SCIENCE facilities on China’s planned Tiangong space station could support hundreds of space research projects after it’s completed in 2022.

Sixteen experiment racks will be installed in the core module and two lab capsules of the space station, and an extravehicular experiment platform will be built, according to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization (CSU) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday, also China’s Space Day. The country set April 24 as its Space Day in 2016.

Each rack is regarded as a lab that can support various space experiments, and astronauts can upgrade and replace the facilities.

In addition, a capsule holding a large optical telescope will fly in the same orbit as the station, according to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization (CSU) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The facilities will support a large number of research projects in fields such as astronomy, space life science, biotechnology, microgravity basic physics and space materials science.

China is seeking international collaboration in experiments on the station to promote sustainable global development and cooperation.

Almost 100 international cooperation proposals have been received, and about 30 have passed the initial evaluation, said Zhang Wei, director of the Utilization Development Center of CSU.

Also, the Long March-5B carrier rocket is scheduled to make its maiden flight in the first half of 2020, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO).

As a new generation of carrier rocket, the Long March-5B has the largest carrying capacity to low-Earth orbit. It will carry the core capsule and experiment capsules of the country’s space station.

On the same day, the National Space Administration said China aims to build a scientific research station in the south polar region of the moon and realize a manned lunar exploration mission in about 10 years.

Zhang Kejian, head of the administration, made the remarks at the opening ceremony of China’s Space Day in Changsha, capital of Central China’s Hunan Province.

China will launch the Chang’e-5 lunar probe to collect and return lunar samples back to Earth at the end of 2019, Zhang said.

He also mentioned in his speech that China plans to launch its first probe to explore Mars in 2020.

China joined the space club April 24, 1970, when the Long March-1 carrier rocket launched the country’s first satellite, Dongfanghong-1, into orbit. (Xinhua)