NSSC was in charge of the application system for China's Manned Space Flight Program until 2003. Currently, it is in charge of the development of several key scientific payloads as well as space weather forecasting. In 2013, despite the complicated and potentially catastrophic conditions of the space environment during the solar maximum year, NSSC scientists guaranteed the overall success of the Shenzhou-10 mission by providing timely space weather forecasts. Unlike weather forecasts on Earth, making accurate predictions of space weather can be very tricky. The exact launch date for Shenzhou-10 as well as the timing for the automatic rendezvous and docking of Shenzhou-10 and Tiangong-1 were determined based on space environment alerts issued daily by scientists at the CAS Space Environment Prediction Center (SEPC). Furthermore, SEPC is responsible for protecting the Tiangong-1 space module from hazardous space weather events throughout the year. In addition, with the help of the Space Environment Exploration System on board the Tiangong-1 space module, Tiangong-1 became the first space moduleto conduct simultaneous measurement of high-energy electrons and high-energy protons from 16 directions in orbits designated for China’s Manned Space Program NSSC is also in charge of four subsystems on board the Tiangong-2 space module. Prototype developmenthas concluded for all four systems and they have all entered the flight model phase.
All systems of Shenzhou-10 spacecraft ready of go. (Image by Chinanews.com) |