Tiangong playing a key role in research

Chinese astronauts worked with the country's scientists and engineers to carry out 86 new scientific and technological tasks in 2025, highlighting the value of the Tiangong space station in research work, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

The agency said on Thursday in a report about scientific and technological achievements made through the space station project that in 2025, a total of 1,179 kilograms of experimental instruments, materials, and other necessities required for science and technology missions were transported to the Tiangong, while 105 kg of experimental samples were brought back to Earth for further study. More than 150 terabits of scientific data were transmitted back to ground control.

In 2025, major accomplishments were made in science and technology missions on board the Chinese space station, including the nation's first in-orbit experimentation on rodent mammals and the world's first in-orbit tests of a pipe-checking robot, the agency said.

Chinese researchers published more than 230 high-quality academic papers and registered over 70 patents in 2025, thanks to experiments and data from the Tiangong, it added.

Completed in late 2022, the Tiangong is now the only operating space station independently run by a single nation, orbiting the Earth at an altitude of about 400 kilometers. With an overall weight of about 100 metric tons, it is one of the largest and most complex structures ever established in space by humanity.

It has three permanent components — the Tianhe core module and two large science lab modules called Wentian and Mengtian — and is currently connected with two visiting craft, the Shenzhou XXII crew ship and the Tianzhou 9 cargo ship.

To date, the Tiangong has accommodated 25 astronauts from 10 crews. Several astronauts have taken part in two spaceflights on board the massive outpost.

By the end of last year, 265 scientific and technological projects had been arranged or conducted on board the space station, covering life science, microgravity physics, and new space technologies, according to the agency.

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn