BEIJING: The Shenzhou-14 crew members aboard China’s space station have finished the assembly and testing of an environmental control and regenerative life support system inside the Wentian lab module, according to China Manned Space Agency (CMS).
With the recently installed water recovery subsystem from carbon dioxide (CO2), the regenerative life support systems at China’s space station now have six subsystems, including CO2 removal, trace containment removal, oxygen generation, urine treatment, and water and waste management.
Together the systems have formed a closed-loop system between sub-components of the life support system aboard China’s space station, recovering 90 percent of the water resources inside the station. That means only 10 percent of the water used for in-orbit astronauts aboard China’s space station is needed from the cargo supply.
The entire life support system is designed to cope with the long duration of the space mission by achieving recycling-use of the resources.
For example, one subsystem can gather sweat and breath moisture from the astronauts and purify them into drinkable, regenerated water.
The recently assembled subsystem converts the CO2 the astronauts exhale into water through a chemical reaction between CO2 and hydrogen from electrolyzed water. Its steady operation could bring in about one extra kilogram of water per day.
Earlier in July 25, The Shenzhou-14 crew of three taikonauts, who watched live the epic launch of the Wentian [Quest to The Heavens] lab module from some 400 kilometers above the Earth and cheered it on with applause on Sunday, did not wait long to check into their office and home unit in space, as they opened the gate of the freshly docked new module and entered the Wentian at 10:03 am on Monday, the Global Times learned from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
It was a historic first that the taikonauts entered the scientific lab module in orbit, the CMSA noted in a statement it provided to the Global Times on Monday morning, while disclosing that the crew shall execute missions including space station combination attitude control, verification of robotic arms, and use of the Wentian airlock and its small robotic arm to perform spacewalks under the plan.
The Wentian lab module conducted a smooth rendezvous and docking with the China Space Station’s Tianhe core module at the front port at 3:13 am on Monday, some 13 hours after it was launched via a giant Long March-5B carrier rocket from South China’s tropical island province of Hainan.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
