The launch of Shenzhou-12 in June 2021. Image: Yang Zhiyuan/ VCG via Getty Images
ABSTRACT breaks down mind-bending scientific research, future tech, new discoveries, and major breakthroughs.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Still, CAST has been conducting small-scale tests of technologies that would be required for SSP, such as the transmission of microwave energy from a satellite plant to a ground station on Earth.Scientists based in China and the United Kingdom are also collaborating on a huge space observatory, known as the Ultra-Large Aperture On-Orbit Assembly Project, that would require robotic in-space assembly. The proposed telescope would sport a light collection area of 10 meters, larger than the 6.5-meter aperture on the James Webb Space Telescope, which will become the most sensitive telescope in space when it is launched in the coming months.In addition to these robotic spacecraft, multiple space agencies and private companies have expressed interest in working toward a future in which humans have an increased presence beyond our planet—and the blueprints for that goal are being drawn right now.“As human exploration of space continues to surpass Earth's orbit, the in-space manufacturing and assembly of large space structures are essential for human sustainable exploration,” Xue’s team said.The NSFC plan also references the development of ultra-large spacecraft for “long-term habitation in orbit,” though these types of crewed megaprojects are likely decades into the future, if not centuries.