditions, the mission will employ three sampling methods — hover sampling, touch-and-go, and anchored drilling. Tianwen-2 will then use Earth's gravity to redirect itself toward comet 311P. The comet orbits between Mars and Jupiter and displays asteroid-like behavior, making it ideal for studying transitional objects in the solar system. Reaching and sampling small celestial bodies is more challenging than orbiting planets. The mission must navigate weak and irregular gravity fields, which rule out traditional orbiting methods. 'These bodies have extremely weak and irregular gravity fields,' Franco Perez-Lissi, Ramses mission systems engineer at the European Space Agency (ESA), told SpaceNews. 'So we cannot rely on traditional orbiting like we do around the planet.' Tianwen-2 must closely match the asteroid's rotation and speed for successful sampling. Perez-Lissi likened the maneuver to 'trying to dock a boat with a mountain floating in space and tumbling really unpredictably and with almost no gravity.' The probe carries 11 science payloads, including spectrometers, high-resolution cameras, a radar sounder, and particle detectors. These will study the composition, geological features, magnetic fields, and solar wind interactions at both the asteroid and the comet. Past missions like NASA's OSIRIS-REx and JAXA's Hayabusa2 have returned organic materials, including amino acids and nucleobases—key building blocks of life. Tianwen-2 follows the successful Tianwen-1 Mars mission and precedes plans for Mars sample return and Jupiter system exploration. These missions are part of a long-term roadmap that includes the International Lunar Research Station and a Venus sample return. According to Xinhua, Shan Zhongde, head of the CNSA, 'expressed his expectation of yielding groundbreaking discoveries and expanding humanity's knowledge of the cosmos.' China continues to invest heavily in space, with its Tiangong space station now operational and a crewed Moon mission planned for later this decade. Tianwen-2 could mark another leap forward in China's 'space dream,' as articulated by President Xi Jinping.
